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Pearl Harbor Speech Rhetorical Devices

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On the mournful day of December 8th, 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a speech to the nation informing them about the tragic attack by the empire of Japan on Pearl Harbor. The attacked occurred on the previous day before his speech, and he knew no matter what he had to say to the nation, it wouldn’t help. By waiting a day, he hoped it would have a greater impact on the people as a whole. Compared to other very popular speeches throughout history, this one is fairly short, but gets directly to the point. By doing this, he believed it would make everyone more engaged while also having more of a dramatic effect. The speech unleashed strong feelings that related directly to the audience helping capture their attention. This made it feel as if it was not just a response from the President but instead, a statement on behalf on the entire American people recovering from such a great trauma. The purpose was to inform the nation that the United States will respond to Japan’s surprise assault. Instead of discussing all the damage and loss …show more content…

The rhetorical device anaphora, is used. “Last night, Japanese forces attacked…” and “...Our people, our territory, and our interests...” When he uses anaphora it allows him to slow down the pace to draw more attention to what he’s about to convey. Another rhetorical device used more than once throughout the speech is alliteration. “As Commander in Chief of…” and “...Launched an attack against Malaya.” Alliteration is used to draw attention to the phrase and is often used for emphasis. One more rhetorical device used multiple times in his talk is personification. “The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves” and “...A date which will live in infamy.” Both of these examples from the speech have personification because they give human abilities to a non human being or an abstract

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