Rhetorical Analysis Of Margaret Chase Smith

The Rhetorical Appeals of Margaret Chase Smith

The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union created paranoia and fear in the States. Rumours started spreading about Soviet spies in the government posing a threat to National security. On February 9th, 1950, senator Joseph McCarthy gave his “Wheeling Speech” to the Republican Women’s Club of Wheeling, West Virginia. His speech accused hundreds of members of the State Department of being communist sympathisers and spies. However, when asked for proof, he could not provide evidence to back any of his claims. (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Joseph McCarthy.”) On June 1st, 1950, Senator Margaret Chase Smith delivered her speech, “Declaration of Conscience” ridiculing his

She begins, “Mr. President, I speak as a Republican. I speak as a woman. I speak as a United States senator. I speak as an American” (Smith 621). She exudes pride in her gender to both address and dismiss common prejudice regarding the issue. Heavily emphasizing the achievements of the Republican party, Smith asserts how successful and trustworthy she is by association. At the same time she flatters and praises her party members. Smith states, “As a Republican, I say to my colleagues on this side of the aisle that the Republican party faces a challenge today that is not unlike the challenge which it faced back in Lincoln’s day. The Republican party so successfully met that challenge that it emerged from the Civil War as the champion of a united nation- in addition to being a party which unrelentingly fought loose spending and loose programs” (622). She directly references and separates herself from the ideals she disagrees with by saying, “As an American, I condemn a Republican Fascist just as much as I condemn as Democrat Communist. I condemn a Democrat Fascist just as much as I condemn a Republican Communist” (623), as well as, “As an American, I want to see our nation recapture the strength and unity it once had when we fought the enemy instead of ourselves” (623). The senator inspires patriotism and provokes a collective dislike of “the enemy”

By voicing her own opinions as though they are the call of the collective, she is able to suggest mass unrest. She voices the thoughts of the nation when she says, “The American people are sick and tired of being afraid to speak their minds” (Smith 622) and “The American people are sick and tired of seeing innocent people smeared and guilty people whitewashed” (Smith 622). By phrasing it this way she brings authority to her claim. She is not calling for change alone, but voicing the feelings of the country. By saying, “The Democratic administration has completely confused the American people…” (Smith 622) and, “The Democratic party has greatly lost the confidence of the American people…” (Smith 622), Smith discredits the Democratic party while suggesting that all of America is unhappy with its