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President Bush 9/11 Address Rhetorical Devices

994 Words4 Pages

Vincent Dagostino
Mrs. Grillo
10H:1
14 April 2023
President Bush’s Use of Rhetoric in His 9/11 Address Throughout history, speeches have been proven to persuade, express thoughts, opinions, and inform. On September 11, 2001, the United States experienced the worst terrorist attack in human history. Terrorists hijacked 4 planes and used them as weapons. In the aftermath, President George W. Bush delivered a powerful and emotional address to the nation. The American people were scared and did not know what was going to come after what happened. In this address, Bush needed to reassure the American people while also responding to the attacks. President Bush used rhetorical devices to effectively convey his message and rally the country behind …show more content…

Pathos is used to make a speech to make it more emotional and personal to its audience. There were many uses of pathos in his speech. The people were all feeling the same emotions like sadness, disbelief, and anger. Bush connected with them by stating he is feeling those emotions the same way they were, he states “innocent men and women and children who had nothing to do with their killers” (Bush). What he said brought out a feeling of empathy and compassion for the victims and those who were affected. The use of pathos in the context of what had happened almost 12 hours before his speech acknowledged their pain caused by the attacks and President George W. Bush created a feeling of shared experience. This shared emotion that connected the speaker to the audience was essential for getting the country to stand with him and it laid the foundation for a response to the attacks. President Bush successfully unified America with making the people who caused the terrorist attacks the enemy and the villain. He continues to use pathos when he talks about getting justice with the war on terrorism. Additionally, he uses pathos to create hope by asking to pray for the victims and by stating “America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day. Yet, we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world” (Bush). This concludes his speech which left Americans hopeful. It also showed what they were feeling is what everyone else is too, so they are not alone and that now America needed to be

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