On September 14, Bush took a short helicopter tour of the devastated New York area and then walked between the piles of rubble. Bush then took hold of a bullhorn, climbed to the top of a small pile of rubble, and put his arm around a fire fighter and he gave one of the best speeches of his life.
He spoke only thirteen sentences and did so in only three minutes. Bush did not just use logos, pathos, or ethos alone. He used them in unison. He used them to create a wholesome speech that was successful.
Former president George W. Bush has become notorious for being a poor orator. Many critics of Bush have bashed him for his verbal mistakes and for his choice of wording. He was even criticized for not speaking to the nation soon enough after the terrorist attacks on September 11. Bush is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000.
Eight months into Bush’s first term as president, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks occurred. In response, Bush announced the War on Terror, an international military campaign which included the war in Afghanistan launched in 2001 and the war in Iraq launched in 2003. Bush’s display of ethos during this speech was ubiquitous. Being a president that is willing to come to the heart of the tragedy that had just occurred, automatically lifted his character to that of a person who is caring, compassionate, and interested.
His sense of goodwill was seen throughout his speech. Bush’s slight nonverbal actions also bolstered his sense of character. Throughout most of his speech, he kept his arm wrapped around a lead firefighter working at the scene. The two men, standing in front of onlookers and millions of Americans watching television, looked as if they were good friends, glancing and nodding at one another. Interestingly, Bush’s three minute speech was completely audience centered, which has been known to affect ethos.
In all,…
