Margaret Chase Smith's Speech Rhetorical Devices

In 1950, America’s only female senator, Margaret Chase Smith, was the only representative who dared to challenge McCarthy and his harsh tactics for accusing people high in the American government of working with communists. In her speech, she uses syntactical devices, such as anaphora and asyndeton, to emphasize and reveal her reasons for why the US should reevaluate its current political tactics throughout her speech.

Smith utilizes anaphoras for the purpose of emphasizing that Americans need to reassess their harsh political tactics. She says, “I speak as a Republican. I speak as a woman. I speak as a United States senator. I speak as an American.” This sets up the rest of her speech by revealing her many qualifications for commenting on

the unconstitutional accusations McCarthy makes. When Smith mentions that Americans have “the right to criticize, the right to hold unpopular beliefs, the right to protest, the right of independent thought,” she reveals that McCarthy, who made character assassinations to defend Americanism, is also disregarding the foundation of Americanism by not paying heed to basic American rights. This contradiction strengthens her argument that the American people should not condone McCarthy’s tactics. Smith later states, “I am not proud of the way in which the Senate has been made a publicity platform for irresponsible sensationalism. I am not proud of the reckless abandon in which unproved charges have been hurled from this side of the aisle. I am not proud of the obviously staged, undignified countercharges which have been attempted in retaliation from the other side of the aisle…” This statement acknowledges she does not approve of many of the actions that have taken place in the Senate so that she can conclude her speech by suggesting “our nation recapture the strength and unity it once had when we fought the enemy instead of ourselves.”
Smith uses asyndeton in her speech to reveal many cases substantiate there are major issues in the way political figures are managing tensions between Democracy and Communism. She states, “...such as the Amerasia case, the Hiss case, the Coplon case, the Gold case…” to reveal all the evidence of nationwide distrust, which is a result from the fear American people have to “speak their minds lest they be politically smeared as communists or fascists by their opponents.” Smith also reveals the massive amount of responsibility that the Republican party, a minority, has when she states, “[they] have the responsibility of rendering constructive criticism, of clarifying issues, of allaying fears by acting as responsible citizens.” This act of leaving so many major responsibilities to a “minority party” garners disapproval for how the Democratic party, McCarthy included, has dealt with political affairs.
Smith’s use of syntactical devices has effectively emphasized specific examples of Democratic party actions that would be disapproved of by the majority of Americans. Thus revealing Smith’s reasoning for the United State’s reassessment of political strategy concerning accusations of alleged communist sympathizers.