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  • Essay / George W. Bush's 9/11 Address to the Nation: Rhetorical Analysis

    On September 11, 2001, our nation was attacked by a terrorist group, marking the first attack on our soil since Pearl Harbor in 1941. These two Tragedies became very important historical events in the life of America and played an important role in the formation of Americans as a united and cohesive nation. Then-President George W. Bush delivered a speech to the nation regarding the attack. It is on this speech that I will do a rhetorical analysis. President Bush nailed all of his appeals in the speech, while everyone tends to think of President Bush as a Texan who has trouble with words, this speech is one of the most effective in reaching the greatest number of Americans and people from other countries around the world. as many different levels as possible. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayWas President Bush successful in using his appeals in the 9/11 address to the nation? Rhetorical analysis answers this question. The context of this speech was the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers, the Pentagon and the attempted attack on Washington DC on September 11, 2001. There was a lot of bias in the speech, as it came from the leader of the nation who was attacked. The speech was aimed primarily at Americans, but also at other countries allied to America and sympathetic to the cause addressed by President Bush. President Bush was still new to his presidency when the September 11 attacks occurred. He presented himself in this speech as a strong, but humble and aggressive leader, ready to defend the nation of which he was the leader. As an American, I believe that in his address to the nation, President Bush appeared very sympathetic to Americans, but his subtle aggressiveness would not have appealed to some of the nation's allies and definitely made very unsympathetic in the eyes of the enemies of the United States. . “I greatly appreciate the members of Congress who have joined me in strongly condemning these attacks” (Bush 2). The aforementioned statement made President Bush believe to the American people that Congress was behind him from the moment the attacks took place. However, President Bush had no respect for the opposing views in his speech. Declaring: “America has defeated its enemies before, and we will do it this time. None of us will ever forget this day, but we move forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world” (Bush 2). Using this statement it will be understood that President Bush left no room for his claims that those who did this were evil in the world, they had no good in their hearts to do such a thing. President Bush felt like what he was doing was right, there was no doubt that America was the one that had been attacked by evil. His tone here was passive anger that someone would do this, it was also filled with grief for the loss of the people who died in the terrorist attacks. The emotional appeal of President Bush's speech is very good, as I feel all the emotions he wanted to convey the message, while sounding professional, was well received and the wording was well placed to evoke response emotion he was looking for. The different emotions he was trying to evoke in the American people were anger, grief, and the need to protect the country. On the other side of the coin, he was also trying to make terrorists fear America and make them seemingly disillusioned with.