Rhetorical Analysis Of Pearl Harbor Address To The Nation

Name: Duc Vu

English A100

Instructor: Virginia Komenda

Date: September 30th, 2014

Pearl Harbor Address to The Nation

By

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Hawaii, a world-famous tourist attraction and home to Pearl Harbor, the event that leads the United States of America into the deadliest war in human history, World War 2. On December 7th, 1941, Empire of Japan launches a surprise attack, which causes severe damages, as well as, losses of American lives, on the American Fleet of the Pacific located in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Prior to the attack, Empire of Japan tricks America into remaining at peace through diplomacy. The diplomacy trick leads America to being unaware of the attack from Empire of Japan. In the wake of the attack on American soil

Roosevelt begins the speech by employing the element of Logos. Roosevelt immediately grabs audience’s attention by saying “a date which will live in infamy.” Roosevelt recalls the misleading or trick diplomacy that Japan has been pulling to keep American’s attention away and attacks America right at its weak point with plans that were “deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago.” With this frustrated tone, the audience can see Roosevelt’s emotion over this attack. He, in this standpoint, represents America and its people, is going through a state of shock from the cowardly betrayal of Japan’s hope for peace. These facts help establishing a sense of urgency and deliver to the audience a devastating picture of the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt goes on to present a list of targets that were attacked simultaneously by Empire of Japan; “last night, Japanese force attacked Guam. Last night, Japanese force attacked Philippines.” Roosevelt repeats the phrase “last night” for 4 times. This repetition method not only emphasizes the cruelty and cowardly plan of Empire of Japan, but, also, to create a dramatic situation in the mind of the audience. By pointing these facts out, Roosevelt aims to somehow persuade audience to approve the war against

Roosevelt, during his presidency is known as a strong speaker and has delivered many great and emotional speeches. Roosevelt begins addressing himself as “Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy”, and using a lot of “I”, “we” and “American People” in the speech. By doing this, Roosevelt is trying to assure to the people of America that he, who represents the government, is doing everything to protect the soil and freedom of American people. By addressing “I” and “we”, Roosevelt argues that himself and the government of USA will not let violation against America being slide easily, but instead, they will take action against it. Moreover, his tone, at this point of the speech, turns from frustration into confidence; “With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph.” Through employing ethos in this speech, Roosevelt is able to assure to American people that no more harm will take place on American soil and boost the winning morality of American