Franklin D. Roosevelt's Pearl Harbor Address To The Nation

“December, 1941, a date which will live in infamy …. no matter how long it may take to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory.” This famous quotation from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s speech was used to show that America is strong and nothing would stop America until it has absolute victory. In President Roosevelt's’ speech, he used ethos, pathos, and logos to show how Japan was a threat to America and to assure the nation that it can overcome any obstacles if the people work together.

The Use of Pathos in this speech is used in a way that affects everyone’s emotions do to the attack on Oahu, Hawaii. Here’s an example of pathos in the speech given, “The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost.” This quote appealed to everyone’s emotion in the U.S. by telling us the damage caused by the Japanese. Everyone in the U.S. are most likely feeling depressed and full of anger towards the Japanese Empire because the military forces and the innocent citizens were attacked and/or killed. With Roosevelt’s statements, the people in the U.S. are feeling more insecure, whereas the president wants to go to war to show other nations that we will defend ourselves.

Hours after Pearl Harbor was bombed by Japan, gaining worldwide headlines, giving millions unanswered questions, the speech, Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation was given one day after the event. On December 8th 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a speech to be remembered today, by using rhetorical devices and figurative language to strongly picture his message to the public, making great use of parallel structure, personification, parallelism, and climax ordering to enforce his key point of wanting Americans to stand up against the Japanese forces for the deliberate actions done towards there peaceful country, with no threat or hint of war or of an armed attack. With hopes of gathering support for the decision to declare war on Japan.

On December 7, 1941, tragety struck America when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. During the aftermath of this horror, America declaired war on Japan thus taking a side in world war two. Presedent Franklin Delano Roosevelt presented a speech the next day to inform the nation of his declaration of war on Japan as well as to inspire Americans in to suport the war. Roosevelt used rhetorical devices including repetition, his perspective, and personification to further his point.

The famous speech Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation by Franklin D. Roosevelt shows us a vast amount of rhetorical appeals: Pathos, Ethos, and Logos to the nation. The speech given by Franklin D. Roosevelt shows us the intended audience and the persuasion used in order to change the peoples’ minds to defend our nation. Let’s begin with the Pathos for this particular speech.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the 32nd president of the United States. He became president in March of 1933. He led a big part in the World War Two . He died while he was still in office on April 12 1945 of a cerebral hemorrhage.

I interpret the phrase, “Times of terror are times of eloquence,” as meaning that traumatic or undesirable situations produce memorable speeches which guide people into action or change attitudes. Emerson’s saying suggests the best speaking and writing rises from troubling events. The quote relates to the notion in Bitzer’s essay that true rhetorical discourse occurs when a speaker addresses an audience in response to a situation in order to induce change.

As not only President but Commander in Chief, Roosevelt had an obvious ethical appeal to the general public, and his advice concerning war involvement and interpretation of this event will forever depict most American’s view of the attack. Seeing as ethics aren’t in question here, it was not necessary for Roosevelt to spend much time proving himself trustworthy. However, he does show strength and courage in the midst of in a time of fear and dismay. He also plays on the values of Americans by

The first rhetorical appeal that President Roosevelt uses in this speech is ethos. The ethos in Roosevelt’s speech is quite apparent. As the President of the United States, he is already viewed as a credible source for information. Roosevelt provides a significant number of details pertaining to the attack on Pearl Harbor and other attacks that the Japanese carried out in conjunction with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, further establishing his ethos as a good source of information. By sharing additional details about the events of December 7th, it lends credibility to what he was saying about the bombings of Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt also strengthens his ethos by flaunting his sizeable vocabulary, “[A] date which will live in infamy... / [A]t the solicitation of Japan... / [T]his premeditated invasion...” By Roosevelt’s determination to use these vigorous words, he is hinting at the fact that he is indubitably well educated, which adds to his credibility. Roosevelt also tells everyone,”As the commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have

“Yesterday, December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the empire of Japan.” This was spoken by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during his Address to the Nation on December 8th, 1941. During President Roosevelt’s speech, he used logical appeals (logos), emotional appeals (pathos), and credibility appeals (ethos). Even though President Roosevelt was sitting in a wheel chair during his speech, it was still considered formal because he was the President. The reason this speech took place was to inform the nation about what Japan had done to our country and also to declare war.

“Yesterday, December 7th, 1941- a date which will live in infamy- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan” (1). These are the words Franklin Delano Roosevelt chose to begin his Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation the day after Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan. FDR’s speech was a call to arms, and in his speech he expressed outrage towards Japan and confidence in inevitable triumph. The speech was a request to declare war against Japan and to bring the United States into World War II. FDR’s speech was successful in bringing the United States into World War II because FDR presented facts explaining why war needed to be declared and used righteous indignation

Franklin Roosevelt was the thirty-second president of the United States. He served twelve years and four terms. He fought to keep the United States out of the war and helped those nations that were threatened or attacked. As a result, when France fell and Great Britain came under siege in 1940; he began to send all possible aid short of military involvement. The nation’s largest contribution was made to Great Britain in the form of fifty old and out dated destroyers that were built between 1918 and 1920. The Lend Lease Program and the Destroyers Bases Program was a major way the U.S. supported the Allies was efforts in 1940. At this point as a country we were anti-war and isolationist. So

On December 7, 1941, President Roosevelt gave a speech called “A Date Which Will Live in Infamy”. This Speech was given after the attack on Pearl Harbor and Roosevelt approaches the speech with a combination of both logos and pathos. Roosevelt begins his speech with “...a date which will live in infamy…”(Roosevelt). This is an example of pathos through his word choice of infamy. If Roosevelt was to use a simpler or a nondescript word, then he would not have the same effect of pathos that he had with this word choice.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, the president from 1933 until 1945, was one of the most illustrious presidents of all time. He led America through the Great Depression and World War II, dying less than a month before the Allies triumphed over the Axis powers. His final inaugural address was delivered in 1945, while the war was still going on. This speech encompassed his desire and belief that America needed to win the war, but he also was sure to point out that although coming out of the war victorious was extremely important, America should never lessen its moral standards to achieve that goal. He also mentioned that venturing for perfection and loathing the fright of failure were also top priorities for America.

Roosevelt used pathos a tremendous amount throughout his speech. This was expected because the bombing of “Pearl Harbor” was a very devastating disaster and made an abundance of people very upset. Roosevelt said, "Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.” This statement strikes fear into the audience that hears this and makes their emotions become very aware of how serious this attack was. It makes the audience realize that if they do not do anything about this then they will be in a lot of danger. Roosevelt then goes and says, “With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbending determination of our poeple, we will gain the inevitable triumph — so help us god.” This statement from the president gives the audience hope. They feel very hopeful that their armed forces are going to win the war if they go into it. I think that FDR did a very good job using pathos. He gave his audience a reason to