Ethos refers to credibility or trustworthiness of the speaker or writer. It is always conveyed through style and tone of the message. It is also shown through the way the speaker or writer refers to views that that are differing. The writer’s reputation can also affect the message in terms of his or her expertise and previous record among others (Freeley & Steinberg, 2013). Ethos is a key part of persuasion, and this can be seen if Senator Richard Nixon’s speech when he was trying to his voters. In his speech, he begins to talk about his life, and he managed to be where he was. The paragraph where Nixon talks about his life, he tries to give detailed account relating to his financial dealings over the past years.
The ethos is evident and very strong in the first paragraph. Over and over, Richard Nixon tries to identify or relate himself with his imagined audience. He describes himself and related himself to a family man, a committed husband, as a hard worker, as someone who went through a hard financial life (this is seen where he compared the problems in his early marriage to the ones being undergone by other young couples listening), and a patriot who fought in World War II (this is seen where he said he was entitled to a few battle stars). Since the whole reason for giving the speech is to show the people of America and those of Eisenhower that he is a trustworthy and honest person, not ready and able to receive illegal funds, his main goal is to show that he has good character. The first paragraph from the speech is a list of middle-class values, mainstream, especially during his time around 1950S in the United States. His speech would not have convinced many people today because this is an age that is filled with trust-busting scandals, such as Watergate. Nixon managed to use ethos well where he succeeded in giving an account of his image.
Pathos is always related to the emotional appeal. In other term, it relates to appealing to getting imagination and sympathy of the audience. An appeal to pathos may cause an audience to respond emotionally to the writer’s view and also feel what the writer is feeling (Shao, 2013). The pathos is used to bring out a feeling of pain, and to show how the writer is suffering imaginatively. Richard makes use of pathos to the best of his abilities. He starts his speech by making a comparison of himself and that of his opponents. In the speech, he to get from the audience a family man appeal. He tries to bring out pathos with the everyday family.
This is seen where he talks about having a cute daughter, a dog, and a hardworking, everyday wife. He goes on ahead to say that children love dogs and no matter what people say about dogs they are still going to keep it. He says this statement using a lot of commas. This is to make everyone know how he is feeling. He also makes use of the word “they” many times to show that he is not just a politician, but a person who is same as the audience, a hardworking, everyday man. Richard makes use of emotional appeal throughout his speech. He shows that he cares about the needs of the citizens, and he knows that there is job shortage in the country. This will make him not place his wife on the payroll because there are very many hardworking men in the country who are jobless (Freeley & Steinberg, 2013). The people will be very grateful to receive such jobs. He also says that his wife is working as a stenographer, and she is very good at her job, but she is not receiving any pay. This is to show the audience that he and his family are everyday people.
This refers to the consistency that is present in the message, the clarity in what is being claimed, the logic present in its reasons, and effectiveness coming from supporting evidence. The effect of logos on an audience is always referred to as logical appeal of an argument. Use of logos is seen in the first paragraph where Richard tries to answer a question that entailed how he pays for certain things and whether it is done legally. The question is about allegation brought against him. He answers the question by saying “And there are several ways that it can be done, incidentally, and that it is done legally in the United States Senate and the Congress” (Toye, 2013, p. 231).
He establishes logos during this part by saying that it is possible to do it and goes ahead to make the point clear to all his audience by saying it can be done legally, especially referring to the United States Congress and Senate. He also makes use of the word “incidentally” in his statement to show how he is accusing his opponents due to having his wife on the payroll. He also assures his voters and audience that he has not aimed at putting his wife on the payroll. That is something that he is not ready to undertake. He mentions something relating to the country having many stenographers and secretaries who are looking for work compared to his wife. This makes workers in the country, especially all workers feel cared for by Richard Nixon.
