RA: Chief Justice John Roberts

When Chief Justice John Roberts came to B.Y.U., I was not expecting to do a Rhetorical Analysis on his forum address. However, I soon became very impressed with the manner in which he spoke and addressed himself to the audience. His tone was something of genuine love and respect towards the B.Y.U. student body. One of the most impressive things was how he seemed to admire the Church and what it has done in the past. Much of his speech used elements from the Mormon community. For instance, he referenced the pioneers and likened the founding fathers as a type of pioneer. He began his remarks by highlighting an address given by President Samuelson, praising him on his “inspirational speech,” (or something like that). He glowing spoke of the example and the lessons of optimism he learned from prior B.Y.U. President Rex Lee who also worked in law. He spoke directly to the audience in a warm and friendly manner, and also very importantly spoke to his audience using terms they would know and love to hear, citing examples that had pertinent and significant meaning to them. His attitude towards his subject was one of equal passion and he included phraseology akin to religion which also made the subject much more real to his audience. Overall, this was a masterpiece of rhetoric. While he didn’t necessarily speak out to have us do anything drastic, he did carry his message in probably the best manner for his given audience.