The study begins with an overview of the 1948 political situation, followed by the evaluation of Truman's use of ethical appeal using criteria developed by Thonssen, Baird, and Braden. Each of their three constituents of ethical appeal--character, sagacity, and good will--is applied to four speeches. Results of the analysis establish that Truman utilized a strong ethical appeal during the campaign. Conclusions are that his use of ethical appeal probably had a significant effect on the voters of America. Regardless of the quality of his use of pathos or logos, a less capable use of ethical appeal would probably have had a fatal effect on his campaign.

This study analyzed President Gerald Ford's efforts in selling his energy package in February, 1975. Six major speeches and news conferences were examined in terms of Richard Weaver's rhetorical theory. Five criteria of this theory were studied: appeals to man's good values, choice of argumentation, use of "god" and "devil" words, adaptation to the historical setting of the speech, and ethical character of the speaker. This analysis concluded that Ford was a good Weaverian rhetorician because he appealed to good values in language well adapted to each audience, adapted well to historical settings, and elevated his ethos considerably. However, Ford sold himself but not his program because he relied too heavily on his own ethos and circumstantial argumentation and slighted refutation arguments

The primary purpose of this study is to survey the attitudes of high school teachers toward the oral interpretation contests of the University Interscholastic League in Texas. The secondary purpose is to trace the development of those contests from their inception to the present time. The thesis contains four chapters: I -- An explanation of the purposes and procedures followed in the study. II -- A history of the interpretation competition in the Texas University Interscholastic League. III -- A compilation of the results of a questionnaire mailed to 240 selected teachers. IV -- A summary of the attitudes reflected in the questionnaires and recommendations for changes in the current structure of the University Interscholastic League.