Rhetorical Devices In President Bush's Speech On 9/11

Despite the several terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, America remained strong and united. In the speech “Address to the Nation on the Terrorist Attacks”, George W. Bush, addresses the terrorist attack of September eleventh to let the citizens know they can overcome a tragic and mournful incident by remaining unified and a powerful country. The primary audience are the citizens and the family members of the ones who had died or were involved in the incident. The secondary audience are the terrorists to let them know American’s are not scared and will stand together against them. Bush uses ethos, pathos, and figurative language to encourage the citizens to be stronger, united, and feel safe.

Tuesday morning, September 11 of 2001, referred to as a day to remember, the twin towers were attacked by terrorists in a hijacked plane. Thousands of lives were lost and it was a day that brought great sorrow to America. George W. Bush, the president at that time, addressed his speech to America as a nation, giving them hope that the events that took place earlier that day would not shake them but that they would come back stronger. In this essay I will evaluate Bush’s formal 9/11 Address to the Nation and discuss the speaker’s appeals to pathos, logos and ethos to convey his message that America can stand tall as one.

Former President George W. Bush’s speech, “Bullhorn”, was given through a megaphone on top the rumble of 220 floors of a horrific event. On the day of September 11, 2001, an Islamic group, called Al-Qaeda, hijacked four American passenger airliners to carry out suicide attacks against targets across the United States. The potential targets included: the twin towers, the Pentagon and the White House. Three of the four hijacked airliners accomplished their goal as the lives of 3,000 innocent civilians were taken. A cloud of grief and mourn covered the country as they experience the worst tragedy since 1941, the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Soon after the attack on September 14th, a ray of hope appeared as President Bush took the stage. Throughout his speech, three rhetorical devices were shown are: ethos, logos, and pathos. Bush used these three devices to connect with the audiences’ emotions, appeal to the audiences’ ethics, and appeal to the logical side of the audience additionally, all while creating a sufficient speech to the comfort the country.

What better way is there to appeal to an emotionally damaged group of people than to appeal to their feelings of resentment? The pathos in this speech was instrumental in the rise of Bush’s approval rating from just over 50% to a staggering 90% (Gallup, Inc. “Presidential Approval Ratings -- George W. Bush." Gallup.com). In one instance, Bush mentions the sight of Republicans and Democrats alike joined together on the Capitol singing “God Bless America”, and this is just one phrase that illustrates how devastating the attacks were. Bush makes many remarks to demonstrate that the acts of the Taliban are illogical, and only acted upon sheer spite. As said by Bush himself, “They hate what they see right here” (“The Rhetoric of 9/11: President George W. Bush -- Address to Joint Session of Congress and the American People”). He goes on to explain that this is indeed a reference to the democracy that the U.S. is

One of the most catastrophic events America has faced were the September eleventh terrorist attacks. Our nation faced one of the most damaging attacks in our history and it was up to our president, George W. Bush, to address the entire nation and assure everyone that America still remains a strong and functioning country. Our President George Bush was called upon to address the nation, a nation that was currently suffering from loss, fear, and despair. His goal was to persuade Americans to take comfort in the effort being put forth in resolving the aftermath of the attacks and the fear they caused. Recognizing his audience as being innocent victims of an unknown evil, President Bush ultimately had to present a speech that mastered various techniques

On September 11, 2001, George W. Bush delivered his 9/11 Address to the Nation at 8:30 PM to all Americans. This speech, broadcasted throughout the nation from within the Oval Office just hours after the terrorist hijacking and the crash on the Twin Towers, reassured American citizens during a time of devastation and need of proper leadership. (Eidenmuller). Through rhetoric intended to convey strength and the actions America had already taken to combat this tragedy, Bush instilled hope in the American people and provided them with a sense of unification.

