Vinh Huynh
Clinton’s “I Misled People” Apologia Speech Analysis
In August 17, 1998 Clinton, after seven months of silence, Clinton finally admitted that he had an inappropriate relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. In a four-minute apologia speech, Clinton formally apologized for his personal misconduct, and at the same time, asked for support from the people to stop the lawsuit and accusations that came from the scandal. Clinton carefully and skillfully made use of logos and pathos throughout the speech to convince the audience that there were bigger issues at hand than his personal dealings with Monica Lewinsky. Therefore, he believed that this matter should no longer be the focus point of the nation, and it was about time to move on.
Before stepping into the critical analysis of the speech, it is important to understand the historical setting from which the speech arose. The context can be briefly summarized as the following. In 1995 Clinton had a sexual relationship with one of his White House interns by the name of Monica Lewinsky. On January 17, 1998, a sexual misconduct lawsuit against him was filed. Clinton then quickly delivered a forceful public statement that he did not have a sexual relationship with the woman. However, unknown to President Clinton, Linda Tripp, one of Lewinsky’s associates, had recorded several conversations of Lewinsky describing her affair with the President. In the seven months afterwards, Kenneth W. Starr, the StarWhitewater independent counsel, had began collecting evidence of the affair and carrying out investigation about Clinton’s obstruction of justice. Evidence of Clinton lying under oath would be grounds for impeachment. On August 17, 1998, Clinton decided to a...
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...takes, deeply regretted and would take action to correct his false doings. At least from the psychosocial approach to critical analysis this speech, Clinton had successfully created the connection between an author and an audience to portray feelings and his improved attitudes.
In conclusion, President Clinton’s apologia was a successful speech considering its overall effectiveness on the general public. The speech repaired his image and turned the public sentiment tilted more strongly toward his side by emphasizing that he mislead people only because of his embarrassment and his desire to protect his family. While there are still weaknesses in the speech, the public opinion polls conducted later suggested that the majority of Americans were fairly satisfied with his debate, and again proving that his apologia speech accomplished his aim and purpose.
When there is talk of violence, let us stand up against it.In the face of death, let us honor life… Let us not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Clinton). Through wording such as “let us teach our children...”, and “when there is talk of...: let us”, Clinton spoke to the American People as if they were together in their pain. Having established common ground between Americans and the citizens of Oklahoma City through parallelism, Clinton took his approach a step further by personally establishing himself as a neighbor of the citizens of Oklahoma City. He established himself as a neighbor, providing support to the people of Oklahoma. Clinton appealed to many Americans through patriotism, in which he shows America is united in support. One such example was the start of Clinton’s speech, where he thanked everyone gathered as “our fellow Americans” (Clinton).
Before Clinton was elected President he had an encounter with Paula Jones in a hotel room. After Clinton took office Paula Jones then sued Clinton for sexual harassment. A short time later Monica Lewinsky began her intern at the White House. Clinton and Lewinsky began a sexual relationship. Judge Kenneth Starr was the investigator of Whitewater. President Clinton denied any sexual relations with Lewinsky. On October 8, 1998, the House would vote to have an impeachment and won. Clinton was charged with perjury and obstruction to justice. Bill Clinton would end up not getting kicked out of office by senate.
The opening of Clintons speech effectively captures the audience’s attention; Clinton begins her speech with;
Bill Clinton’s main purpose was to appeal to his audience in a way that would make them think the way he thinks. Using the techniques he used the speech was successful and really caught people’s attention. His speech was mainly used to fill people in about the way our society is even after so many events that have ended tragically. What Clinton did was appeal to his audience emotionally, appeal to their character, appeal to their logic and finally he used humor and reason to give his speech an interesting vibe.
Lewinsky was an unpaid intern and later became a paid staffer at the White House. In the beginning of the case, Monica Lewinsky did deny having sexual relations with the President. Starr then found tape recordings of telephone conversations of Lewinsky describing her relationship with the president. Clinton tried to cover up the affair by having his advisor Vernon Jordan to have Lewinsky lie or having a job outside Washington.
None of this would have been much of a problem had Monica Lewinsky had not told Tripp that Bill Clinton and Vernon Jordan instructed her to lie about the affair with Clinton. Supposedly Linda Tripp has Monica alleging this on tape. These tapes if finally released to the public should prove to be quite titillating, Monica Lewinsky claims that Clinton was very fond of oral sex and that she it to him on a number of occasions. It has been alleged by various news organizations that a secret service agent actually caught Lewinsky and Clinton in the act. It has also been alleged that Monica Lewinsky has a blue semen stained dress which, if true, would be direct DNA evidence of the affair. But it still would not prove obstruction of justice. If that was ever proven it could be an impeachable offence, a sexual scandal probably would not lead to the impeachment of Bill Clinton. If not then it will simply be a source of Bill Clinton jokes.
