Presidential Speech
The Presidents accused of scandals in the history of American politics have been known to make memorable apology speeches. Even though, the speech that the Presidents made were done by different people and in different times, marked similarities and patterns have been noted. The Lewinsky scandal was basically a political sex scandal that occurred in 1999. This scandal came out because the President was accused of having a sexual relationship with an intern in the White House, Monica Lewinsky. The Watergate scandal occurred in 1970 because five men were caught at the Democratic National Committee and further investigations led to President Nixon being found guilty of committing fraud. Another fraud that highlighted a President as the causative agent was the Iran Arms and Contra Aid Controversy. This scandal occurred when President Reagan was in the administration and the officials in charge were accused of selling arms to Iran secretly. All the aforementioned scandals presented a scenario for the presidents. Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon and Ronal Reagan all had to give speeches at one time or another to own up for their actions.
All the three presidents that gave speeches made use of a stern and strong voice w when delivering them. The presidents who were accused and found guilt could not have gotten up on stage and stated that the law and all the citizens of America were accusing them without a reason. Most of the speeches delivered had a common feature of accepting what they did wrong and having regret from the situation. The presidents gave a brief overview of what happened and how the country and the government were to deal with the situation.
Analysis of Ronald Reagan's speech regarding the Iran-Contra Scandal
The President gave the speech regarding this issue on March 4th 1987 from the White House. Even though he wasn't directly linked to it as severely as Clinton or Nixon was, the president knows that it had the tendency to ruin his term as a president. He could have gone through impeachment or be forced to resigned. Knowing that he was in a soft corner, the President started the speech by getting in a good light in front of the citizens. Attitude and sternness is never really a choice that presidents should opt for when concerning an apology speech. The speech started off by confirming the power that the people have. The president claimed that he had no idea about what was happening behind his back. In this scandal, it was quite apparent that Vice President George Bush, Col Oliver North, Admiral John Poindexter, White House and other officials took over for what the President have done. Those who have analyzed the speech went onto clearly state that the President was lying about the whole scandal. Regan was known to be a prominent figure for transferring the money and thus carrying out illegal acts. The entire speech carried out by Reagan was very convincing such that it would portray him in very good light about all that he has done.
Apart from adding a tone of trust, the President gave a view of the issues through his perceptions so he would manipulate what the audience was thinking. During the time the President was giving the speech, he known to have the American hostages freed from Iran. Before his administration, President Jimmy Carter was not successful in freeing the Americans. People might not call it a coincidence but it was odd that the hostages were being released at the same time Reagan attained his post as the President. In fact, the negotiations between the President and the Iranian regime were going on since six years. Of course, the President did go on to reveal that he found out what his officers were doing later on and how ashamed he was. He made use of rhetorical questions in his speech that made him look even more innocent. He was attempting to get at the same thought level as the people who were listening to the speech. After asking these questions, the President also gave the answers in such a way that the people listening to him got satisfied. Blaming your own self and showing regret has been a common use in speeches made by the presidents. He went on to say the things he did wrong and how he should have made his moves more carefully. He made use of topicalization when he was talking about how angry or how disappointed he could...
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