Speeches That Changed the World - Assignment Example

Speeches That Changed the World Martin Luther King Jr., J.F Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan were all American by nationality. The two; JF Kennedy and Ronald Reagan were privileged to be the President of the America in 1961 and 1980 respectively (Collins 23). King on the other side was a black American; he championed civil right movements and resented discrimination based on color. Just like JF Kennedy, King was assassinated in Memphis on the 4th of April 1968; Kennedy on the other side was assassinated in an open limousine in November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas.

Reagan on the other side died at the age of 93 in 2004 (Collins 56). It is salient that all the speeches delivered by the three Americans were intended to change the norm in one way or the other. Starting with the King’s message, he rooted for the end of the widespread discrimination that had taken a toll in the US against the blacks. It resonates well with the Kennedy’s speech which appealed for the citizens of the US to break the cycles of questioning what their country can do to them and instead focus on what they themselves can do to their country (Collins 77).

Reagan on the other side was in a diplomatic mission where he wanted to end the war of suspicion that was in the fire between nations. The war of suspicion was fuelled mostly by the ideological differences between nations which supported capitalism and communism. King is known to have given a speech in Lincoln memorial that was ranked the best speech of the millennium in 1999 by scholar; his speech was dubbed ‘I have a dream’ (Collins 112). The speech main message was to dismantle segregation in the US in which the Blacks in the US suffered blatant discrimination in most public affairs.

The speech was intended to liberate the people of the American who were discriminated against-it was to bring about equality to the citizens. On the other hand, the famous JF Kennedy’s speech during his inauguration in which he urged the Americans not to ask what their country can do to them instead should ask what they can do to their country. As opposed to the Kings speech which was a protest speech, Kennedy’s speech was more of unifying the people to have a focus in building the nation regardless of racial orientation (Collins 147).

Reagan’s speech on the other hand was majorly directed to an individual, Mikhail Gorbachev,-the USSR leader. The speech unlike that of the King and Kennedy was intended for a purpose outside America-ending of the cold war and bringing down the Berlin wall that divided the country into East and West (capitalists and the communists). In is also worthy to note that the King and the Kennedy speech took place in the American soil while the other of President Reagan took place in Berlin. King and Kennedy’s speeches are also known to have taken place in the 1960s while that of Regan came late in the 1980s (Collins 155).

According to reports, it is said that Reagan’s speech unlike that of the King and Kennedy was accorded very little press recording, this is contrary to the much recorded speeches delivered by his two counterparts in which it is said to have attracted a huge press presence and it is in records that the speech given by King in the Lincoln memorial attracted the largest press ever seen in the history of America (Collins 199).Work CitedCollins, Owen. Speeches that changed the world. Louisville, Ky.

: Westminster John Knox Press, 1999. Print.