A Critical Discourse Analysis of Richard Nixon’s Political Speeches

This research provides a critical analysis of Richard Nixon’s Watergate speeches through Fairclough’s (1995) Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) framework, highlighting how language functions as a means of sustaining political power and legitimacy during times of crisis. The central problem addressed in this research concerns how Nixon’s discourse constructs and controls agency, accountability, and public perception through linguistic and rhetorical strategies. Specifically, the study aims to identify how ergative verbs, passive constructions, and modality serve to shape meanings of blame, responsibility, and authority; to explore the discursive strategies through which Nixon negotiates self-legitimation; and to analyze how these linguistic patterns reflect and reproduce broader ideological and power relations between the presidency and the public. It is hypothesized that Nixon’s use of passives and ergative verbs obscures personal agency, while his moral appeals and references to national duty enhance credibility and deflect blame. These findings reveal how political discourse operates as a mechanism of power, ideology, and persuasion in maintaining institutional legitimacy. This study focuses on fifteen selected excerpts from Richard M. Nixon. A qualitative form of analysis is adopted in this study

Critical discourse analysis · Discourse analysis · Ideology · Legitimacy · Persuasion · Politics · Presidency · Rhetorical question · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Rhetoric and Communication Studies