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Gerald Ford Address To Nixon Rhetorical Analysis

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In 1974, President Richard Nixon announced his resignation. In response to this Vice President Gerald Ford spoke of his opinion on the situation. Nixon’s letter of resignation is a direct effect of the Watergate scandal, The purpose of these speeches is to make Ford look more trustworthy. After the Watergate scandal, Nixon was not trusted by the people and congress. In his speech Nixon announced, “ it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress to justify continuing that effort” (Passage 1 Paragraph 2). This describes Congress not trusting Nixon, because Nixon does not have a strong political base with them. Nixon is sure that, “because of the of the Watergate matter”, he won’t have the needed support from Congress (Passage 1 Paragraph 5). This describes how the Watergate incident made Nixon untrustworthy, because Nixon strongly believes the Congress will not support him after the scandal. …show more content…

Ford knows, “it is common knowledge that serious allegations and accusations hang like a sword over our former President’s head…” (Passage 2 Paragraph 15). This illustrates that Ford is aware of the fact that Nixon is no longer trusted and believes that Nixon has to resign for the betterment of the United States. What to do about Nixon is heavily disputed and Ford believes that, “only I can do that, and if I can, I must” (Passage 2 Paragraph 14). This shows that Ford knows the situation will get out of hand and he must get involved and make his executive decision and trust that the people will trust

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