Pearl Harbor Address
“Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked” (Roosevelt). A powerful quote from President Franklin D. Roosevelt which many are familiar with that helped to push the United States to formally declare war on the Japanese Empire. The United States was not expecting an attack from the Japanese Empire. “There had never been any attempt to cover the full 360 degrees around the islands…though it was well recognized that…was necessary in order to report the presence of enemy carriers.” The Japanese attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor for two hours leaving devastation behind, naval ships were destroyed and lives were lost. To persuade the American people Roosevelt uses many different rhetorical methods. Some of these methods include rhetorical tools such as pathos, logos, and ethos to persuade congress and American people to declare war.
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In the majority of his speech he uses pathos to spike the emotions of the congress and the American people. He uses claims like this, “The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost” (Roosevelt), to make it clear that we were not expecting an attack and the amount of damage it caused. Many times he repeats the phrase “Last night, the Japanese forces attacked” (Roosevelt), trying to reiterate the fact that it is Japan who is the enemy, it is Japan who killed our soldiers. By saying things like this Roosevelt is trying to evoke anger from his audience about the American lives lost in the attack and trying to influence their