Rhetorical Analysis Of George W Bush Persuasive Speech

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There was a time in our country that was so dark it seemed the dawn would never come. September first, two thousand and one- George W. Bush, our president at the time, delivered perhaps the most persuasive speech in modern American history. This speech is so powerful in part by President Bush’s serene diction, his moving use of pathos, and his stunning parallelism. George W. Bush’s diction is the most persuasive part of his speech. When the broadcast of this speech aired, the entire country was in a dangerous state of mass panic, albeit a justified one. When President Bush said, “But they have failed. Our country is strong” in a calm yet powerful voice, he assured our Nation that we would not only survive, but we would thrive in the face of this …show more content…

Through these eight words, George W. Bush spoke volumes about how, when we come together to fight tragedy, there is nothing stronger than the American people. It is these parts of President Bush’s speech that help make it so impactful. The second thing that makes the former President Bush’s speech so impactful is the way he used pathos to draw the country together. Bush states, “Thousands of live were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror.” In this quote, the President is depicting the brutality of this attack to the nation anyone who had not yet seen the full effect of this atrocity. Bush’s critics may argue that speaking as he did would glorify the attack for the terrorists, but the real goal of this quote is to bring the nation out of its state of shock. This quote did, in fact, accomplish that goal. The final thing that made this speech so strong it the author’s use of parallelism. One example of President Bush’s parallelism is when he says, “These acts may shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of the American resolve.” This quote, in comparing America’s strength to steel, essentially shows the weakness of material goods against the strength of

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