In Alan Axelrod’s brief interpretation of President Franklin Roosevelt’s inaugural address, he touches on a few key points about Roosevelt’s character. He sees the address as a direct manifestation of Roosevelt’s unique character. His ability to calm a struggling Nation with but a few words and the unfrazzled depth of American steadfastness. Axelrod correctly analyzed Roosevelt as being calm in the face of danger, an outstanding leader, and an eternal realist. President Roosevelt was a levelheaded, and Axelrod’s interpretation of the inaugural address shows this as being one of his most dominant traits. When the Great depression swept over the land like an angry tidal wave, President Roosevelt was there to hold back the raging storm. He possessed a confidence that everything would work itself out. Fear was not Roosevelt’s enemy, it was merely a pesky cat. An inconvenience to himself and others. “Fear is not so much the sensation accompanying the realization of danger, but a fog, and obscurer of truth, an interference with how we productively engage reality.” Roosevelt said in his ...
The approach, however, that was taken to deal with the matter is what will ultimately separate Hoover and Roosevelt when the debates to categorize the greatest and worst presidents the nation has seen begin. Hoover was known for false promises, as he would speak optimistically to his audience and never deliver. The people began to resent his words, knowing they would all fall through eventually. Roosevelt in his inaugural address knew the people were tired of hearing speeches that never pulled through and only spoke with truth as he stated: “I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impels. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly.”
Theodore Roosevelt may be one of the more notable personalities which have graced the oval office since 1789. Roosevelt’s disposition has been characterized as daring, brash, and ambitious. This image has been molded by stories and events throughout his life, which range from expeditions through the Amazon to giving a speech soon after being shot in the torso. (Andrews)
Theodore Roosevelt was a man uniquely fitted to the role that he played in American
Roosevelt is saying many things in this speech, first and foremost he is re-enforcing the message that there is nothing to fear but fear itself as is shown when he says "It is possible that when the banks resume a very few people who have not recovered from their fear may again begin withdrawals It needs no prophet to tell you that when the people find that they can get their money -- that they can get it when they want it for all legitimate purposes -- the phantom of fear will soon be laid," this was a very powerful message of Roosevelt's as he seemed to believe that the fear of people, once the initial market crash had taken place, had only compounded the problem. Another thing he is saying, and this is the overall point of the message, is that peoples confidence is essential to the recovery of the banking system, shown when he says "After all, there is an element in the readjustment of our financial system more important than currency, more important than gold, and that is the confidence of the people themselves. Confidence and courage are the essentials of success in carrying out our plan."
Roosevelt’s inaugural address focused on the current situation of the nation and he intended to declare war on the Great Depression. He stated a need to move as a nation through his leadership and become a better nation. Roosevelt took a strong stand and proclaimed, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. He looks to the future asking the nation to fulfill their “true destiny” of ministering to themselves and their fellow men.
Faced with disturbances from outside forces, President Roosevelt and President Bush take different routes of action as seen through the diction, anaphoras, and rhetorical appeals in their speeches reacting to the attacks. None of the presidents are wrong in believing what is more important at the times of such traumatic experiences. Although the different ways of thinking may be the results of the change in times, it is possible that both have different priorities and strategies to reach an end goal. Roosevelt’s ambition may have been to reestablish the U.S. with an "inevitable triumph" (Roosevelt 37) while Bush desires for the U.S. "all that is good just in our world" (Bush 38).
Roosevelt used personification in his speech in different ways such as he personifies his actions while his presidency in using phrases such as “but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn”. Roosevelt described something so that others can understand, he talked about the failure of America during the Great Depression. Roosevelt also talked about his plans in helping America while his presidency, “I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require”. In other words, he is emphasizing a point which it will be consider personification. Franklin D. Roosevelt also used diction in his First Inaugural Address in order to demonstrate his word choices in introducing the New Deal. America was facing severe economic issues during the Great Depression, farmers find no markets for their produce, savings of many years in thousands of families were gone and a host of unemployment citizens were facing the grim problem of existence. Roosevelt wanted actions for citizens and actions were given. Roosevelt give out examples of diction such as “let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance”, Roosevelt repeated his chosen words in some point of the phrase to achieve an artistic effect which is best known as diction. Another rhetorical device that Franklin D. Roosevelt used in his speech was antimetabole. Roosevelt used this rhetorical appeal in his speech in order to demonstrate his actions in helping America. Roosevelt talked about the desperate Americans in need of a change “the nation asks for action, and action now” where the words that Roosevelt claimed for a recover. Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted America achieve after a severe crisis and he put himself in task by putting people to
John Fitzgerald Kennedy delivered one of the most important American speeches after being sworn in as president on January 20, 1961. His inauguration speech was so influential that it seized the nation’s attention, and quotes from it are still clearly remembered by people today. It is considered one of the best speeches ever written and ever delivered. It presents a strong appeal to pathos, ethos, and logos and accomplishes what any speaker strives for – it speaks straight to the heart of the audience and inspires people.
