Richard Nixon Persuasive Techniques

Persuasive Techniques found in Richard Nixon’s Silent Majority speech

Ricahrd Nixon was the 37th President, who gave the Silent Majority. Richard Nixon was the first President to visit a nation that was not recognized by our own government (“Richard Nixon”). I found this interesting because that is when they recognized Taiwan as the actual government of China. Nixon survived two potentially fatal political losses in 1960 and 1962 (“Richard Nixon”). This is interesting because it was predicted that after he had lost the two elections that his career was over, he was then elected as the U.S president 6 years later. Richard Nixon was only 39 when he ran for Vice President (“Richard Nixon”). This is intriguing because the average age of U.S Vice Presidents is about 54 years old although the required age is 35. As shown above you can see that Nixon was influential and a powerful speaker in his speeches.

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. It would not bring peace. It would bring war.” (The Silent Majority). You can see repetition in this quote because Nixons uses the phrase “it would” multiple times. The final persuasive technique that Nixon had used during his speech was