Nearly everyone has heard the words, “Yesterday, December 7th, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked.” These words, delivered by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, are but a small piece of an elaborate example of a well-executed rhetorical speech. He used rhetorical devices and strategies such as anaphora, repetition, and amplification, in order to achieve his purpose of informing the people of the United States of the attack on Pearl Harbor the day before, to persuade the people to support the war effort, and to remember those innocent lives lost. A major rhetorical choice President Roosevelt incorporated into his moving speech was anaphora. After he explained the country’s relationship with Japan before the attack, and after he explained the devastating results of the attack, he starts to list off in a very structured order the other countries Japan chose to attack, using almost a formulaic approach: “Last night, Japanese forces attacked…” The reason he chooses to repeat the same structured phrases repeatedly is to grab the attention of the audience and to make them feel outraged. It shows who …show more content…
Amplification is when an author states something, then expands, of amplifies that statement. A primary example of this in the speech is in perhaps his most famous line of the entire address: “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.” The reason he amplifies the date December 7 with “a date which will live in infamy”, is in order to stir a response in his audience. He wants to make sure that they will never forget that date, because the United States has never been attacked on their own soil until that date, and that should make any true American’s blood
President Franklin D. Roosevelt referred to December 7, 1941- the day of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor- as “a date which will live in infamy.” This description has continued to be accurate, nearly 70 years after the attack on American soil. However, not many people have the same emotional connection to the events at Pearl Harbor, as does the former Admiral Husband Edward Kimmel, the man who was in the position of “Commander-in-Chief” at Pearl Harbor. The events of this day caused his rank of “Admiral” to be removed.
Wake Forest University, Spring 2002. Web. The Web. The Web. 29 Jan. 2014. Franklin D. Roosevelt's Pearl Harbor Speech.
President Roosevelt does a few specific things to be able to establish his credibility as a speaker. Since Roosevelt was the current president, the United States was inclined to listen to him and believe what he was saying. Being the president, the people knew that he was a credible source to receive information from. The president had also been appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1920. This shows that he had experience with the United States military services and knew how to handle the Pearl Harbor situation. Roosevelt?s speech is short, but it still utilizes pathos, ethos, and logos and has just enough detail to let the world know what was going on.
Every famous speech uses specific rhetorical devices in order to persuade and convince the intended audience. FDR’s use of ethos, pathos, and logos, successfully triggered the emotions of all U.S. citizens and effectively provoked the idea of America declaring war on the Empire of Japan. Ethos, or the appeal to credibility and ethics, sways others to believe in a certain idea and to participate in the action as a way to further support the idea. FDR explained Japan’s deceitfulness to the US government as they wrote “false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace” (Roosevelt) in a letter delivered to the United States government shortly after the attack.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the United States Congress following the unexpected attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor the previous day. As a result, Roosevelt asked the Congress to declare war on Japan. In his speech to Congress, President Roosevelt stated that the previous day, which was December 7th, 1941, was a date that they will live in notoriety. President Roosevelt said that the United States of America was abruptly and intentionally attacked by naval and air forces of the Japanese emperor.
Ronald Reagan was one of the most liked Presidents. When being elected for his second term, he won by a landslide—winning all the states minus Minnesota and Washington D.C. Reagan addresses the people of the United States of America. He wants the American people to reflect on his presidency, and as all presidents do in their farewell addresses, he wants to say goodbye to the nation that he's led for the past eight years. Ronald Reagan uses repetition, parallel structure, and allusion to reflect on his presidency and to say farewell to the American people.
Roosevelt used pathos, here, to give America the feeling of unity, which America needed to win against Japan. Example two, “I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost.” Here he gets the American people angry and makes them seek revenge against the enemy. By using emotion, he gains mass interest because most listeners will be fueled by what they are
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
“Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy . . .” These famous lines were spoken the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave this speech to the U.S. Congress on December 8, 1941. Many criticized the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but the decision to attack America was wisely made. The Americans were going to enter the war sooner or later, and on the allies’ side. The attack on Pearl Harbor would hurt the United States’ strongest defense and kill many Americans. This was the first terrorist attack on the United States, by another country, which came as a total shock to many people.
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
Repeating the phrase “I call” in his last paragraph, Roosevelt is emphasizing that he, as the president, is asking everyone listening to do his or her part in the great effort and reiterating that he, despite all the power he holds, needs the citizens to work with him. Furthermore, Roosevelt uses the word “defense” to restate that the US would not be attacking or entering the war, but if they were complacent then they would be put on the defensive. In addition, Roosevelt repeats words like “swiftly”, “urgency” and “speed” to illustrate the urgency with which the country as whole must take action and become the arsenal of democracy. Finally, within Roosevelt’s speech, there are many occurrences of inclusive words such as “we”, “all” and “our”. By emphasizing the unity of the country through these words, Roosevelt reiterates that without a national effort, the situation they are in may become apocalyptic. The repetition of certain words throughout his speech allows Roosevelt to assuage the fears of his people and make a call to action to those
December 7th, 1941, as President, Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, is “a date that will live in infamy”. He spoke the truth, but for reasons that are not as clear as some. It will live in infamy not only for reasons such as the tragic deaths of many people, but likewise for the obscure reasons. The day Pearl Harbor could have been prevented if only the US had not been so blind to the implications. Evidently, the United States had an abundance of indications forewarning them of the attack, nevertheless they let their guard down and were ignorant in a time of world wide war and were therefore in a vulnerable position to be surprised by the Japanese.
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.
I believe that the additional rhetorical devices strengthened John F. Kennedy famous inauguration speech. The reason I say this is because it makes John F. Kennedy’s speech more interesting and appealing to the listener. Some examples of rhetorical devices include alliteration, metaphors, paradox, using references to the past, and emotion-arousing words. Although, i am going to describe a few ways Kennedy spiced up his speech.
Roosevelt chooses words like “premeditated” and “deliberately” in order to better help communicate his message about America’s status. His famous line “...a date which will live in infamy”, shapes the overall tone of the speech by addressing the importance of the evil attack that happened on that date. He uses words like “unprovoked and dastardly” to characterize the Japanese initiative to be devious and miscreant. Another way that Roosevelt structured his speech was by the repeating of words or phrases to add emphasis to their meaning. For example, he says “Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong. Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam. Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands. Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island. And this morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island.” He repeats himself to draw more attention to the meaning and pattern of each sentence, rather than putting them all in one sentence, which would have a much different effect on the