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Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Brief Speech Analysis

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January 1945 found Franklin D Roosevelt as President of the United States. Many advances were being made in technology such as radio and televisions for the use of entertainment and news. This brought the global affairs of the country right into the living room of the American home. The transformed the lives of many Americans. On April 13, 1945 President Roosevelt died bringing a great sadness over the nation. He had served four terms bringing the United States through the Great Depression and World War II. The American people were deeply concerned about the future of their nation. The Vice President at that time was Harry S Truman. Truman was born in Lamar, Missouri on May 8,1884. He graduated in 1901 from High School and worked as …show more content…

He had broad shoulders, a round face, blue eyes that looked out through plain eyeglasses and thin gray hair. During his years in the Senate, he was not an orator and rarely took the role as speaker. He struggled with the art of public speaking. His speech was delivered at a high rate of speed and his voice was nasally with a Missouri twang. His poor eyesight was also a hindrance in his speeches. He would find it difficult to focus at his manuscript after looking up at the audience and would inevitably lose his place. In order to help compensate for this his secretary would make his copy triple spaced with wide margins and short paragraphs. His style of speech was very plain. They consisted of simple words and sentence structure. It was noted that when he chose to speak, his remarks were well thought out, forceful and brief. It was noted that in 1948 during his “whistle stop campaign” he effectively spoke extemporaneously from large printed outlines.
Clark Clifford and assistant George Elsey were the White House Counsel and were very much involved in writing White House speeches would often have to "Trumanize" his speeches. This meant that they had the task of simplifying difficult sentences and removing complex words. This was a necessity in order to both to stay consistent with Truman 's own likings so that he would be relaxed and to assist him in being able to deliver the speech. He would normally state his major

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