Rhetorical Criticism: The Main Ideas in “Atoms for Peace” and “911” speeches
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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to evaluate distinctive features and language/word choices in two presidential speeches as Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” in 1953 and George
W. Bush’s “911” in 2001. Mutual characteristics of these two orations involved the notions of “peace” and “freedom”. Kenneth Burke’s cluster-agon criticism analysis methodology was employed to illustrate the main ideas and identify the motives of the rhetors.
A qualitative research method was adopted. The speeches were in the form of sound recordings with English written text accessed from the website <http://www.americanrhetoric.com>.
The findings revealed that Eisenhower used 10 good terms to support his God term “peace” as the main concept in his speech. “Fear” was identified as the only Devil term to oppose “peace”, with no satellite terms. By contrast, Bush used 7 good terms to support his God term “freedom” as the main concept in his “911” speech. Six satellite terms were used to support the Devil term “Terrorist /(ism)” in opposition to “freedom”.
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