This thesis discusses the role of leadership as an aspect of ethos in presidential rhetoric.
In it, a terminology is established to deal with two original applications of leadership
ethos in presidential rhetoric: accumulating, or building up leadership status as an
independent goal, and wielding, or using the established ethos of the presidency to affect
some other goal of persuasion. These terms provide the basis for an approach to
analyzing presidential rhetoric. Support for this approach is drawn from the theoretical
basis of authorities reaching as far back as Aristotle up to the much more U.S.-specific
observations of David Zarefsky, Richard Neustadt, and others. Applications of this
division are then applied to speeches from U.S. presidents from Reagan to Obama.
Finally, suggestions for the usage and application of the established accumulating/
wielding dichotomy are summarized
