Oliver North's Speech at Liberty (page 3)

Now that North's ethos had the audience on his side, he utilized pathos and logos to achieve his goals. His first objective was to justify his role in the Iran-Contra scandal. He accomplished this mainly by building his ethos as true American, and then utilizing an appeal to emotion. "Some people believe that once your accused, you're branded for life. I have been accused … they are a badge of honor." He appealed to the audiences' emotions by admitting that what he did was legally wrong, but that his morals and ethics stood on a pedestal far above the law. He also used logos to explain his actions. He explained that during the trial, he and his family had received over two million support letters from Americans who believed in his cause. He also appealed to logic by insinuating that the Vietnam betrayal was about to repeat itself in Nicaragua because Congress was "once again turning its back." Lt. Col. Oliver North was able to clear his name, not by apologizing for his actions, but by standing up for them. Where he used ethos to get the audience on his side, he used pathos and logos to explain his participation in the Iran-Contra scandal.

North's second objective was to motivate the college graduates to become American patriots. Once again, North's tremendous ethos opened the door for his logical and emotional appeals. "You can be anything you want … those from the University of Moscow … they can be anything the state wants them to be." Here, he forced the students to think about how lucky they were to be Americans. He also used emotion to encourage the graduates to fulfill their obligations to the United States government.

Page 1 of Oliver North's Speech at Liberty
Page 2 of Oliver North's Speech at Liberty
Page 3 of Oliver North's Speech at Liberty
Page 4 of Oliver North's Speech at Liberty