Past Exonerative
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Past Exonerative
"Mistakes were made" is an expression that is commonly used as a rhetorical device, whereby a speaker acknowledges that a situation was handled poorly or inappropriately but seeks to evade any direct admission or accusation of responsibility by not specifying the person who made the mistakes, nor any specific act that was a mistake. The acknowledgement of " mistakes" is framed in an abstract sense, with no direct reference to who made the mistakes, or the nature and extent of them. A less evasive construction might be along the lines of "I made mistakes" or "John Doe made mistakes"; a similar active existential construction might be "mistakes happened". The speaker neither accepts personal responsibility nor accuses anyone else. The word "mistakes" also does not imply intent. ''The New York Times'' has called the phrase a "classic Washington linguistic construct". Political scientist William Schneider suggested that this usage be referred to as the "past exonerative" tense, and ...
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Rhetorical Device
In rhetoric, a rhetorical device, persuasive device, or stylistic device is a technique that an author or speaker uses to convey to the listener or reader a meaning with the goal of persuading them towards considering a topic from a perspective, using language designed to encourage or provoke an emotional display of a given perspective or action. They seek to make a position or argument more compelling than it would otherwise be. Sonic devices Sonic devices depend on sound. Sonic rhetoric is used as a clearer or swifter way of communicating content in an understandable way. Sonic rhetoric delivers messages to the reader or listener by prompting a certain reaction through auditory perception. Alliteration Alliteration is the repetition of the sound of an initial consonant or consonant cluster in subsequent syllables. Assonance Assonance is the repetition of similar vowel sounds across neighbouring words. Consonance Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds acro ...
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Bob Woodward
Robert Upshur Woodward (born March 26, 1943) is an American investigative journalist. He started working for ''The Washington Post'' as a reporter in 1971 and now holds the honorific title of associate editor though the Post no longer employs him. While a reporter for ''The Washington Post'' in 1972, Woodward teamed up with Carl Bernstein, and the two did much of the original news reporting on the Watergate scandal. These scandals led to numerous government investigations and the eventual resignation of President Richard Nixon. The work of Woodward and Bernstein was called "maybe the single greatest reporting effort of all time" by longtime journalism figure Gene Roberts. Woodward continued to work for ''The Washington Post'' after his reporting on Watergate. He has written 21 books on American politics and current affairs, 15 of which have topped best-seller lists. Early life, education and naval service Woodward was born in Geneva, Illinois, the son of Jane (née Upshu ...
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United States Secretary Of State
The United States secretary of state (SecState) is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The secretary of state serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all foreign affairs matters. The secretary carries out the president's foreign policies through the U.S Department of State, which includes the Foreign Service, Civil Service, and U.S. Agency for International Development. The office holder is the second-highest-ranking member of the president's cabinet, after the vice president, and ranks fourth in the presidential line of succession; first amongst cabinet secretaries. Created in 1789 with Thomas Jefferson as its first office holder, the secretary of state represents the United States to foreign countries, and is therefore considered analogous to a secretary or minister of foreign affairs in other countries. The secretary of state is nominated by the ...
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Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is a Centre-left politics, center-left political parties in the United States, political party in the United States. One of the Major party, major parties of the U.S., it was founded in 1828, making it the world's oldest active political party. Its main rival since the 1850s has been the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, and the two have since dominated American politics. The Democratic Party was founded in 1828 from remnants of the Democratic-Republican Party. Senator Martin Van Buren played the central role in building the coalition of state organizations which formed the new party as a vehicle to help elect Andrew Jackson as president that year. It initially supported Jacksonian democracy, agrarianism, and Manifest destiny, geographical expansionism, while opposing Bank War, a national bank and high Tariff, tariffs. Democrats won six of the eight presidential elections from 1828 to 1856, losing twice to the Whig Party (United States) ...
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Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as the attorney general of Arkansas from 1977 to 1979 and as the governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981, and again from 1983 to 1992. Clinton, whose policies reflected a centrist "Third Way" political philosophy, became known as a New Democrats (United States), New Democrat. Born and raised in Arkansas, Clinton graduated from Georgetown University in 1968, and later from Yale Law School, where he met his future wife, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham. After graduating from law school, Clinton returned to Arkansas and won election as state attorney general, followed by Governorships of Bill Clinton, two non-consecutive tenures as Arkansas governor. As governor, he overhauled the state's education system and served as Chai ...
