Ethos though George W. Bush's speech

The event of 9-11 was critical in shaping George W. Bush’s administration; after a very close election in 2000, that went so far as to require a Supreme Court case, Bush’s status of President was already slightly shaken. The Republican platform on which Bush ran in 2000 held very isolationist values in terms of foreign affairs. He believed that the US had overextended American troops overseas and claimed that he wanted to abridge American interventionism abroad. The events of 9-11 steered the course of the administration in a very different direction than originally planned with the inception of the Patriot Act and the War in Iraq. President Bush was very much perceived as a credible source as a graduate of both Harvard and Yale University, so the reception of this speech didn’t primarily hinge on the appeal of his ethos. Yet, the manner in which he establishes ethics in his speech leave a lasting impact on the America we see today. Overall, I find that Bush ethically presented an argument to the American populous while still very much accounting for the emotionally component of the situation. He says that the American government intents to see the destruction and defeat of the global terror network, a claim that is only substantiated by his ethos. When addressing the American people he reassured them to remain calm, stay patient, and acknowledges future national challenges stemming from the terrorist attack itself. Overall Bush’s speech relates very much to exigency and the concept of kairos, in that this speech held a lot of weight to a startled national within the context of an unprecedented trauma.

.