Nothing To Fear By Alan Axelrod

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In the expository essay, “Nothing to Fear,” by Alan Axelrod, Axelrod interprets Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s, “First Inaugural Address.” Axelrod does this by stating that Roosevelt was a great leader because he fought fear and gave American citizens hope, and follows up these claims with a sufficient amount of supporting details. The first claim Axelrod states is, “It is a stimulating thought - that fear is not so much the sensation accompanying the realization of danger, but a fog, an obscurer of truth, an interference with how we may productively engage reality. Certainly this is the way FDR saw it.” Axelrod sufficiently backs up this claim by stating how Roosevelt dealt with his disability. He goes on to mention how Roosevelt chose to understand his disability instead of fear it, and what it may do to him. By using this, he is supporting his claim that Roosevelt saw fear as something standing in our way, and it can be overlooked to see the reality. …show more content…

He asked people to confront what they feared, so that they could see clearly what needed to be done and thereby overcome the terror that paralyzes.” Axelrod backs up this claim very well by giving an excerpt from Roosevelt's “First Inaugural Address.” In the excerpt, Roosevelt states the the American people that they are facing big problems, “Taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen...the savings of many years of families are gone.” These things stated in Roosevelt’s speech back up Axelrod’s claims that Roosevelt wants the people to see what’s happening around

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