Dr. Marin Luther King Jr. was and still as widely respected across the United States. His message was very strong and powerful and as a nation it impacted our society in many ways on racism and segregation. In his letter to Birmingham Jail he uses all forms of rhetoric which takes a good amount of skill, but once mastered it becomes very difficult to refute or debate with what he one is saying. First he established credibility by showing that he was the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. After briefly explaining the purpose of this organization and why it pertains to his letter, he continues by using pathos and logos. I would say that he uses logos by telling true stories of the lynching of mothers and fathers and such but this is linked with his use of pathos. In order to demand the attention of his audience and to not only keep it, but persuey them to take his side.
He does an excellent job of distributing the facts in a way to capture his audience. But people cannot argue with facts such as the things he stated of all the deaths in families but only feel remorse. He wants people to agree with him, so he makes his argument un-arguable, per say. It is his very effective use of overlapping rhetoric appeals in which he accomplishes this and we have much to learn from him as a man and as writer, speaker, and leader.
