I chose to watch a speech made by Condoleezza Rice, one of our very own University of Denver graduates. This speech was delivered on April 8, 2004 in Washington D.C. in response to the attacks of 9/11. On September 11, 2001 one of the most horrific and devastating attacks in the history of our country was made on the United States. The terrorist group Al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airline planes and proceeded to crash one of them into the Pentagon and two of them into the World Trade Center in New York. The fourth plane was heroically taken over by the passengers after it had been hijacked but devastatingly still crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Condoleezza Rice delivered this speech to make the people of our nation aware of the steps that our country was taking to retaliate against this national crisis.
This speech was successful based upon a couple key rhetorical devices used by Rice. She was able to incorporate the use of pathos, logos, and ethos as well as including many other rhetorical strategies such as extrinsic evidence and commonplaces.
One of the main reasons that Condoleezza Rice’s speech was so successful in regards to the American public would be the fact that she addressed commonplaces that applied to basically the entire nation. We, as the American people, were all deeply affected and moved by the tragedy of 9/11. This is something that affected each person in this country personally and emotionally thus creating it a commonplace. The citizens of the United States all have identical or at least extremely similar feelings of anger, shock, and patriotism. This is the commonplace that Rice tried to address. She states, “And as an officer of government on duty that day, I will never forget the sorrow and the anger that I felt, nor will I forget the courage and resilience of the American people, nor the leadership of the President that day. Now we have an opportunity and an obligation to move forward together.” Rice addresses the fact that the American people all feel the same way about the attacks on 9/11. By doing so, she unites her audience together, and is able to create a stronger message towards them. Rice’s argument that “the entire nation believes that what Al Qaeda did to our country was wrong and horrific” is an argument that is already in general circulation. Basically what this means is that Rice is stating the obvious. We know that the country feels this way about 9/11, but by Rice bringing this up in her speech, she is able to successfully add to her persuasion of her audience’s beliefs.
Condoleezza Rice was also able to use logos in her speech to successfully persuade her audience. She uses deductive reasoning to convince the people that the actions that President Bush has taken following 9/11 are the right steps to carry out. She states, “Bold and comprehensive changes are somewhat -- sometimes only possible in the wake of catastrophic events, events which create a new consensus that allows us to transcend old ways of thinking and acting… President Bush is leading the country during this time of crisis and change. He has unified and streamlined our efforts to secure the American homeland by creating the Department of Homeland Security… And he has done this in a way that is consistent with protecting America's cherished civil liberties and with preserving our character as a free and open society.” Rice creates this clear and concise argument by using deductive reasoning. In her first sentence, she makes a broad and general statement that could apply to any kind of situation, not necessarily this one particularly. Then, she takes the time to apply this idea to the issue that she is faced with today. By applying this general idea towards a specific situation, she is delivering her opinion in a way that makes it hard for her audience to argue or disagree with her.
Probably the most effective rhetorical device that Rice used in her speech was pathos. 9/11 was clearly an extremely emotional event for our country. By addressing the emotional side of this speech topic, Rice had an upper hand in convincing her audience of her argument. She states, “So the attacks came. A band of vicious terrorists tried to decapitate our government, destroy our financial system, and break the spirit of America. And as an officer of government on duty that day, I will never forget the sorrow and the anger that I felt, nor will I forget the courage and resilience of the American people, nor the leadership of the President that day.” This statement is filled with phrases that will make the American people feel either distressed, angry, or have some other extreme emotion. She appeal to the audience’s emotions on the subject by using language that is blunt and extreme. When people have emotional connections to a topic or to an idea, they have much more incentive to make that idea their own and imitate that opinion. Rice was very strategic in appealing to the audience’s emotion, especially in regards to such a strong topic such as this one.
Lastly, Rice seems like a credible source and a reliable person to listen to towards her audience. She uses extrinsic evidence to back up what she is saying. Instead of just using opinions and conjectures, she delivers her speech and fills it with facts and information for her listeners. For example, “The Department of Defense issued at least five urgent warnings to U.S. military forces that al-Qaida might be planning a near-term attack, and placed our military forces in certain regions on heightened alert.” Another example could be, “The FAA issued at least five Civil Aviation Security Information Circulars to all U.S. airlines and airport security personnel, including specific warnings about the possibility of hijacking.” Rice uses these facts from different departments of the government to prove that what she is saying is correct. By using extrinsic evidence, she is able to convince her audience of her argument by using actual facts instead of strictly opinion. People in general will always listen to facts over opinion. Facts are facts, so to speak. They are statements that cannot be contradicted because they are true. Whereas, contrary to facts, opinions are ideas that can be changed and argued against. So, by Rice using this extrinsic evidence to further her point, she strengthens her overall argument and ultimately wins the trust of her audience.
Condoleezza Rice creates an extremely compelling and trustworthy argument in the deliverance of her speech on the topic of 9/11. She not only uses logos and pathos to persuade her audience, but she also uses rhetorical devices such as commonplaces and extrinsic evidence to connect with her listeners and win their trust in her beliefs and opinions.
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