Harvey s So God Made a Farmer Speech Tells It like It Is. caretaker. So God made a farmer (Harvey). These words, spoken by the late radio personality

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1 Gabel 1 Amber Gabel Dr. Sarah RudeWalker English 137H 15 October 2013 Harvey s So God Made a Farmer Speech Tells It like It Is And on the eight day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, I need a caretaker. So God made a farmer (Harvey). These words, spoken by the late radio personality Paul Harvey, were recently heard by millions of television viewers worldwide as part of a 2013 Super Bowl commercial for Ram trucks. It seems remarkable that this speech, originally delivered at the 1978 National FFA Convention, reached out to such an expansive audience in current times and remains relevant, not only to America s future agriculturalists, but to those from non-agricultural backgrounds as well (Franke-Ruta). Harvey strongly appeals to both ethos and pathos in his speech, allowing him to effectively convey his epideictic message the importance of the American farmer to changing audiences. Throughout the speech, Harvey s uses down-to-earth language and tone, which are typical of his personality, in order to better connect with his audience and enhance his appeals to ethos and pathos (Franke-Ruta). His speech consists of anecdote after anecdote, which bolster the rhetorical appeals that help Harvey to effectively share his message. This message is the importance of the American farmer a message that is epideictic, as it praises the farmer s values and actions. Harvey utilizes ethos to build up the quality of the farmer s character and pathos to emotionally relate the farmer to the audience. These two appeals greatly contribute to making Harvey s speech a quality piece of rhetoric.

2 Gabel 2 Ethos is one of the major rhetorical devices used in Harvey s So God Made a Farmer speech. However, this appeal is not used in the traditional manner. Often, a rhetor will utilize ethos appeal in order to establish and portray his own authority, credibility, and trustworthiness to the audience. Although the audience does not question Harvey s authority or character, as he is a national phenomenon of a radio broadcaster who is beloved by many, the primary target of the ethos appeal of this speech is not Harvey himself, but the farmers that he is working to support. God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds and yet stop in mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor's place. So God made a farmer (Harvey). Anecdotes such as this one are used throughout the speech to establish the quality of character possessed by the American farmer through ethos. This quote shows both the farmer s determination and perseverance by working hard to get the job done on time and his loyalty to his community and neighbors by performing the civic act of allowing his own task to go unfinished in order to help others in their time of need. Harvey describes many other aspects of farm life through similar anecdotes to further emphasize the qualities of good character and good citizenship that farmers possess. By listing and describing in detail the various tasks that farmers perform, often on a daily basis, such as waking up early to milk cows, spending hours upon hours working in the fields, and using available resources to improvise in order to get a job done, Harvey aims to show his audience that farmers possess a unique depth of character that allows them to selflessly seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and pain'n from 'tractor back,' put in another seventy-two hours for a much higher purpose than personal gain (Harvey). Based off of these realistic examples, the audience

3 Gabel 3 can recognize that farmers undergo a lot of stress and perform excessive amounts of physical labor, yet they seem to humbly enjoy it because they know that their efforts will benefit others. Although descriptions of farm labor work to establish the ethos of the American farmer, the farmer s actions that do not directly relate to the farm also help to portray good citizenship and quality character. Not only does the American farmer stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board after a long, hard day of work, but he also finishes his week with a five-mile drive to church (Harvey). These activities build upon the already well-established character of the farmer to emphasize his civic involvement in different aspects of the community. Participating in school board meetings shows that the farmer wants to help make a positive impact in his community, while his attendance at church reflects a strong set of values and beliefs that help to establish him as a good citizen and society member. Harvey s own repeated references to God help to reinforce his own quality of character, which in turn helps the audience to better understand the character of the farmer that Harvey describes. All of these factors relating to ethos help to express the quality character traits possessed by the farmer, allowing the audience to appreciate the farmer for serving as a model citizen. While about half of Harvey s speech focuses on the rhetorical appeal of ethos, the other half reflects pathos, which builds off of the pre-established respect for farmers by allowing the audience to emotionally connect with the farmer and better understand his way of life. As with ethos, Harvey utilizes an array of realistic anecdotes relating to the life of a farmer to appeal to the audience through pathos. By juxtaposing strenuous tasks performed by the farmer, such as rustling a calf, clearing trees, and heaving bales, with actions of a much gentler nature, like delivering his own grandchild, taming lambs, weaning pigs, and splinting the broken leg of a meadowlark, Harvey works to emphasize the caring nature of the farmer and create an

4 Gabel 4 emotional appeal for the audience. Figurative language also appeals to pathos in the form a clever metaphor, describing the farmer as somebody who d bale a family together with the soft, strong bonds of sharing. Not only does this statement emotionally appeal to the audience through its reflection of love and family life, but it also expertly includes a reference to agriculture, baling a family together with bonds of sharing as a farmers would bale hay or straw with bonds of baler twine (Harvey). Although Harvey s clever use of juxtaposition and metaphor with his anecdotes does appeal to pathos, the strongest instances of pathos in this speech are not those that incorporate fancy literary elements, rather they are extremely straightforward, down-to-earth, realistic, examples of farm life, a tone that is often used by both Harvey and American farmers. Both of these powerful cases of pathos can induce tears from the audience, but for different reasons. The first example appeals to the audience s sense of sorrow and loss: God said, I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt. And watch it die. Then dry his eyes and say Maybe next year So God made a farmer (Harvey). The constant battle between life and death is a very real and emotional aspect of farming, and Harvey utilizes this emotion to connect the farmer to the audience. On the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, Harvey also employs humble pride through another instance of pathos, describing the farmer as somebody who would laugh and then sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes, when his son says that he wants to spend his life doing what dad does. So God made a farmer. Rather than tears of sadness, this anecdote elicits tears of pride and joy, as many people can relate to the positive emotions associated with being viewed as a respected role model by others and striving for a higher purpose. It is difficult to explain all of the complex emotions evoked by such powerful statements, but the words speak well for themselves. The anecdotes in this speech that appeal to

5 Gabel 5 pathos allow Harvey to connect with his audience on an emotional level in order to express why farmers love their lifestyles and what motivates them to pursue such a challenging career. Hence, Harvey encompasses many rhetorical elements in his speech to portray the life of a farmer to both his 1978 audience of FFA members and supporters and his present audience of modern America. By creating his speech almost entirely out of realistic anecdotes, Harvey showcases the farmer in a way that allows the audience to peer into the heart and soul of that farmer and gain an understanding of the driving force of American agriculture. Harvey s downto-earth tone, which reflects that of the farmer, helps to establish the rhetorical appeals of ethos and pathos, showing even today s audience that farmers are good citizens and caring people. As shown by the speech s ability to connect with both the audiences of 1978 and 2013, Harvey s appeals are powerful enough to stand the test of time and have the potential to enlighten future Americans and the world to the reasons why God made a farmer (Harvey).

6 Gabel 6 Works Cited Franke-Ruta, Garance. Paul Harvey s 1978 So God Made a Farmer Speech. The Atlantic Monthly Group, 3 Feb Web. 4 Oct Harvey, Paul. Full Audio and Text of Paul Harvey s Original So God Made a Farmer Speech. FOX Nation: Fox News Network, Web. 4 Oct

An Introduction to Rhetoric. copyright 2007 James Nelson

An Introduction to Rhetoric. copyright 2007 James Nelson An Introduction to Rhetoric copyright 2007 James Nelson 1 Quickwrite: Why might someone create such a photo? What point might he be attempting to make? copyright 2007 James Nelson 2 copyright 2007 James