Michelle Obama's Last Commencement Speech

Beginning on January 8, 1790, the State of the Union Address has performed as one of the most informative and effective ways for the President of the United States to address members of congress with future plans, past reflections, and current achievements. The State of the Union address for 2018 was given on January 30 by President Donald J Trump. In every speech given a strong use of some sort of rhetorical appeal is used, whether it be ethos, pathos, logos, or multiple. Focusing on the starting portion of President Trump's Union Address he begins to describe the achievements of his administration over the year that he has been in office. When defining these successes he also takes the time to acknowledge several people who have showed heroism

In 1972, Shirley Chisholm stood before thousands of people and presented her presidential bid declaration speech. Chisholm uses all three of Aristotle’s persuasive appeals. Throughout Chisholm’s speech, she used logos, pathos and ethos. Logos is the appeal to logic in which reasoning and facts comes into play. Then pathos is the appeal to emotions in which she uses words to pull and the heart strings of her audience.

The world has developed in many areas such as in gender, sexual, and racial rights. Shirley Chisholm stands as one of these individuals in history that has paved a path to equality. Her Presidential bid, delivered on January 25, 1972, is one moment cemented in history. This paper will analyze that speech by examining her pathos, logos, and ethos. Pathos is Greek for an appeal of emotion.

At the beginning of his speech, he conveys emotion through telling his own story and putting the audience in his shoes. He states “On the one hand he is born in the shadow of the stars and stripes and he is assured it represents a nation which has never lost a war. He pledges allegiance to that flag which guarantees "liberty and justice for all. " He is part of a country in which anyone can become President, and so forth”. This shows the audience how African American children feel when living in a country made on the premise of equality, but feeling anything but equal to their Caucasian peers.

Ethos is when one gives credibility. President Johnson has credibility in his speech when he claims, “Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Members of the congress…” Mr. President also uses ethos when he states “...at the request of your beloved speaker, and the senator from Montana, the majority leader, the Senator from Illinois, the minority leader, Mr. McCulloch, and other members of both parties, I came here tonight…” These are example of ethos by giving credibility to everyone he mentioned. Aside from ethos there is pathos. Pathos is the passion in a speech or writing.

Pathos is a rhetorical device used for providing emotion to the reader. He wants the reader to feel sympathetic towards the mistreatment of African-Americans. In the introduction, the first rhetorical device he introduced is pathos. Coates present pathos when he introduced Clyde Ross. He titles the first chapter as, “So that’s just one of my losses”.

The Rhetorical Elements of Barack Obama’s Speech President Obama uses rhetorical appeals throughout his speech. These rhetorical appeals help prove that each an every student should try their best in school. President Obama stated in his 2009 “Address to America’s Schoolchildren” that each student must take responsibility for his or her own education. President Obama uses many examples of ethos, logos, and pathos in his speech. In Obama’s 2009 “Address to America’s Schoolchildren” he has examples of ethos.

Rhetorical Analysis Former Illinois State Senator and soon to be Forty-fourth president of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, recounts what happened in the past to make America what is today and how he intends to maintain the ideas of America’s founding fathers throughout his term of presidency. His intended audience of the first inaugural address is the citizens of America and his purpose was to comfort them about the past and encourage the future of America. He creates a patriotic and empowering tone in order to appeal to pathos. His diction throughout the speech illustrates patriotism, allusions, and anaphoras. Obama opens his speech by discussing the views of our forebears and documents and how we have followed through with those views.

During a funeral for Reverend Clementa Pinckney, a Charleston shooting victim, President Obama delivered an influential eulogy. This eulogy turned out to be so powerful that it traveled throughout the internet and became known as one of Obama’s best speeches from the duration of his presidency. The speech resonated so well with many citizens because of its relatable content and connections to passionate issues in today’s society. The delivery of the eulogy played a gigantic part in its effectiveness to Americans as well. President Obama’s eulogy contained beyond relatable content and various connections to the issues racking society’s bones today.

By saying this, Eleanor presents the rhetorical device pathos, because she uses inspirational words to grab attention and connect with the listeners in a way that relates to them. She also uses vivid language to truly intrigue the audience to compromise and work together to provide peace for the country. Eleanor uses a strong form of ethos in the quote from paragraph 10 , “ This declaration is based upon the spiritual fact

The essence of the speech relies on Chisholm’s fundamental ability and her own personal

Then by appealing to pathos, she reminds the world of the horrendous events that occur every day as a result of the inability of girls to speak up for themselves. Finally, she ties in a sense of hope through a shift in tense, as to present that together, everyone can aid in the success of the program in the end. Overall, Michelle Obama’s speech unites the world in supporting the cause for not only a woman’s right to education but also the right to speak up against those who shame them for being a part of the female

Barack Obama’s win for President in 2009 was a historical moment for the United States. His inaugural speech was much anticipated, because this was going to set the tone for his presidency. His speech told the American people that improving the economy is one of his priorities, but there were also other areas he would like to improve like healthcare and the education system. This was a speech that was meant to persuade the American public to take action for them to rise as a nation again, and for them to put their trust into him. His message addressed a couple of specific points like his gratefulness to the American people, the different crises America is facing, how America will overcome these crises, replying to his cynics, addressing the world, and then he reminded America again to be brave like they’ve always been to overcome the hard times (5 Speechwriting Lessons from Obama's Inaugural Speech, (n.d.).

On September 8, 2009 in Arlington, Virginia, President Barack Obama issued a “Back to School” speech. In this speech, he outlined the importance of a student’s education and how it may reflect on their future. President Obama plans to encourage students to try their hardest in the upcoming school year by convincing them to “put their best effort into everything that they do” no matter how challenging life may get at times. Succeeding in school is not always easy due to other challenges in life, but it is definitely not impossible. Growing up, Barack was raised by a single mother who did not have loads of money to send him to school with the other American children.

He briefly addresses the issues he finds with racism, and focusing on the important main goal of unity in America. Obama stated many things in his speech, which Clark states related to four rhetorical strategies: The power of allusion, parallelism, the “two-ness” of texture, and autobiography. Therefore, making his speech very influential to Obama getting his point across. Before analyzing Obama’s speech, Clark stated a very famous paragraph that was written by W.E.B DuBois.