A Soldier’s Fight: George S. Patton Speech to the 3rd Army.

World War II is one of the most memorable wars in the nation. It consisted of two sides. The Allied Powers, who contained the United Kingdom, France, Soviet Union, and the United States. The allied powers fought against the axis powers, who were Germany, Japan, and Italy. George S. Patton, who was a general of the United State, was known for a significantly amount of speeches but, this speech he gave to the third U.S. Army is one speech that stuck out to the Americans. The speech is about him trying to convince the U.S army to fight alongside of him because, “All real Americans love the sting and clash of battles.” Patton uses emotional appeal, logical reasoning, and also creditability to establish his theme of his speech. The themes that were identified were their masculinity, family, future, pride, and teamwork.

The three terms that we associate with persuasion in texts are called ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is the ethics of the texts that consist of the credibility of the texts. This is when someone speaks highly of them self or brag onto themselves to get their point across. Pathos is the emotional appeal, whether it is sad or strong it connects to the reader in an emotional way. Then there is logos the logical reasoning. This is using data and charts to get people’s statement across. This helps add factual data into your speech. In the speech given by Patton, he uses all three terms in the text to boost the quality of words; this helps make the soldiers more aware of what they were getting into.

George Patton was a general in high command. He gave the speech to the third army on July 5, 1944, before invading Normandy on D-Day. He was called “Old Blood and Guts” by people. Some people say that he received this name from all of the bloodshed in the battles. Others say he got this name from the way he described a battle in the past. Kevin Hymel, a famous researcher for WWII, wrote an article about Patton. Kevin says, “… Patton Jr. is remembered for his battlefield genius as well as his personal lapses of judgement” (31). Although he was hated by many, a lot of the troops respected him. Although he gave harsh discipline, he was well respected and even devoted because of the winning battles. He also led the Seventh Army in the Mediterranean. He was in the army from 1920 through the 1930’s because he loved combat. Patton went to Virginia Military Institute then West Point graduating in 1909. Sadly, Patton died on December 21, 1945 from a congestive heart failure; which means his heart did not pump blood as well as it should.

In the speech Patton gave to the Third U.S Army, he tries to persuade the men to fight for the country. One way he did this is by using emotional appeal. Patton says, “The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared.” Patton is implying that if the troops do not fight, they will not be considered a hero for his or her country and they will be considered a coward. He also tries to persuade the army by saying, “Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle” (Patton). He indicates that Americans love to fight and also love the battle field so, they should fight in war with him. Instead of Patton being more persuasive he was insulting them. By him insulting these Army men, this would make them want to fight even more to be honored as a hero to their families, country, children, and even to themselves. This would also allow the men to say that they will be proud to be an American. Patton says, “you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones” (Patton). That instant would immediately want someone to protect their kids, mother, wife, and others. Patton’s use of emotional appeal worked welled because it touched not only their sense of pride but their sense of dignity to help their country.

Another way Patton tries to convince the troops is by giving some information which people says he came up with in his head. Patton says, “Only two percent of you right here today would die in a major battle.” The usage of the number and the percentage is to back up his speech to get them to fight with him. He gives factual numbers to the troopers a form of credible evidence that it is fine to fight with him by saying only two percent of the people will die. This is used in a logical way because about two percent of people did die in that battle, Patton’s use for it gives the men hopes that they would have a chance of living if more people fight with him. The data and the numbers that was giving made it more creditable for Patton. The logical reason strikes as the future part of what he is trying to get across. Giving the men and women hopes that they will be alive to live the next day is a good way to motivate people to fight with you.

His use for logical reasoning helps get the point across that they need to work as a team in order to move forward in the future. The future is one of his reasonings that you should fight with. His usage for emotional appeal states that if they do not fight with pride everyone, they care about will suffer in a long run and this would play a huge effect on the soldiers’ emotions. The emotional appeal relates to the soldier’s masculinity and family. These two reasonings will help correspond with his last reasoning which is credibility.

Patton has a lot of experience in combat, which makes a creditable resource in his speech. Alexander Lovelace, a famous journalist, implies that “[Patton’s] name brings to mind the image of a profane, outrageous, and victorious leader of men.” This gives General Patton an advantage on his persuasion to the other soldiers.

In the speech he applies, “One of the bravest men that I ever saw was a fellow on top of a telegraph pole in the midst of the furious fire fight in Tunisia” (Patton). He also continues to tell the soldiers that the man said it needed to be fixed despite the fact that it was unhealthy to be up there with the telegraph. This can be perceived as creditable because Patton was there to see for his own eyes the importance of every positions. Patton also says “Now [that] was a real man. A real solider. … A man who devoted all he had no matter what.” Patton reason for telling the soldiers about what this man did was to motivate them that everyman’s job is important no matter what it is. This is a sign of teamwork which is another point he was trying to get across. All the soldiers should work as a unity to accomplish the main goal which is winning the battle.

The use of logic, credibility, and emotions all help Patton speech be more effective to the troops. There three terms acknowledge the five main points. Some people may argue that Patton use of these words did not give his speech strength. His wording use for logic may have not given some of the soldiers convincing that they would make it out alive. Some may say the creditability may have not make the soldiers feel important but, in Patton’s speech he uses these three terms fit well.

In conclusion, Patton’s argument was to get the third army to fight along him. He uses their pride, teamwork, and family to persuade them. This speech is so important because this is what helped the United States win the world war because a lot of the people did join him to fight with him and about three percent of the people died in the march to Normandy. This speech changed the lives in which people live in today. The United States wanted British to stop kidnapping Americans and that was accomplished. This war also put the country in an economical depression.