The events that took place in America on September 11, 2001 will have a lasting wound on this country forever. President George W. Bush’s speech, “A Great People Has Been Moved to Defend a Great Nation”, gave America something to have hope in. Bush was a republican president and was the 43rd of the United States and was a very passionate man. Although Bush had to make some tough decisions that very day, he was a president that made a lasting impact on America. Throughout Bush’s speech, he effectively covered pathos, ethos, and logos.

On September 11, 2001, George W. Bush gave a speech to the American citizens following the horrible and tragic terrorist attacks that had taken place. Bush’s purpose is to create unity among the nation and to build his presidential credibility. United States President, George W. Bush, in his speech, 9/11 Address to the Nation, emphasizes how everyone should move forward and remain strong after the tragic events. Bush appeals to the audience using pathos, logos, and ethos while adopting a grieving, yet hopeful tone in order to tranquilize the people of America.

September 11, 2001 was a tragic part of  history for the United States of America. On September 11,  four planes crashed down by hijackers at the Pentagon, the Twin Towers, and a Pennsylvania field. The Pentagon and World Trade Center were the primary buildings where the Al Qaeda wanted to attack. The White House was another target, however they never made it. Later that night, President George W. Bush gave a speech about 9/11 in the Oval Office. George W. Bush inspired America of their safety and security of his confident tone, religious beliefs,word choice.

In the beginning of the speech he uses pathos, or emotion, which is a way of convincing an audience of an argument by creating an emotional response. George W Bush says, “Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror. The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge -- ­­huge structures collapsing have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger. These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat” (1). He tries to catch his audience by talking about all the bad things, and lives ended, but then states, “But they have failed. Our country is strong” (1).

When people think of a time where all of America was under attack they think of 9/11. 9/11 was one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in American history. After this deadly attack, President George W. Bush went on national television to talk to the shaken American population. In his speech, he addressed how this issue was to be dealt and his condolences for the lives lost. President Bush used multiple effective ways including ethos, pathos, and logos to comfort and inform his people in his 9/11 speech.

On September 11th, 2001, tragedy struck America with the attacks on the Twin Towers and on the Pentagon. Not only did tens of thousands of New Yorkers see these atrocities firsthand but, millions of viewers watched in horror on the news; witnessing their nation under attack. Hundreds of terrified civilians ran from the carnage, however there were some who ran toward the collapsing buildings to save innocent lives. President George W. Bush stood with the fire fighters, the police and other first responders holding the flag of his nation and gave his address to the mourning citizens of the United States. He mainly used the strategies of ethos and pathos to try to comfort the American people and also have them rise and fight against the terror.

The speech tells us that terrorist had attacked Americans, and it left many dead and injured. It tells us that people on the airplane, in the building, people going in to save lives, moms, dads, friends, and other family members had been trapped in that building. Many people outside of the Twin Towers caught the airplane in action hitting the building, this leaving American’s scared for their lives.

When the twin towers were destroyed in New York City by the terrorist group led by Osama Bin Laden, a Country filled with panic, sadness, and anger was left behind. Thousands of innocent civilians were killed, and the families of the fallen suffered greatly. People demanded answers, and wanted justice. People also felt unsafe, and were unaware if it was reasonable to expect another attack. President George Walker Bush prepares a speech for congress to discuss the events that took place, and the plans that will take place because of these events. The objectives of the speech Bush was trying to accomplish were informing the nation what had happed on September 11th, he then noted that it was not Muslins to be blamed for the attack, the challenges that lie ahead, and our plan for the “War on Terror.” The President uses the canons of rhetoric to execute a speech that met his audience’s needs.

Since the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration has been calling every citizens and every nations to support his Middle East policy. Nonetheless, the U.S. has been involved in the middle-east struggle for more than half of the century, wars were waged and citizens were killed. Yet, political struggles and ideological conflicts are now worse than they were under Clinton’s presidency. As “President’s Address to the Nation” is a speech asking everybody to support the troops to keep fighting in Iraq, I, as an audience, am not persuaded at all because of his illogical fallacy in the arguments. In this essay, I will analyze how and what are the illogical fallacies he uses in the