ipl-logo

Rhetorical Devices In Senator Nixon's 'Checkers'

892 Words4 Pages

Rhetorical devices in “Checkers”
In Senator Nixon’s “Checkers'' speech, the literary term rhetoric is used. Nixon was accused of taking excessive amounts of money from his supporters for personal use instead of using it to better the country. He plays on the emotions of patriotic, family-loving audience members to refute the arguement and convince people to vote for him. In this speech, rhetorical devices enhance the audience’s trust, persuade the audience he is not corrupt, and proves he has a true desire to help America.
Nixon’s use of rhetoric devices underscore that he is relatable and trusting. He announces that he has not taken anything anyone has given him for his personal use except a dog from a man in Texas for his family. “It was a little cocker spaniel dog... black and white, spotted, and our little girl Tricia, the six year old, named it Checkers. And you know, the kids, like all kids, loved the dog, and I just want to say this, right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we are going to keep it”(Nixon para. 60). Nixon only accepted a dog named Checkers for his daughter. He extenuates that he lives modestly and does not have many fancy items. “For four years we lived in an apartment in Parkfairfax, Alexandria Virginia.... And we saved for a time when we could buy a house. Now that was what we took …show more content…

She gives him $10 to help his campaign. Nixon reads the letter saying, “...I feel confident that with great Americans like you and General Eisenhower in the White House, lonely Americans like myself will be united with their loved ones now in Korea. I only pray to God that you won’t be too late” (Nixon para. 85). She then says that she lives on $85 a month and the $10 is all that she can afford to give him. The woman gave a large sum of her money to Nixon to help him win. He creates a sense of urgency to convince listeners that the only way to help America is to vote for him and President

Show More
Related
1216 Words | 5 Pages

This scandal caused many Americans and Republican politicians to push Eisenhower to remove Nixon as his running mate and to question Nixon’s integrity. In rebuttal to the scandal, Nixon took the bull by the horns and defended himself by going on live national television and addressed the nation by giving the famous Checkers speech. The soon to be Vice-President articulated his speech with a perfect combination of Pathos, Ethos, and Logos to turn the tables from making everyone hate him to making the American People and Republican Politicians love him. Nixon’s integrity was

Read More
295 Words | 2 Pages

Richard Nixon’s statements in agreeance for his disdain

Read More
520 Words | 3 Pages

One of the reasons Nixon’s speech helped him out so much was the use of pathos that he had used to get people's emotions. When Nixon said “During their brief rule there, there was a bloody reign of terror in which 3,000 civilians were clubbed, shot to death, and buried in mass graves” (The Silent Majority). During the Silent Majority speech he was using pathos by making the audience feel emotion about the civilians that were killed. Another persuasive technique that Nixon had used during his speech that made it effective was repetition. Nixon said “Ultimately, this would cost more lives.

Read More
938 Words | 4 Pages

On August 8th, 1974 at exactly 9:01 pm, Richard Nixon--former President-- gave a speech that would affect both United States history and the american people. Richard Nixon’s argument and claim lay within the textual aspects, in other words, his tone, attitude, and the strategic ways of presenting to his audience. In this historical speech, Richard Nixon broadcasted his character, past decisions, and future advice to the people of the United States in order to justify his resignation from the presidential office. The rhetorical stylistic tools were effective and instrumental in backing up the argument. Recognition of audience was important, because it will determine his attitude and tone, which was innocence.

Read More
578 Words | 3 Pages

Nixon successfully apologized to the country by using pathos, ethos, and logos, as well as other forms of rhetoric. In his speech, Nixon used forms of logos to appeal to people’s sense of logic. He wanted to give his reasoning of resigning in a way he knew people would understand. He said “It has become evident to me that i no longer have a strong enough political base in congress.”.