The president did not commit logical fallacies in his speech. It was strictly facts and events that had taken place. The fact that there are no logical fallacies makes it a more credible speech, as well as a successful argument. So, this speech was very successful in the way that the ideas were put together and written.
On August 17, 1998, exactly one year after making the statement above, President Bill Clinton prepared to deliver a speech concerning a scandal that had gripped the nation for months. It is needless to say that this was an important moment during the Clinton administration. After accusations of sexual harassment, Clinton addressed the nation and admitted to having a relationship with Monica Lewinsky. In this critical speech Clinton set out to admit to wrong-doings, provide a few reasons for his action, and ultimately persuade the audience into moving on and forgetting the scandal. This essay will break down his speech into sections and examine the most and least effective strategies that Clinton employed and how well he executed those strategies. This is an interesting speech given under rare circumstances. Not since Watergate had an American president been under such harsh moral criticism from the public. By looking critically at this speech we are able to gain valuable insight into Clinton's motives.
George W. Bush’s “9/11 Address to the Nation” is a speech in which he talks about the catastrophic event on September eleventh, 2001. Two airplanes crash into the Twin Towers in New York City on this day, shocking the entire world. He addresses this speech to the people of America on the night of the disastrous event, to let the people of the United States know what is going on. This speech explains how the United States is a strong country, the motives behind the event, as well as to bring the United States together and stronger.
Because of the controversial issues surrounding President G.W. Bush before and during the time of his reelection, the acceptance speech that he delivered is an important piece of literature to study. This diplomatic speech is a piece of rhetorical contribution because the motives and meanings behind any President’s speech is significant to us as citizens of the United States of America. It further warrants our attention because if the audience is able to comprehend the inner meanings and motives behind a presidential speech, then they will eventually be able to differentiate the actual stances and platforms of future presidential candidates and nominees.
Clinton repeats the words “If women” followed by “will” (Clinton), this gives the audience a reason to accept her propositions. Good outcomes come with good actions. When she concluded her speech, Hillary kept using the repetition of the words dignity, respect, family and children. Clinton’s credibility is not questioned when she says she has been working in the case, “Over the past 25 years, I have worked persistently on issues relating to women, children, and families” (Clinton) this is the way she knows about women and their necessities, “I’ve had the opportunity to learn more about the challenges facing women in my country and around the world” (Clinton).Her goal is definite, “To strengthen families and societies by empowering women to take greater control over their own destinies”( Clinton). This change will not only affect women, but everyone who surrounds them.
On September 11, 1998, former president Bill Clinton delivered the infamously self-proclaimed speech entitled “I Have Sinned.” In an attempt to convert the public suspicion and hatred back to trust and loyalty, Clinton finally confessed to the inappropriate relations with Monica Lewinsky. By deeply expressing his sorrow through his foreboding and apologetic tone, Clinton constructs various examples of ethos, uses stiff body language and blank facial expressions, direct eye contact, and crafts the majority of his speech on short and choppy sentences. The overall purpose of this speech was for Clinton to ultimately express his remorse for the regretful acts he committed, and also to ensure the American people that he will remain trustworthy throughout
William Jefferson Clinton?s eight-year term as president of the United States of America was one of the most corrupt, and possibly the most damaging ever. There is evidence connecting him to hundreds of deaths, injuries, and explosions. He, along with his administration, made a number of ?Faustian bargains and policy blunders?
Bush’s method of topic by topic argument along with many emotional appeals was a rather effective way of winning the audience’s support. By appealing to the emotions of the audience Bush was able to give the audience issues they could relate to as well as issues they would feel strongly about. With an emotionally involved audience Bush was able to gather a great number of supporters of his party, just as he intended in his original purpose. The further reference to the character of the people involved in the issues really paid off by drawing the crowd closer to the people working for them. With the topical structure and the appeals used, the speech was a very effective tool in gaining support for the Republican Party from the northern Arizonan audience.
Lately, the top story in the news day after day, months after months have been about William Jefferson Clinton, also known as Bill. Who could blame them, there is nothing better than a story out of the ordinary, especially one with presidential status. For the past months he has been the most talked about figure, being the essential topic for news, talk shows, late night comedy and even going as far as the big screen. Talk about 'Primary Colors' and 'Wag the Dog.' What has gotten to me the most however, were the constant flow of Republicans, along with a few Democrats, who just want to say how shocked and embarrassed they are along with the people of the United States.The president had not just become the most talked about figure, but also one history had ever seen, so far that is, breaking the record and becoming a topic of conversation and debate 'twenty-four seven.' The people, who I think were most affected by this crisis and feel very sad for, are the Republicans, since they had lost severe amount of sleep over the president's bedroom crisis. They had to perform their republican duties by shocking our brains with the president's affair with Monica Lewinsky. We had to ignore the rest of the world news and its issues while they plough through the valley of lies, abuse of power and something they called high crimes and misdemeanors.