This thesis discusses the role of leadership as an aspect of ethos in presidential rhetoric. In it, a terminology is established to deal with two original applications of leadership ethos in presidential rhetoric: accumulating, or building up leadership status as an independent goal, and wielding, or using the established ethos of the presidency to affect some other goal of persuasion. These terms provide the basis for an approach to analyzing presidential rhetoric. Support for this approach is drawn from the theoretical basis of authorities reaching as far back as Aristotle up to the much more U.S.-specific observations of David Zarefsky, Richard Neustadt, and others. Applications of this division are then applied to speeches from U.S. presidents from Reagan to Obama. Finally, suggestions for the usage and application of the established accumulating/wielding dichotomy are summarized.