Roosevelt's Speech Rhetorical Analysis

Convincing an audience of 133.4 million is a daunting task, especially when they must be convinced to join a war less than thirty years after World War I. On January 6, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the State of the Union Address that began his third term as president. This speech, broadcast across the United States on the radio, sparked the idea to join World War II even before Pearl Harbor was attacked. In this speech, he fully supports the English against the attack of the dictators trying to extinguish democracy across the world. He proposes the four freedoms that America is invested in protecting around the world: freedom of speech and expression, freedom to worship God in any way, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. In his speech, “The Four Freedoms,” Franklin Delano Roosevelt inspires nationalism and creates fear in his audience to convince them to join the war ravaging through Europe through many forms of metaphor and repetition.

In this paper I am going to discuss the rhetorical appeals, as well as the argumentative structure, audience and purpose set forth by George W. Bush in his September 27 speech in Flagstaff, Arizona. More specifically I will refer to the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos and logos, and explain how they are used to gain the support and attention of the audience and further the further the purpose of the speech. As I explain these appeals I will also give an insight into the argumentative structure and why it is apparent in this particular speech.

2,300 years ago, Aristotle founded the basic principle that almost every great speech since then has been written upon-the three persuasive appeals. Around 76 years ago, Franklin D. Roosevelt put these principles to practice himself; giving what is thought to be one of the most famous American political speeches of the 20th Century-his Infamy Speech. While the speech isn’t complex in neither wording nor depth, it has been analysed over and over again by scholars, politicians, historians, and the like for its direct and purposeful approach. Given the day after the Pearl Harbor attack, the speech had two purposes; to urge Congress to formally declare war on Japan (which

readers to be also engaged. His tone played a role to plant a sense of alert regarding

“A date which will live in infamy” is a phrase most associated with this day. An unprovoked attack aimed at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 left the nation vulnerable to various outside powers. Franklin Delano Roosevelt knew the vital importance of creating and leading a crusade, so his purpose in addressing the nation was to declare war against Japan and rally the support of the citizens of America. Until the devastating bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japan had been considered an ally. Roosevelt’s speech was about bringing justice to the nation and being honest with the people about the terrible events that had just occurred. Roosevelt, serving as the thirty-second president of the United States, was in his second term when the attack happened.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) addressed the nation in a “fireside” chat on December 29, 1940 called “The Arsenal of Democracy” ("Franklin Delano"). It was one of twenty-eight fireside chats that Roosevelt would eventually give, but it would become known as one of his best speeches (Roosevelt xi). In this chat he again used the radio to talk to Americans in their homes, where it felt relaxed and informal, despite addressing a serious issue that our nation faced (Roosevelt xi). Roosevelt wanted to tell the people of the United States about the threat caused by the Axis powers’ assault on Great Britain. He felt that America had a responsibility to help Britain and in doing so maintain our national security. President Roosevelt took a strong stance on the need to support Britain and in his speech laid out a plan to build an “arsenal of democracy” in the United States that would protect our country as well as our allies ("Franklin Delano").

In his “Four Freedoms” speech, President Roosevelt persuades his audience to fight for the rights of others by adopting several rhetorical devices. The first rhetorical device of his speech to appear is ethos. He reads “In the recent national election, there was...action in recognition of obvious danger.” (273) FDR builds his credibility in an interesting way, through the people who voted him into

Roosevelt presents his own opinions through appeals to ethos and allusions to reconcile his son after he was denied from a sports team.

The Civil War was a period of racial injustice and a time of great loss for the people of America. During Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, he creates a moral framework for peace and reconciliation with the use of many rhetorical strategies. With a sincere but reflective tone, Abraham Lincoln highlights the reality of the troubled nation and the solution to all of the problems, which is unity. Lincoln repeats strong phrases to enhance the theme, references to a holy figure, and creates simple, yet structured ideas to achieve his purpose of reuniting the broken nation.

On December 7, 1941, tragedy struck America when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Until this event, America had been reluctant to enter the war. Consequently in the aftermath of this horrific event, America declared war on Japan, thus taking a side in World War Two. The president presented a speech the next day to inform the nation of the facts as well as present his own heart felted request. Franklin Delano Roosevelt uses various rhetorical devices in his address, including bombastic syntax, negative diction, as well as his own urgent beliefs and emotions to demonstrate the need to respond to Japan's attack while pleading for the support of American citizens.

President Ronald Reagan’s main message was to offer his condolences to the families of the seven astronauts lost in the explosion. He acknowledges the tragedy for what it is, but also advocates for future space exploration. Even encouraging the school children of America to continue in the search for knowledge, and not allow this disaster to deter their natural desire for adventure and exploration. He also manages to address the Soviet Union in the only political portion of the speech, and attempts to reassure everyone that this is just the beginning, and that there will be more missions to space, more adventure, and even more exploration. In my opinion the President did an amazing job in his delivery of the speech,The content contained within

Gerald Ford: President Ford frequently relates to the audience by using religion: “I have asked your help and your prayers, not only when I became President but many times since” and “Only the laws of God, which govern our consciences, are superior to [the constitution]”. By using religion, Ford identifies a common trait with the people and makes him relatable to the average American. To show authority, Ford identifies with the people through religion, but also by proclaiming that he is the president, and no matter what his members of the cabinet may say, it is his decision to make. Ford justifies his decision to pardon Nixon through his own moral beliefs about everyone being equal and deserving of peace. George W. Bush: George W. Bush uses a sense of unity throughout his speech, whether it be how everyone came together to help or show support or how America and its people were going to respond to this act of terrorism.

FDR was the 32nd president of the united states. FDR was born with polio a rare disease which made him not be able to walk. People did not know he was handicapped until he came out and did a public speech. His first inauguration took place in 1933 during a dark time in America. This is a great speech talking about how we shouldn’t be afraid of the future. In this speech I will be going over what this speech is about how my speech is the best speech ever.

President Reagan read his speech in public with so much care for the people and their families. Some examples that shows that he cares is that in the first paragraph he says “We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country”. This part of speech says a lot because he is referring to that the deaths of the astronauts has not been hard on the families but also on the country. President Reagan wants the audience and the crowd watching to feel the pain and also the astronauts were brave enough to go up in mission without caring about the consequences.

Obama addressed the subjects of racial discussing black anger white resentment and other issues as he sought to explain and His speech closed with a plan to move beyond America's "racial stalemate" and address shared social problems.some called the speech "arguably the biggest political event of the campaign so far noting that a bunch of Americans said they had heard at least a little about the speech and that 54 percent said they heard a lot about it. Eventually, opined that the speech helped elect Obama as the President of the United States. Barack Obama was the first African American to be nominated for the presidency on a major party ticket, he had .