Rhetoric in history: Hitler, Mussolini, Truman, Pope John XIII, J. F. Kennedy, Johnson, Gorbachev, Obama, Al-Baghdadi, Trump, Winfrey

1. USING RHETORIC TO ILLUSTRATE HISTORY
Examples

2. Adolf Hitler,
Speeches

3. Actio
The delivery that is given to a speech, such as
hand gestures, voice variation, speaker to
audience eye contact, and an engaging manner.

4. Hitler’s body language
• Shrill voice, anger. A voice that is like sand paper.
• Words are articulated, and have a lilting rhythm.
• His back is stiff.
• His eyes are vacant
• To mark the rhythm Hitler uses either his closed fist or his flat
open palm. He points with his finger.
• When he pauses he crosses his arms, signaling closure.
• His body language conveys a threat.
Video

5. Hitler’s body language
Several photographs show that Hitler practiced
his speeches in front of a mirror.
Video

6. Benito Mussolini,
Declaration of War speech,
June 10, 1940

7. Conative function
A function of language or, more generally,
communication, that is focused on influencing
the behaviour of, the addressee, and thus
concerned with persuasion. A key function in
Jakobson's model (Oxford Reference).

8. Perlocutionary act
Persuading, convincing, scaring, enlightening,
inspiring, or otherwise getting someone to do or
realize something, whether intended or not
(Austin 1962).

9. Mussolini’s body language
Mussolini opens his eyes wide, turns his face
side on, juts out his jaw, sticks out his lip, puts
his hands on his belt, and puffs out his chest.
He looks like a gorilla that wants to convey his
desire to dominate.

10. Pauses
Pauses and silences are louder than words.
Pauses are needed to accept the applause and
roar of the crowds.
Mussolini was silent for almost half of his
speeches.

11. Syntax
When speaking he used simple syntax.
His sentences were almost always short: subject, verb,
object, full stop. Very few subordinate clauses.

12. Slogans
Slogans were a key feature in his speeches.
Mussolini knew that the masses adore
simplification. He used the same words to repeat
his slogans which are always identical. A
statement is influential only if it is repeatedly
continuously.
Ads use the same mechanism to hammer home
a message.

13. 3
A ternary structure was standard in Mussolini’s
speeches.

14. The rule of three
Soldiers of land, sea and air.
Believe, obey, fight.
Video
“

15. Harry Truman,
Statement by the
President
announcing the Use
of the A-Bomb at
Hiroshima, August
6, 1945

16. Topos
In Latin locus (from locus communis), referred in
the context of classical Greek rhetoric to a
standardised method of constructing or treating
an argument. The general topics
("commonplaces") can be applied to many
different subjects.
I. e. Progress is a good thing.

17. The topos of progress
With this bomb we have now added a new and
revolutionary increase in destruction to supplement the
growing power of our armed forces […].
It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic
power of the universe. The force from which the sun
draws its power has been loosed against those who
brought war to the Far East.
Video
“

18. Pope John XXIII,
Moon Speech,
October 11, 1962

19. Pathos
An appeal to the emotions of the audience,
eliciting feelings that already reside in them.
One of the three modes of persuasion,
alongside ethos and logos.

20. Speaking to your eyes
When you go back home, you will find your children.
Give them a hug and say: “This is a hug from the
Pope". You may find some tears that need to be dried.
Do something... Say a good word: “The Pope is with us,
especially in times of sadness and bitterness".
Video
“

21. John F. Kennedy,
Ich bin ein Berliner,
Speech, June 26,
1963

22. President John F Kennedy's handwritten note card
for his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech

23. Symploce
Figure of repetition that combines anaphora and
epistrophe in which the first and last word or
words in one phrase, clause, or sentence are
repeated in one or more successive phrases,
clauses, or sentences; repetition of
the first and last words in a clause over
successive clauses (American Rhetoric).