Brinkley, Douglas. The wilderness warrior : Theodore Roosevelt and the crusade for America. New York : HarperCollins, 2009.
The first thing realized by the president that he mentioned the fact that people want to see him speaking honestly and he expressly made use of worlds i.e. sincerity and honesty. Roosevelt mentioned about the fear and regarded that our biggest fear is the fear itself. He is playing a paternalistic role in this speech and he is acting just like a parent calms the fear of his kid. He has numerously used the word
This quote from his inaugural speech, sums up the mood of the American people as Roosevelt was elected to be President of the United States in the deepest part of the depression. He faced numerous challenges as a result of the mismanagement of the previous successive Republicans governments such as a large proportion of the American population were out of work and the banking crisis. Roosevelt had promised the American people a ‘new deal’ at his acceptance of the democratic nomination for president in 1932, however, his campaign only offered vague hints of what it would entail. He put the question of economic security on the agenda. President Roosevelt explicitly and consciously defined the New Deal as the embodiment of freedom, but of freedom of economic security rather than freedom of contract, or freedom of every man for himself.
This paper is an analysis of the inaugural address of the former president Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR). We will focus on the main historical events that were happening, and how he addressed those issues in his speech. In his speech he used appeals to grow closer to the crowd he was speaking too. We will state the quotes he used and announce what kind of appeal that it is from. FDR uses words and phrases to pull the crowd in and I will discuss the effects of those words and what they had on the crowd. Finally we will talk about the overall quality and effectiveness of the speech and how it was such a great speech used.
He wants to push the public into action; the way he does this is by shaming them. Politics of this day are very divided: “voters spoke of political loyalty in the same breath as religious affiliation”(Hartman). With a very uncommon view of the time, Roosevelt argues that “it is perfectly supposable that he may feel so strongly for or against certain principles held by one party, or certain principles held by the other, that he is unable to give his full adherence to either”. The party system is not absolute, and it is practical that many people could not identify with either of the parties. Because of the emotions people place with politics, Roosevelt appeals to his audience’s emotions by creating a hypothetical situation where a man “feel[s] so strongly” about his political views. To achieve his intended purpose, he must convince the public that honor and prudence are more important than an allegiance to a political party. His ideal citizen makes decisions based off of ”his individual beliefs and theories of right and wrong”(Roosevelt 2). Rather than exercising blind loyalty to a political party, Roosevelt encourages that citizens act more often on individual, independent judgements. By motivating people to act on their emotions and using strong language, Roosevelt reaches the feelings of his
Theodore Roosevelt stepped into head of office on September 19, 1901 when President William McKinley was assassinated. He was the youngest man to become president. His motto was “speak softly but carry a big stick.” President Roosevelt would come into power offering America the square deal. He would take the power away from the industrialists as he controlled big business from the White House. He would soon become known as a TrustBuster. Roosevelt used American power for American interests and was quoted as saying, “I am an American first and last. “ Although some historians argue that Roosevelt acted like a six-year-old throughout his presidency and that he didn’t think things through, ie “he thought with his hips”, one can admire the tremendous leadership qualities that Teddy Roosevelt had. First, he was a very bold man who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard. The average citizen was aware of what a “positive, warm and tough, authoritative and funny” president that they had leading them. His leadership qualities stemmed from his time as a New York state Assembly man, a deputy sheriff, a ...
He tries to raise the spirits of the people by reassuring them that they are safe: “ I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.” In naming what he has done he eases the concerns of the people who are worried about their safety. He promises to use “all measures” within his power including the resources of our military to protect the people. Roosevelt is very emphatic in his promise to protect the country. He wants the American People to understand that they are safe and there is nothing to worry about. He feels that he and the United States Congress are doing everything they can to protect the United States. He drives this home by promising we, “will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.” He promises that this will never happen again which gives the reader even more confidence that they will be safe. By frequently emphasizing his promise FDR tries to assure the vulnerable citizens that they will be ok. He is provides them the relief they are looking for. He then wraps up his speech by informing the people the country has declared war on