Rhetorical Analysis Of Woodrow Wilson's Speech

With the status of the country’s belligerency heavily in question, an apprehensive President Woodrow Wilson prepared to request from an unmotivated and unprepared country a declaration of war against Germany. After exerting every attempt possible to retain the peace and honor of the United States, the President was finally forced to choose between the two, in which he opted for the latter (Seymour 26). As he sat down to compose his congressional address proposing war, the uncertainty of his decision overwhelmed him. He confided to a member of his cabinet, Frank Cobb, that he had never been as unsure about anything in his life as the judgment he was making for the nation (Baker 506). Through a rhetorical analysis of Wilson’s points of

A president who led the United States out of the great depression into a new world and then through a terrorist attack to be know to have given the most memorable speech of the United States history is named Franklin Roosevelt. On December 7th, 1941,Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan and the following day Roosevelt stood in front of the United States suggesting to declare war on Japan for their actions. Within Roosevelt’s speech he uses the audience’s emotion to bring them together against Japan with anger but also with hope. Then Roosevelt goes into the facts that are leading the country into danger to try and get congress to declare war; Roosevelt’s use of logos becomes a model for other speeches, like Bush’s speech after 9/11. Finally, Roosevelt is determined to show how unethical Japan was during the attack and how declaring war is truly moral to protect the country. Roosevelt’s infamous speech strives to bring the nation into unity to declare war on Japan through emotion, reason and virtues.

Ethos- he is able to persuade his fellow americans because he is the president of the US. He has gained his credibility because of the elections he has won and how respected he was from the great depression and he got the country out of it. He is also the only president in US history to have served more than 2 terms. “As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.(Roosevelt, 14)” “I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected as the 32nd president of the United States in 1932, the third year of the worst economic depression in America's history. At the height of The Great Depression about 25% of America's workforce was unemployed, and the country was crying out for change. This is what he promised in the inaugural address he gave on March 3, 1933: change. He gave his speech to show the hearts and minds of the people of the USA that they will come back from this great hardship. Franklin Delano Roosevelt used a powerful yet sympathetic tone of voice, dramatic pauses for emphasis, and plan to change how the country operated, in his Inaugural Address to reassure the nation that they will come back from the Great Depression.

Wilson’s fourteen points summarise the quest for international cooperation in achieving and maintaining peace. However, this can be questioned as the first paragraph also suggests a self-centred approach taken by Wilson. The speech suggests that the USA is the only ones with the capacity to achieve such peace, the programme of the world's peace, therefore, is our programme; and that programme, the only possible programme. It reflects a world view and hierarchy, suggesting one big American alliance rather than an idea of international cooperation. This is also further illustrated on in Wilson’s speech, his concern for the safety of the USA is key in the way he treats countries such as Russia and Germany, and his disagreement with some of the terms in the Treaty of Versailles. In point six of the speech when dealing with Russia it talks of securing the best and freest cooperation of the other nations of the world. Wilson was careful in how he achieved peace, as he wanted to maintain relationships with countries within Europe, whilst keeping USA dominance ad not upsetting France and Clemenceau who wanted harsh treatment of Germany. This is illustrated in point eight of Wilson’s fourteen points.

Out of the many speeches given by President Woodrow Wilson regarding World War One, two in particular serve as a sort of showcase of the changing role of the United States in global politics during the early 20th century. The first is Wilson’s Address to the Senate of the United States: “A World League for Peace” (“World League”). The second is Wilson’s Address to a Joint Session of Congress on the Conditions of Peace, also known as his 14 Points. Although the themes of these speeches have similar ideals such as the quest for self-determination and multiple countries uniting to prevent aggression, the proceedings at Brest-Litovsk make 14 Points speech both a continuation and a shift from the “World League” one. Wilson’s 14 Points speech reflects the commitment of the United States to enter the war and enforce its own agenda (as well as that of the other Allies), a drastic change from its earlier neutrality.

Wilson abandoned the imperialist policy and brought to the White House a new way of looking at America’s relations with the outside world. Wilson believed that the United States was the most politically enlightened in a sense under god, he felt that people throughout the world had their right to choose their own governments. Wilson was only protecting people rights to democracy.

Despite Wilson’s best efforts to stay neutral during World War One, he was was not able to accomplish that task. Entering the war was not going to be a fruitless endeavor, however. The main goals of American participation during World War One was to protect freedom and democracy, and to spread it to the other countries of the world, to help ensure financial stability, and to protect the ships that the German U-Boats were destroying. Wilson’s 14 points helped to reflect the goals of freedom and democracy by generally pushing for a more peaceful world. One of the main reasons for the 14 points existence was to share Wilson’s postwar hope for the world. In the fourteen points, he also lays out a proposition for freedom of the seas. This

President Wilson was determined to achieve peace. He based his peacemaking efforts in the academic argument Fourteen Points. Ideas of freedom of the seas, internationalism and justice for all were embedded in his idealistic approach, in an attempt to making long lasting peace.

President Woodrow Wilson wanted lasting peace without hurting Germany. President Woodrow Wilson’s main arguments were that he wanted no more secret diplomacy, reduction in armaments , and a League of Nations that would “ensure world peace with the support and action of the world’s nations and to prevent future conflicts”. In addition to President Woodrow Wilson wanted “self determination to be recognized for many ethnic people which led to the creation of new states in Europe (3).” Both David Lloyd George and George Clemenceau were realistic. In the end President Woodrow Wilson was seen as an idealistic person at a time where war was the trend and the answer to many questions.

In 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech on conservation. He invited the Supreme Court, his Cabinet, Senators and Representatives in Congress , and the Inland Waterway Commission. Theodore talks about his two main reasons on why they are there . His two main reasons on why they are there is because he wants to talk about morality and patriatsim.

The Fourteen Points were distributed all over the world. On November 5, Wilson delivered the peace plan to the German government (http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1234.html). The Germans surrender November 11,1918 and expect a peace treaty under Wilson’s Fourteen Points. The war was now over. Many lives were loss because of the war. There was disease and starvation that killed ten million civilians. In addition, ten million soldiers were killed (http://www.polytechnic.org/faculty/gfeldmeth/chart.ww1.html).

The Fourteen Points was a speech that was given by Woodrow Wilson to be used as peace negotiations after World War I. Woodrow Wilson was president at the time and the speech was broadcasted all over the world. There were fourteen points given in the speech, as the name implies. This was actually pretty unsuccessful because many of the countries wanted to punish Germany more so they only kept one point, the final one. This point established a league of nations.

in which he opted for the latter (Seymour 26). As he sat down to compose

Woodrow Wilson’s presidency was by many accounts one of the most successful in American history. Not only did his domestic affairs and reform policies give birth to the modern age of liberalism but his foreign policies would lead the United States to victory in World War I. This would in turn contribute to the United States involvement in world affairs.