24. Let them come to Berlin
There are many people in the world who really don't understand,
or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world
and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin.
There are some who say that communism is the wave of the
future. Let them come to Berlin.
And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can
work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin.
And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism
is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress.
Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin.
Video
“

25. Lyndon Johnson,
Civil Rights Act
Speech,
March 15, 1965

26. Using a slogan
On the evening of 15 March 1965 when Johnson
left the White House to go to Congress to deliver
his speech, he was greeted outside the gates by
a picket line and protesters shouting: “we shall
overcome”. He repeated it in his speech

27. Climax
Figure of repetition in which words or phrases or
sentences are arranged in order of increasing
intensity or importance, often in parallel
construction; words or phrases arranged by
degrees of increasing significance (American
Rhetoric). I. e. "win the war, secure the peace,
and earn the respect of the world“ (Barack
Obama).

28. An American problem
And should we defeat every enemy, and should we double our
wealth and conquer the stars, and still be unequal to this issue,
then we will have failed as a people and as a nation. For, with a
country as with a person, "what is a man profited if he shall gain
the whole world, and lose his own soul?“ [Matthew 16:26]
There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There
is no Northern problem. There is only an American problem.
Video
“

29. Mikhail Gorbachev,
Speech to the UN
on Major Soviet
Military Cut,
December 7, 1988

30. The threat of force in the Cold War
It is obvious […] that the use or threat of force no
longer can or must be an instrument of foreign
policy.
Video
“

31. Barack Obama,
Speech in Cairo,
June 4, 2009

32. Metaphor
A figure of speech that is used to make a comparison
between two things that aren't alike but do have
something in common. Unlike a simile, where two
things are compared directly using like or as, a
metaphor's comparison is more indirect by stating
something is something else. A metaphor is not meant
to be taken literally.
I. e. “The snow is a white blanket” or “Time is money”
(http://examples.yourdictionary.com)

33. Speaking to one’s eyes
It is a sign of neither courage nor power to shoot
rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old
women on a bus.
Video
“

34. Malala Yousafzai,
Speech to the UN,
July 12, 2013

35. Synecdoche
Figure of comparison in which a word standing
for part of something is used for the whole of that
thing or vice versa; any part or portion or quality
of a thing used to stand for the whole of the thing
or vice versa - genus to species or species to
genus. I. e. the word “bread” can be used to
represent food in general.

36. Books and pens
So let us wage a glorious struggle against
illiteracy, poverty and terrorism, let us pick up our
books and our pens, they are the most powerful
weapons. One child, one teacher, one book and
one pen can change the world. Education is the
only solution. Education first.
Video
“

37. Abu Bakr al-
Baghdadi,
Speech in Mosul,
July 5, 2014

38. Synecdoche
Figure of comparison in which a word standing
for part of something is used for the whole of that
thing or vice versa; any part or portion or quality
of a thing used to stand for the whole of the thing
or vice versa, genus to species or species to
genus. I. e. the word “bread” can be used to
represent food in general.

39. Book and sword
This is the basis of Islam: a book that guides us
and a sword that defends us.
Video
“

40. Donald Trump,
Inaugural Speech,
January 20, 2017

41. Introduce a villain
All great stories have a hero and a villain
(Carmine Gallo).

42. The establishment
Today’s ceremony, however, has very special meaning.
Because today we are not merely transferring power
from one Administration to another, or from one party to
another – but we are transferring power from
Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the People.
[…] The establishment protected itself, but not the
citizens of our country.
Video
“

43. Oprah Winfrey,
Golden Globe
Speech,
January 7, 2017

44. Anecdote
A brief, revealing account of an individual person
or an incident.

45. Linoleum
In 1964, I was a little girl sitting on the linoleum floor of
my mother's house in Milwaukee watching Anne
Bancroft present the Oscar for Best Actor at the 36th
Academy Awards. She opened the envelope and said
five words that literally made history:" The winner is
Sidney Poitier." Up to the stage came the most elegant
man I ever remembered.
“

46. perlaretorica.it @discorsipotenti