Create a 1 page page paper that discusses on the brink of war. On the Brink of War The speech delivered by Sen. Robert C. Byrd emphasized the irrelevance and inappropriateness of beginning the war. To persuade the audience in the validity of his ideas and judgments he used different kinds of persuasion techniques.

To begin with, the claim was supported by logos. It implies reasoning and providing logical evidence. Byrd claimed that it would be radical for the United States to “attack a sovereign government because of a dislike for a particular regime”, supporting it by the fact that this action would be “in contravention of international law and the U.N. Charter”. Another example of logos was the statistics which showed the sum of money spent by the administration. Byrd thought it was dismal, because “this administration has squandered a large projected surplus of some $5.6 trillion”. Furthermore, in this speech we can observe a few examples of ethos, when the Senator made references to authorities. “The distinguished Senator from Illinois, Mr. Durbin, and I have been talking about that”. However, the most numerous are the examples of pathos, to my mind. “There will be children, little boys and girls dying if this war goes forward in Iraq. And American men and women will die, too”, “but on whom will we depend when these men and women are gone to foreign lands to fight a war if a war faces us here at home, a different kind of war” and others.

The whole speech was based on the Toulmin method of argumentation. There was a clear split between sides. The Senator neither gave neutral statements, nor analyzed the opposing side. On the contrary, all his claims were highly judgmental, focused on strengthening his viewpoint. Byrd underpinned his thoughts by data, warrants and backing. The idea of entering a new war was ominous for him. “We may have massive military might… but remember we have had massive military might before. How many millions of men marched to the drums of war only 60 years ago? Thirteen million American men under arms…”

To sum up, in his speech “On the Brink of War” Sen. Robert C. Byrd all three categories of arguments – logos, ethos and pathos and applied the Toulmin approach.

Works Cited

Examples of Ethos, Logos, and Pathos. Your Dictionary. http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-ethos-logos-and-pathos.html

Rogerian vs Toulmin. WordPress. 1 March. 2012. https://andrewconradtaylor.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/rogerian-vs-toulmin-24/

Ward, K. Jr. Sen. Robert C. Byrd “ On the brink of war”. The Charleston Gazette. 28 Jun. 2010. http://blogs.wvgazette.