Speech Styles and Modern Leaders - Essay Example

Adolf Hitler, Ronald Reagan, and Barack Obama are these leaders. Their speeches inspired people, moved people, and united their nations, both for good and bad reasons. This paper will examine the speech styles of the three leaders as they accept their wins in their respective national elections.

Adolf Hitler is a very passionate man, and it is evident in his speeches. His acceptance speech is quite moving, and as a non-German speaker, I even find myself nodding to his speech. Although we know that Hitler was tyrannical, listening to his speech is a different experience. His speech is very inspiring and hopeful. It gives the audience a sense of power and strength when they hear Hitler’s acceptance speech. They can identify with him because of the passion that’s evident in the manner of Hitler’s delivery. Hitler’s speech, as some people put it, comes straight from the heart and people sense this sincerity. This makes them believe his words. Hitler’s stance may been very aggressive and antagonistic but his speech inspires a sense of triumph on their part because of the strength that he gives the words he speaks. Hitler discredits his enemies too and gives quite logical explanations for his actions, making people believe that he is doing something that was going to make Germany power to be reckoned with.

Another leader that’s quite famous for his speech is Ronald Reagan. He is one of the most endeared Republicans, and it is not a secret that even hard-core Democrats voted for him. His speech is large to be credited for that. Unlike Hitler, Reagan’s speech style is more docile, but like Hitler’s, it is hopeful and antagonistic. The antagonistic part can be later seen in his later speeches (take note of the famous Reagan words like “evil empire”) but then this facet of him as a speaker is also attributed to his honesty. He is named as the great communicator because, like Hitler, people saw him as an honest man, saying things that they want to say to the government. There were no facades, but at the end of the day, he was a respectable and affable man like the characters he played in his movies. He appealed to the people because he assured them of a better and more productive government, replete with his charming personality.

Barack Obama is the latest president to be dubbed as one of the greatest speakers. His speeches are marked with “cadences” and they are quite lyrical. Like the two previous leaders, his inaugural speech is hopeful, which is appropriate since his government is quite low on resources. Unlike the previous speeches, his speech is not antagonistic; in fact, it only focused on America (not her enemies) and change. Common people, freedom, and courage are also some of the major themes of Obama’s inaugural speech. It is hopeful, it talks about change and courage. It brings forth an emotion that all his listeners can be, in fact, heroes.

A good speech should appeal to logic, emotions, and ethics. By all means, all the inaugural speeches are logical and ethical. However, it is the emotions that the speech-writers play up the most. All of them appeal to the audience’s emotions. In Hitler’s case, he uses his people’s emotions against their enemies as he says that they are persecuting him as a socialist. Reagan uses his charming personality as a Hollywood actor to convince people that he is sincere. Obama is using the audience’s cynicism as a jump-off point for his optimistic speeches.

Their speeches might be different in terms of words and delivery, but they are basically the same. They are wooing the public and they achieved it. They knew what the public needed at the time they were going to give the speeches, and played upon it by letting their hearts speak what the facts have to offer. Read More