On September 23,1952, Richard Nixon confidently gave a speech regarding money the obtained and a dog. Richard Nixon addressed the American people in an effort to restore his credibility as a representative of the United States. In his speech, Richard Nixon used a variety of rhetorical devices in attempt to defend himself against the accusations that he took $18,000 for his personal use. Although the appeals are used correctly, his arguments appear transparent and inconsistent leading to an ineffective speech that failed to persuade his audience. Nixon began his speech by building his credibility for himself. He stated his running position. This used of ethos is not the only example of an attempt to build credibility. Further in his speech, …show more content…
Nixon used this fact to his advantage and portrays himself as one of them, a family man and a veteran. Nixon uses pathos, an appeal to emotion to relate to the American values emotionally by blending right in with them. He downplayed the fact that he served in the military and simply pretends he was in the right place at the right time. For example, he stated “I guess I’m entitled to a couple of battle stars. I got a couple of letters of commendation. But I was just there when the bombs were falling. And then I returned and ran for congress.” By using the phrase “I guess,” he pretended his part during the war was not relevant. He also presented his wife on screen and continued to mention that Patricia Nixon herself was never on payroll. This is significant because it established trust and emotion between him and the audience. In addition, he used the rhetorical device, repetition, to build up even more emotion. It emphasized his confidence and ideas while also guilting the audience into questioning why they ever doubted him. By repeating “Do you think..” he creates a sense of disappointment amongst the American People, and they are forced to rethink themselves for ever doubting such an honest man. Using guilt, although effective, is not successfully persuading the audience into believing his …show more content…
However, this could also be seen as a need for using the $18,000 for personal use. It can also be interpreted as logos, an appeal to logic. Nixon attempts to explain that logically speaking, he could not have benefited from the money given to him. To elaborate on his finances, Nixon gives a complete financial history dating back to his birth. However, there are some inconsistencies throughout his financial history that proves his argument is intangible. He explains that he owned a house in Whittier, California that cost him $13,000 and he owed $3,000. Later in his speech, he mentions the Whittier house stating that it cost him $10,000 and he owes $4,000. If executed correctly, this strategy would have gained him much support amongst his audience. Due to the lack of continuity throughout his financial history, the speech itself loses it’s effectiveness and grasp on the
Moreover this, he deviates the public’s attention with a convoluted wordplay in order to blur the main issue by putting aside the legal aspects against him and focusing on morale, which is more bendable and corruptible in comparison, because unlike the law, morality can easily be reshaped to our convenience. Despite this, Nixon’s argument is fairly persuasive due to the contrasting nature of his rhetoric with habitual instances where political figures would rather not mention, let alone discuss their misdoing. Furthermore, the speech is very swaying of the audience’s opinion. As he first directly states “that it was wrong” to take the money, the audience’s willingness to listen increases because he seems to be having a moment of honesty and humility. However, a couple lines through he quickly flips the audience's perception of wrong to a conditioned “morally wrong” by expressing what he believes would make his actions inherently wrong, including whether the money had been intended toward his personal use. He then asserts that the money never “went to [him] for personal use” now neglecting what he had acknowledged explicitly in the beginning. It resulted to be convincing, as he had previously yielded an occasion of apparent honesty and self
The Kennedy family was very popular and had well-known moral standards, so it is no surprise that in John F Kennedy’s inaugural speech there were constant examples of ethos, in which he appealed to the audience through moral values. His moral standpoint became apparent as he mentions God and doing the right thing.
As for Ethos that make the speech more credible, we have the president. The president makes the speech more credible because, he is well-known almost everywhere in the U.S. which gives us the reliability and trustworthiness needed in this situation. Another credibility of this speech would be that it was being played on the radio throughout the U.S., which means it must have been of the utmost importance.
John F Kennedy, 35th president of the United States Of America, in his inaugural speech, vocalizes his ideas for the country and its future through the use of many rhetorical devices such as diction, metaphors, ethos and rhetorical question to convince the people he is fit for the job of president. During the height of the cold war, John F. Kennedy was given the burden of solving the obstacle of the U.S.S.R. The gap between the presidential candidates was microscopic with John F Kennedy getting 49.72% of the votes and Nixon 49.55% of the votes. Most people believed that The now democratic president would get eaten alive in Russian negotiations and was unfit for the presidency. These factors made the speech that much more intense because he had to assure and calm the people who were in high doubt that JFK was the right person for the job. This is why he used these subtle but successful tactics to win the favor of the people and convince them to not only support him, but become active participants in their democracy.
