The Oratory of Lyndon B. Johnson

Abstract

This chapter draws on 19 of Lyndon Johnson’s speech acts (Appendix) delivered between May 1963 and August 1965 to party audiences, formal political addresses (the Inaugural, the State of the Union), and public addresses (such as university commencements). The texts are drawn from the American Presidency Project and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library, and analysed using NVivo 8. The period begins with Johnson’s efforts to ensure a tranquil transition after the Kennedy assassination and his efforts to realise Kennedy’s agenda. It continues with the 1964 presidential election and Johnson’s determination to secure a mandate for his own programme and concludes in the summer of 1965 with the escalation in Vietnam (28 July), which eventually destroyed his presidency, and the outbreak (11 August) of the Watts disturbances that signalled the start of a backlash against his domestic policies. The chapter also ignores Johnson’s time in the Senate, partly for reasons of space, but also because Johnson spoke rarely and his primary persuasive method was face-to-face.