Pearl Harbor Dbq

Throughout history, many nations face trials and tribulations that cause them to fall or grow stronger for the future, and America is no exception to this. When such a trial were to come forth, the president does his best to get an appropriate response out of the American people. In President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Address to Congress Requesting a Declaration of War with Japan”, Roosevelt tried to persuade Congress, as well as the American public, that going to war with Japan was the right course of action following the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces. Nearly sixty years, America is once again faced with another trial with the attack of September 11, 2001. President George W. Bush’s “Address to the Nation” speaks about

In fact, before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the American government was still in conversation with the Japanese government about peace in the Pacific. Roosevelt use of accusatory diction allows the public to understand why his inclination for war was justifiable. He proclaimed that America was “suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval forces and air forces of the Empire of Japan”. The unsuspecting inhabitants of Pearl Harbor and the rest of the nation were unaware of the surprise attack that would take place on December 7, 1941- “a date which will live in infamy”. The president himself felt that the government of Japan “deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace”. This selection of words helped in convincing the public that war was the only route that could take. With an unanimous vote from both the House of Representatives and Senate, with the exception of one vote, the American people braced themselves as they were now a part of the second global

However, President Bush sought to recognize the severity of the situation the nation was currently in. He used destructive diction to describe the effect of the events that had transpired. On September 11, 2001, at around nine in the morning, a plane struck the World Trade Center, in which “thousand of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror”. On this morning, before the attack, nation’s people carried out their morning rituals as usual as they prepare for what they thought was just another day. The day went on with onlookers helplessly watch as the “deliberate and deadly terrorist acts” unfolded. The same evening, Bush addressed the attack, proclaiming that despite “these acts of mass murder...have failed” in frightening the nation into a state of chaos and retreat. The diction helped in illustrating the horror of the events that had just transpired several hours before. The nation on anxious and felt that any decision against terrorism would be the correct