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Plutonium
Plutonium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is a silvery-gray actinide metal that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation states. It reacts with carbon, halogens, nitrogen, silicon, and hydrogen. When exposed to moist air, it forms oxides and hydrides that can expand the sample up to 70% in volume, which in turn flake off as a powder that is pyrophoric. It is radioactive and can accumulate in bones, which makes the handling of plutonium dangerous. Plutonium was first synthesized and isolated in late 1940 and early 1941, by deuteron bombardment of uranium-238 in the cyclotron at the University of California, Berkeley. First, neptunium-238 (half-life 2.1 days) was synthesized, which then beta-decayed to form the new element with atomic number 94 and atomic weight 238 (half-life 88 years). Since uranium had been named after the planet Uranus ...
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Advisory Committee On Human Radiation Experiments
The Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments was established in 1994 to investigate questions of the record of the United States government with respect to human radiation experiments. The special committee was created by President of the United States, President Bill Clinton in Executive order (United States), Executive Order 12891, issued January 15, 1994. Ruth Faden of The Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics chaired the committee. The thousand-page final report of the Committee was released in October 1995 at a White House ceremony.Moreno, p. XI Background The scandal first came to public attention in a newsletter called ''Science Trends'' in 1976 and in ''Mother Jones (magazine), Mother Jones'' magazine in 1981. ''Mother Jones'' reporter Howard Rosenburg used the Freedom of Information Act (United States), Freedom of Information Act to gather hundreds of documents to investigate total radiation studies which were done at the Oak Ridge Institute for Nuclear Stud ...
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Iran–Contra Affair
The Iran–Contra affair (; ), also referred to as the Iran–Contra scandal, the Iran Initiative, or simply Iran–Contra, was a political scandal in the United States that centered on arms trafficking to Iran between 1981 and 1986, facilitated by senior officials of the Ronald Reagan administration. As Iran was subject to an arms embargo at the time of the scandal, the sale of arms was deemed illegal. The administration hoped to use the proceeds of the arms sale to fund the Contras, an anti- Sandinista rebel group in Nicaragua. Under the Boland Amendment, passed by Congress in a 411-0 vote and signed into law by Reagan, further funding of the Contras by legislative appropriations was prohibited by Congress, but the Reagan administration continued funding them secretively using non-appropriated funds. The administration's justification for the arms shipments was that they were part of an attempt to free seven U.S. hostages being held in Lebanon by Hezbollah, an Islamist ...
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State Of The Union Address
The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of most calendar years on the current condition of the nation. The speech generally includes reports on the nation's budget, economy, news, agenda, progress, achievements and the president's priorities and legislative proposals. The address fulfills the requirement in Article II, Section 3, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution for the president to periodically "give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient". During most of the country's first century, the president primarily submitted only a written report to Congress. After 1913, Woodrow Wilson, the 28th U.S. president, began the regular practice of delivering the address to Congress in person as a way to rally support for th ...
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Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party and became an important figure in the American conservative movement. Presidency of Ronald Reagan, His presidency is known as the Reagan era. Born in Illinois, Reagan graduated from Eureka College in 1932 and was hired the next year as a sports broadcaster in Iowa. In 1937, he moved to California where he became a well-known film actor. During his acting career, Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild twice from 1947 to 1952 and from 1959 to 1960. In the 1950s, he hosted ''General Electric Theater'' and worked as a motivational speaker for General Electric. During the 1964 United States presidential election, 1964 presidential election, Reagan's "A Time for Choosing" speech launched his rise as a leading conservative figure. After b ...
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Watergate Scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the Presidency of Richard Nixon, administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Resignation of Richard Nixon, Nixon's resignation in 1974, in August of that year. It revolved around members of a group associated with Nixon's Richard Nixon 1972 presidential campaign, 1972 re-election campaign, who broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate Hotel in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C., on June 17, 1972, where they planted listening devices, and Nixon's later attempts to conceal his administration's involvement in the burglary. Following the arrest of the Watergate burglars, media and the United States Department of Justice, Department of Justice connected money found with those involved in the Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP), the fundraising arm of Nixon's campaign. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodw ...
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John Ehrlichman
John Daniel Ehrlichman (; March 20, 1925 – February 14, 1999) was an American political aide who served as White House Counsel and Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon. Ehrlichman was an important influence on Nixon's domestic policy, coaching him on issues and enlisting his support for environmental initiatives. Ehrlichman was a key figure in events leading to the Watergate break-in and the ensuing Watergate scandal, for which he was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury, and served a year and a half in prison. Early life and education Ehrlichman was born in Tacoma, Washington, the son of Lillian Catherine (née Danielson) and Rudolph Irwin Ehrlichman.Tate, Cassandra"Ehrlichman, John D. (1925–1999)" ''HistoryLink.org'', August 25, 2006. His family practiced Christian Science (his father was a convert from Judaism). In 1931, the family moved to southern California. He was an Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America) ...
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