Rhetorical Analysis Of The Pearl Harbor Speech

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The Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation by Franklin Delano Roosevelt was delivered on December 8, 1941 in Washington, D.C., a day after one of America’s largest tragedies. The bombing of Pearl Harbor is an event that is unforgettable and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s speech in response to this shocking attack is one of the most significant speeches of all time. The significance of the speech is the fact that America joined into the fighting of World War II, something the Americans didn’t want to do at first. This speech has a stark resemblance to the speech George W. Bush gave after the terrorist attacks of The Twin Towers in New York City, an equally shocking event. FDR’s use of ethos, logos, and pathos was extremely effective in spurring …show more content…

The fact that many lives were lost and many families were damaged, shows that this was an extremely emotional time for America. FDR, as mentioned before, begins this address to the nation in a very somber tone to show the effect these attacks have had on the morale of the country. With the seriousness FDR shows in the beginning, it makes the American people pay attention and really digest the message he is giving them. Another huge emotional appeal President Roosevelt plays on is painting Japan as the true enemy to American peace. FDR, in an attempt to explain the rift with the Japan says, “Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.” Americans now have someone they can look at as the ultimate threat to their safety. They can rally around the fact that Japan has attacked their mainland and has provoked a previously unforeseen war. These people are now impassioned, which makes it seemingly impossible for Congress to not vote to go to war against the villainous Japanese Empire. FDR’s pathos led to a full backing from the American people and a very strong vote from the Congress to go to war, with only one person from the House of Representatives voting against the war and the entire Senate approving of FDR’s