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Rhetorical Analysis Of Fdr's Pearl Harbor Address To The Nation

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December 8th, 1942, a day after Pearl Harbor a very important speech was made. During the 1940s war tensions were high due to WWII. This war, as of before pearl harbor, was mainly fought in the east, relative to the United States. Since the U.S. was, for the most part, geographically removed from the war many Americans were opposed to the idea of fighting in the war. After Pearl Harbor, there was a ricochet of events that changed views. Part of this ricochet was FDR’s Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation. This speech was played to millions due to radios recently being readily available to the public and because of this, FDR’s speech would have a substantial impact on the events following Pearl Harbor. As a result of the crisis, FDR’s speech was made. Even though the speech contains some fallacies it remains effective in its use of rhetorical appeals, logos, pathos, and ethos to influence the audience. The use of the logos appeal is very important in speeches as it allows the audience to come to logical conclusions based on evidence given in the speech. However one must be careful with the use of logos as many fallacies could be made that wrongly influence the audience. One fallacy used in FDR’s Pearl Harbor speech was an assumption. For example when FDR mentions that Japan must have intentionally deceived the U.S. of continued peace because the …show more content…

However, there is still another layer to FDR's speech which is delivery. With FDR’s structure and words combined he was able to deliver the speech and convey confidence. FDR’s language was to the point. According to the article Rhetoric Revisited: FDR’s “infamy” Speech, “Roosevelt prided himself on using direct language” and while this causes his language to become bland, in this speech it highlighted important words and phrases needed to get his point across to the audience

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Olivia Blanda Professor Seo-young Park English 102 16 February 2018 Rhetorical Strategies in FDR 's Pearl Harbor Address "December 7th, 1941-a date which will live in infamy" are the famous words Franklin Delano Roosevelt used to describe one of the most damaging surprise attacks placed on the United States of America. On this day of heartbreak, Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, killing over two thousand people and leaving several Americans terrified. The day after Japan attacked the U.S, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (one of the only presidents in history to be elected four times to office) delivered a speech to the nation, now known as FDR 's Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation. With the use of pathos,

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The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor the morning on December 7th, 1941. On December 8th, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed the nation with a powerful speech, “Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation”. It was one of the most influential speeches in history. The purpose of great speeches like those is to persuade people of other’s beliefs. Political leaders usually use rhetorical techniques to persuade their audiences of their beliefs.

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President Franklin Delano Roosevelt included this quote in his speech on December 8, 1941 a day after the Japanese had attacked the U.S., “Yesterday, Dec. 7, 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.” President Roosevelt used many rhetorical strategies and devices in his speech to move and persuade the audience to reason with him and ultimately to go against the Japanese. In this quote however, he uses the rhetorical device logos, an argument based on facts and reason, and the rhetorical strategy, F.I.R.E.S. (fact, incident, reason, example, statistic). Through an inartistic proof he gives hard evidence in this quote to persuade

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There comes a time in peoples’ lives when one feels threatened to such a degree that it is necessary by all means to retaliate to ensure proper protection and rights, whether it be for any individual, group of people, or country itself. When any type of power secretly attacks another body, this goes to show a cowardly act, which causes mass destruction that can immensely change the integrity of peoples’ minds and lives. Within his speech “For a Declaration of War,” Franklin Delano Roosevelt greatly proves his needs and purpose for vengeance on Japan by making use of logos, pathos, and anaphora. Right in the beginning of his speech, FDR clearly makes his position as president by using logic to explain the terrible tragedy that the United States had just experienced.

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Roosevelt leads American citizens through his use of logos and gives them an “unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph” (Roosevelt 12). Roosevelt uses his position as president to encourage the citizens and Congress. The audience truly trusts him, because of the credibility and logic he often uses. Roosevelt’s intelligently placed encouraging words are only effective because of his position and his credibility. Roosevelt proves the sinister plans of Japan by employing logos into his speech.

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Franklin Roosevelt uses pathos, ethos and logos all throughout his speech. “December 7th 1941- A date that will live in infamy.” This quote will forever be in the minds of Americans. The bombing of the Pearl Harbor is an event no one can forget and neither is Franklin Roosevelt’s speech. It was this that brought American into World War Two and changed history.

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