In All the President’s Men (1976), Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein are under pressure to verify information from an anonymous source before reporting on the Watergate break-in.
Establishing Shot
Exigence is the specific problem, conflict, or need within a rhetorical situation that makes action necessary – the condition that creates pressure for someone to speak, write, or intervene. Rhetoric does not arise in a vacuum; it emerges in response to situations that demand attention at a particular moment. In their discussion of kairos in Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students, Sharon Crowley and Debra Hawhee explain that effective rhetorical action depends on recognizing the right moment and conditions for intervention. In contemporary contexts, exigence often forms around contested claims: In “Tweetorials on COVID-19: Misinformation, Inoculation, and Literacy Support,” S. Scott Graham argues that establishing points of dispute (dissoi logoi) is central to a tweetorial’s exigence, since the genre arises to address misinformation circulating in real time.
Key Scene
In All the President’s Men (1976), the journalists’ investigation is driven by the exigence created by the unfolding Watergate scandal. Because the events are ongoing and politically consequential, their reporting must respond to incomplete, shifting information. The newsroom becomes a site of rhetorical decision-making under pressure: what to publish, when, and with what level of certainty.
Framing
The film shows that exigence lies in both the presence of a problem and a situation that demands timely and diligent response. The journalists are not free to wait for complete knowledge; the urgency of the political moment compels them to act while the situation is still developing. At the same time, the consequences of error are high, creating tension between speed and verification. In this way, exigence shapes not only whether rhetoric occurs, but how it unfolds – what counts as sufficient evidence, what risks are acceptable, and what responsibilities the rhetor assumes.
Continuity
Exigence sets rhetorical action in motion, but it does not determine how that action unfolds. Once a situation calls for response, rhetors must identify the point currently at issue (stasis), draw on shared assumptions (commonplaces), construct arguments audiences can complete (enthymemes), and establish credibility (ethos) tailored to the specific rhetorical situation. In this way, exigence initiates a chain of rhetorical decisions that help determine how persuasion becomes possible.
Stakes
Exigence is important to rhetorical study because it explains why rhetoric emerges at particular moments, linking persuasion to circumstance and to material consequence rather than to abstract argument alone. By attending to exigence, rhetoricians can better understand how urgency, timing, and context shape both the possibilities and limits of persuasion.
Passion Project
I often find myself deciding whether to speak at all – whether a thought needs to be expressed now, or can wait. Exigence helps me make that judgment. In conversation, I’ve noticed that even accurate or insightful remarks can fail rhetorically if the situation does not call for them, interrupting rather than advancing the exchange. Wendy McElroy, in The Reasonable Woman: A Guide to Intellectual Survival, emphasizes restraint in discourse; in rhetorical terms, this reflects an awareness that not every moment demands intervention. Recognizing when exigence is absent has made me more attentive to timing, clarifying that effective communication depends not only on what is said, but on whether speaking will actually improve the situation.