Read More
234 Words | 1 Pages

Summative Precis Richard Nixon, the former president of the United States, in the resignation speech (of August of 1974) announced his resignation that included a solemn speech towards the country regarding the reaction to the Watergate affair. Nixon supports his claim by using pathos which showed his respect for the nation and its institutions while also acknowledging his fault and taking ownership of his deeds in this speech, then by using ethos which urged the populace of the United States to uphold their confidence in the government and support the country's sustained stability based on the idea that Nixon tried his best for the Nation and its people, and finally by using syntax by using long and winding sentences to distract from the

Read More
500 Words | 2 Pages

In the first speech conducted by Nixon he says, “... I no longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress… I might not have the support of the Congress that I would consider necessary to back the very difficult decisions and carry out the duties of this office

Read More
865 Words | 4 Pages

In his essay, Hills explains how Nixon evokes the intended response from the immediate audience by gaining support for the war. Nixon states in his speech, “tonight-to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans-I ask for your support.” Here, Nixon uses resentment in sacrifice in lives and finance, longing for some action in a marked direction were strategies used to gain support instead of “teaching.” This in turn allowed America to continue in the war which proves that he agrees with Foss for Nixon’s primary role was not that of a teacher or

Read More
584 Words | 3 Pages

He had amassed a collection of government fills, tape records, and intelligence on the common people in the Watergate building. After it was broken into, files were stolen and released to the public. It was the first real time that the general public learned just how paranoid Nixon was, but also how much he wanted to keep the power he already had. As these precious documents surfaced, one could see in full light that Nixon exhibited all the symptoms of Paranoid Personality Disorder. He was always distrustful of people, he recorded every encounter he had, so that one could twist his words against him.

Read More
1754 Words | 8 Pages

Richard Nixon’s party was the Republican party so of course he felt he was a better candidate for the nation than the candidates who represented the democratic party. But Richard Nixon didn’t commit his crime because of his feeling of being the better option for the presidency, he committed his crime out of fear as Dylan Matthews once again states, “ ...is that Nixon was worried that O'Brien knew about his financial dealings with billionaire tycoon Howard Hughes, for whom O'Brien served as a lobbyist in addition to his DNC duties. A large loan from Hughes to Nixon's brother had become an issue in the 1960 presidential race (which Nixon lost narrowly), and when Nixon took office in 1969, Hughes reportedly gave him $100,000 (about $650,000 today) by way of the president's friend Charles "Bebe" Rebozo, some of which, a 60 Minutes report alleged, went toward Nixon's house in Florida. If that was in fact what the money was used for, it'd be natural for Nixon to fear what O'Brien could do with that knowledge.” This quote shows Nixon to be insecure with the fact that when his enemies have a step on him and he would do anything to stop that.

Read More
2152 Words | 9 Pages

Which at first glance looks like a positive thing but once you dive deeper into what his real motives are, it's rather eye opening. Let's start with the war on crime. During this time you had the black panthers who were people fighting for civil rights, people who were fighting for women's rights, and people who were fighting for gay rights. Nixon felt the need to fight against these movements and therefore one was more likely to get arrested for attending these rallies— for committing a crime which really wasn't a crime. He strategically blinded the public to this by calling it "the war on crime".

Read More
669 Words | 3 Pages

The thirty seventh president’s tone throughout the speech was genuine and anguished. He stated frequently his regret towards his resignation; when this passage is read aloud, it is stressed heavily on pathos and that Nixon defended his decision with the selflessness of his own emotions and did what is better for the country (“American”). In his speech, Richard Nixon establishes his credibility and then goes on to show the logic of why he is resigning along with sparking the reader’s emotions in defense of him through the use of frequent fallacies and rhetorical devices. Nixon goes on to speak of his accomplishments and the tasks he hopes the American people will achieve with a new president, but those ideas are shadowed by the steady reminders by Nixon himself of the circumstances that are causing him to resign the Presidency that overall make Nixon’s arguments to logic and his credibility seem

Read More
532 Words | 3 Pages

Even more than that, though, Nixon is also a citizen of the world and is having to cope with the loss of his own men–everyone’s

Read More
842 Words | 4 Pages

In President Bush’s address to the nation, he uses many rhetorical devices. A rhetorical device is a literary device that is used to persuade the audience to support the argument made. Bush’s address uses Ethos, Logos, and Pathos. They were invented and studied by the famous greek philosopher Aristotle. Ethos appeals to credibility, Logos appeals to logic or reason, and Pathos appeals to the audience’s feelings.

Read More
761 Words | 4 Pages

In 1962 President John F. Kennedy held a press conference in which he informed the audience on his stance for the rising steel prices. Kennedy not only wanted to inform the audience, he wanted to get them on his side of the argument. He wanted to show the audience that the rising steel prices were going to have a negative impact on the nation. To do this Kennedy used some of the rhetoric strategies and tools. He used periodic sentences, anaphora, and diction.

Read More

More about Rhetorical Devices In Senator Nixon's 'Checkers'

Related Topics

Open Document