President Franklin Delano Roosevelt implores the citizens to issue a declaration of war on Japan during his Pearl Harbor speech to the people concerning the attack. Roosevelt’s purpose is to accentuate the fact that Japan has ruthlessly and very deliberately attacked multiple nations, including the United States, and that they must take action immediately. He adopts an urgent and direct tone in order to persuade the American citizens to declare war.
Roosevelt opens his Pearl Harbor speech to the people by reiterating that the United States were undoubtedly peaceful towards the Japanese and Japan’s staggering and completely intentional attack was completely unwarranted. Initially he appeals to the citizens’ logic by stating and reiterating that “the United States was at peace with” (3) Japan at the time of the attack. This technique allows him to
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Roosevelt produces a very optimistic tone to inspire the citizens of America when he proclaims that the American people “in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory” (24-25). He generates this auspicious tone in order to provide the citizens of the United States with an elated feeling of safety in which they are more likely to trust him and his request for war. He also produces a very frightening tone to influence them to trust in him and his decisions to protect them as he acknowledges “that [his] people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger” (28). He generates this petrifying tone in order to scare the citizens of the United States into trusting and supporting him and his declaration of war on Japan. With the use of the rhetorical devices, the President scares the citizens of his nation, only to reassure them that they will overcome the current threat as they unite together against the current