Former President of the United States, Gerald R. Ford gave a speech pardoning his predecessor, former President Richard Nixon, of all offenses against the United States that he may have committed during his presidency. The announcement was made live on September 8, 1974. The speech was written to persuade the country to agree with the pardoning of Nixon and forgive him for the crimes he had committed against his country. Ford states that “Theirs (Nixon’s Family) is an American tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must.” President Ford argued that the pardoning
Moreover, this paper hopes to justify that the Watergate break in was directly caused by the pressure on Nixon from his advisers in relation to the Pentagon papers and the papers' appearance to the citizens. In addition, this essay hopes to prove that Nixon unknowingly sabotaged his own presidency in response to New York Times's publication and court case, Daniel Ellsberg's trial, and Watergate. Also, this Extended Essay hopes to demonstrate how the Pentagon Papers established a credibility gap between the citizens and the presidency. Furthermore, the credibility gap is a different perception of events between the government and its citizens. Thus meaning that when any national crisis arose it could significantly affect a president's approval ratings and destroy any relationship forming with in the public. Finally, the Pentagon Papers established a credibility gap in the later years of Nixon's presidency specifically with the Watergate break in and his claims of innocence. This research question is worthy of investigation because the effects of the Pentagon Papers are still felt in the United States with the recent events of Edward Snowden, WikiLeaks, and the revelation of the NSA spying on American citizens. That is concurrent to the feelings of the citizens in the 1970s with the government lying to its own
Richard Nixon had lost the election against John F Kennedy in 1960. In 1968 Nixon ran again and won on the promise of returning law and order to the country, thus starting the push-back that created the “hangover” of the 70s. Nixon’s definition of “law and order” fell in line with that of the working class or as Nixon had called them “forgotten
The speech that I decided to do is John F. Kennedy's Address to the Houston Ministerial Association. I will be using both external and internal criticism. With the external criticism I will be examining the time, the occasion, how the audience reacted, John F Kennedy's biographical factors and the effects of the speech. John F Kennedy came from a strong political family, was well educated, defended his country in WW II and received rewards for his courage and bravery, and along with his political career that lead him to the nomination for presidency in 1960. With in the internal criticism I will be looking at the invention, organization, style, and presentation. I will show how he used logical proof, ethical proof, and pathetic proof to
After the Watergate scandal, Nixon was not trusted by the people and congress. In his speech Nixon announced, “ it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress to justify continuing that effort” (Passage 1 Paragraph 2). This describes Congress not trusting Nixon, because Nixon does not have a strong political base with them. Nixon is sure that, “because of the of the Watergate matter”, he won’t have the needed support from Congress (Passage 1 Paragraph 5). This describes how the Watergate incident made Nixon untrustworthy, because Nixon strongly believes the Congress will not support him after the scandal.
On September 23, 1952, the Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Richard Nixon gave a speech famously known as the “Checkers” or the “Fund” speech. The speech addressed the controversy of a slush fund of $18,000 dollars that had been donated from his political supporters for his personal use. The accusation of the slush fund caused doubt about Nixon’s position on the Republican ticket. In response, Nixon broadcasted a thirty-minute speech that included Nixon defending his innocence, attacking those who supported the accusations, and urged the American people to believe in his innocence so he could remain on the Republican ballot.
It’s 1969, Richard Nixon is the United States President. Winning presidency with not only the popular but also the Electoral vote. It's a very brutal time for Presidency, with the nation torn from the involvement in Vietnam. Richard Nixon seeming a promising Chief of Foreign Affairs has focused most of his campaigning with these issues. But all this faith is soon blinded by a terrible presidential scandal. Early morning of June 17. 1972 a on duty Security guard realizes the locks to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) have been tampered with. The security Guard in distraught calls the Police, finding several burglars wire tapping phone lines and stealing secret Government documents. Thousands dollars were on the burglars along with Phone
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States serving from 1969 to 1974, and who also, became the first and only U.S. president to resign from office. In 1952 Nixon previously was elected as vice president to the former Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower despite his prior agreement to support Earl Warren, former governor of California. As Warren supporters were outraged from his failed attempt to gain the nomination, supporters now questioned Nixon’s public integrity. This event was just a stepping stone to a following incident that would jeopardize his whole political career. One resentful supporter located in Pasadena California, accused him
On another note, another event from Nixon’s presidency was his part in ending the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. There was a lot of secrecy going on during Nixon’s time in office and
This, although made him stronger, because the Richard Nixon in 1974 had more problems than what he had already overcome. So he took time off the political issues of the US. He decided to go into a more relaxing stage and work on his golf game, along with writing his memoirs, from his inspirations. (Richard Nixon, pg 104, 107) The money he made, he payed off lots of the debts he had barged up over the years.
In order to perform a proper discourse analysis to find schemas in Richard Nixon’s Checkers speech the contextual relationship to the spectator and framing of the speaker must be identified. In September of 1952 Richard M. Nixon, the Vice Presidential candidate for Eisenhower, was accused of receiving slightly over $18,000 given to him in a “supplementary expenditures fund” provided by numerous wealthy donors. This accusation led to serious media backlash and the call for Nixon to remove himself through the ballot. Before heeding to the call of the public and the press Nixon felt he needed to present his case to the American public and in doing so won back the trust of Americans and remained on the ballot. Nixon’s primary point throughout his speech is to prove his trustworthiness and patriotism. Scenarios like these only weaken the public opinion and trust in the government which is precisely why Nixon presented the identity and language stemming from the schemas they’re associated with.