Style of language

In his statement on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy uses formal language, which mirrors the serious and tragic context of the speech. 

When it comes to sentence structure, Kennedy mainly relies on middle-length sentences. This helps Kennedy incorporates various ideas on a particular matter in a single sentence, like in the following example:

So I shall ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, that's true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love--a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.

In this example, Kennedy both acknowledges the pain of the audience regarding King’s death and reminds the audience that compassion is essential when it comes to a united America. 

At times, Kennedy uses short sentences which help him make his ideas more remarkable. For...