Analysis of a Speech: George Bush, March 11, 2002

On March 11, 2002, President George W. Bush (354) delivered an address on the South Lawn of the White House. The date was the six-month anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the United States. In the speech, Bush (354) appealed variously to ethos, pathos, and logos in order "to mark a terrible day, to reaffirm a just and vital cause, and to thank the many nations that share our resolve and will share our common victory." This essay will examine Bush's use of these rhetorical devices and will draw upon Aristotle's theory of rhetoric to examine Bush's technique for persuading his audience that "the war on terror is not just a policy, it's a pledge" (Bush, 356).

Aristotle (1354) states that "rhetoric is the counterpart of dialectic," which he understood as a logical method of debating issues of general interest, starting from widely accepted propositions. Like dialectic, rhetoric was perceived by Aristotle as starting with commonly held opinions and addressing a wide range of questions. Rhetoric, however, employs proofs that dialectics avoids, such as proofs from character and emotion. Thus, Aristotle (1355b) stated that rhetoric "is the faculty of observing in any case the available means of persuasion."

In President Bush's (354) speech, the first appeal made is to emotion or pathos: "we have come together to mark a terrible day." Bush (354) goes on to note that "for the families of the los

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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1191
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)