President Bushs 9/11 Address to the Nation - Essay Example

President Bush’s 9/11 Address to the Nation President George W. Bush delivered a message to the nation on September 11, 2001. The President’s speech came shortly after the events of the day which saw terrorists perform a series of four attacks in Washington DC and New York City. Terrorists from a militant group known as Al Qaeda were responsibility for the attacks that saw the twin towers of the World Trade Center reduced to rubble. The terrorists had hijacked two planes intentionally with an aim of ramming them into four major buildings including the United States Capital Building and the Pentagon. A result of the events of the day, the United States was gravely shaken. The country’s economy was negatively affected, several infrastructural facilities destroyed and worse of all, close to three thousand lives lost. People had lost their loved ones and could not comprehend the magnitude of the loss that had occurred. The country was in mourning and at this time needed consolation and reassurance. The country needed to know exactly why it was the target of the terrorist attack. Yet again, the country needed to know who were the terrorists and what the government was doing toe protect citizens from similar attacks. The nationals furthermore needed to know how the terrorists would be dealt with. President Bush’s address to the nation came at an opportune moment. The speech was greatly effective and included various elements of Aristotelian rhetoric. The three main elements of rhetoric including pathos, ethos and logic were well applied by the confident President. The following sections of the paper will briefly discuss the use of various elements of rhetoric and rhetoric strategies as they were applied by the president during his speech. President Bush was the right person to deliver the reassuring speech. He was the President of the United States and was a symbol of the country’s unity and might by virtue of his high office. Knowing that those affected were from different religious and cultural backgrounds, the president was keen to avoid bias when he in his words stated, “And I pray they will be comforted by a Power greater than any of us, spoken through the ages in Psalm 23:…” (americanrhetoric.com par 6). In referring to the greater power, President Bush ensures that all his audience is included with respect to their religious backgrounds. The speech would not have been as effective in addressing the entire audience had he used the word “gods” or “Allah” instead. The president also appeals to his audience when he refers to and quotes a biblical verse (Psalms 23:), “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for you are with me” (americanrhetoric.com par 6). President Bush comprehended the magnitude of loss that the country had suffered. He ensured that his audience appreciated the magnitude of loss by providing statistics; over a thousand lives had been lost due to terror attacks. In his words, “Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror” (americanrhetoric.com par 1). The president also provided several facts relating to the loss that had occurred; the American way of life and the people’s freedom had been attacked. The president also applied cause and effect in describing the events. According to him, the terrorist attacks were committed so as to “frighten our nation into chaos and retreat”. Furthermore, he associates the cause of the attack to the country’s status as a beacon of opportunity and freedom the world over. As a result of the attacks, the country had lost several lives and resources. President George Bush’s speech is delivered chronologically. After a brief word of greeting, the president goes ahead to describe the events that had occurred and the associated loss. Thereafter, the president states the people’s actions in a bid to defend the country. Beyond this, the president states that he implemented the government’s emergency response plans and what was happening as a result (the rescue efforts). President George Bush’s address to the nation is punctuated with vivid descriptions. The president describes how the victims of the attack had their lives suddenly shuttered. He notes that the terrorist acts can shutter steel but not the American resolve. The president also visualizes the events of the terror attack as he states, “pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge -- huge structures collapsing”.  The president refreshes people’s memory to the events that have caused the loss by attack. In a bid to show the magnitude of the loss, the president applies repetition when he state, “huge…huge structures collapsing”. The President uses his hands to express his moods and to describe events. He lowers and raises his voice and changes his tone depending on the mood or attitude that he wants to create amongst his audience. He also varies his facial expressions in a bid to reinforce the emotions he wants his audience to elicit. The message that the president delivered to his audience was greatly appealing to their emotions. The president refers to the victims lost to the events as “…moms and dads, friends and neighbors”. In so doing, the president connects his audience to the victims outlining the possible relationships between the two. He also appeals to people’s emotions by referring to them as “great”. By doing this, he acknowledges them and their efforts in trying to save the nations. Furthermore the emotions of the audience are moved by his words, “The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge -- huge structures collapsing have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger” (americanrhetoric.com par 1). In saying this, he effectively connects with his audience’s thoughts and emotions. President Bush’s speech was greatly effective considering the context of his speech, his emotional appeal and the events that occurred after the speech. The president’s speech answered or fulfilled the gap in people’s thoughts. The president consoled and reassured his nationals by saying, “But they have failed. Our country is strong” (par 1). The president further gives reassurance to the mourning nation when he states that, “And I pray they will be comforted by a Power greater than any of us”. Yet again, he presents his opinion on why the country has been attacked. The citizens are further assured of the government’s efforts to rescue survivors and pursuit of the perpetrators of the terrorist acts when the president states that, “The search is underway for those who were behind these evil acts” (par 4). Following his speech, rescue efforts in the crime scenes went on in earnest and the people reassured of the government’s commitment to contain the situation. In conclusion, President Bush’s address on 9/11 was quite effective. The speech applied various rhetoric strategies including repetition, visualization, vivid description, chronological sequence, and cause and effect. Other strategies used include facial expressions, gestures and tonal variations. The speech proved to be captivating and appealed greatly the audience’s emotions. The reaction of the audience following the speech was positive as people were reassured and received consolation. Work Cited americanrhetoric.com. George W. Bush 9/11 Address to the Nation "A Great People Has Been Moved to Defend a Great Nation"N.d. Web. 14 September, 2011 http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/gwbush911addresstothenation.htm Ethos(suit context, convince audience): quotes, status/office, ethical value, religion, customs and traditions, normality, personal experience, expert opinion, celebrity Logos (should deliver message, fulfill purpose): facts, experiments, research findings, statistics, cause and effect, comparisons, definitions, chronological sequence, comparisons, historical events Pathos: diction, figure of speech, imagery, vivid description, visualization, repetition, tone of voice, hand gestures, music, facial expression, examples, narratives xxxx What strategies How effective Why are they effective Read More