President Trump Awards Medal of Honor: An Epideictic Speech

Pres. Trump & James McCloughan

OK, I've been a bit hard on President Trump recently, but here's a speech that he gave correctly. During the Vietnam War, an Army medic, Specialist Five James McCloughan, heroically saved the lives of ten of his comrades under fire, despite having been severely wounded himself during a battle against a much larger enemy force. Recommended for the Distinguished Service Medal, his recognition was unjustly downgraded to a Bronze Star with Valor. Many years later, his former platoon leader revived his medal recommendation, and the Secretary of Defense ultimately upgraded the award to the Medal of Honor.

Granting the award during a White Health ceremony, President Trump covered all the usual points of a good ceremonial or epideictic speech. He began by reviewing the awardee's youthful character, which included athletic excellence. He emphasized that Specialist Five's father taught him never to give up. Trump then reviewed McCloughan's heroic and selfless actions, during which McCloughan refused evacuation because he was unwilling to leave his comrades in battle without a medic. He told the story that McCloughan wanted to return home so he could tell his father he loved him. Trump continued: "Today, I’d venture to say his dad is the proudest father in heaven." The speech not only honored McCloughan, but taught an important lesson about family life.

Trump then discussed the reason for the military's service, which was to fight for important values: "our brave men and women in uniform have overcome tyranny, fascism, communism, and every threat to our freedom."

A good ceremonial speech always reaches out to higher values. Chaïm Perelman and Lucie Olbrechs-Tyteca pointed out that epideictic speech is never mere ceremony. In this case, the speaker reached out to teach important lessons to the audience.