Rhetorical Analysis of Woodrow Wilson's War Address to Congress

Rhetorical Analysis of Woodrow Wilson's War Address to Congress

With the status of the country’s belligerency heavily in question, an

apprehensive President Woodrow Wilson prepared to request from an

unmotivated and unprepared country a declaration of war against Germany.

After exerting every attempt possible to retain the peace and honor of the

United States, the President was finally forced to choose between the two,

in which he opted for the latter (Seymour 26). As he sat down to compose

his congressional address proposing war, the uncertainty of his decision

overwhelmed him. He confided to a member of his cabinet, Frank Cobb, that

he had never been as unsure about anything in his life as the judgment he

was making for the nation (Baker 506). Through a rhetorical analysis of

Wilson’s points of argumentation and his style in the presentation to the war

congress, we can gain a better understanding of the president’s purpose to

not only convince the Congress that American belligerency in the final stages

of the war would indefinitely shorten it and provide him with the opportunity

to organize the peace for Europe as well as the rest of the world (Ferrell 2),

but to sway the American people’s opinion to one of non-isolationism, to warn

Germany’s government that “America would ultimately wield a powerful

sword to deny them victory” (Parsons 2), to compel German citizens to

relinquish the submarine attacks and negotiate peace and his terms (Parsons

2), and to calm his own uncertainty about his decision.

The need for Wilson’s speech and the current mindset of the

American public were a direct result of a succession of antagonistic events

in Europe that were rapidly effecting the United Stat...

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...she can do no other.” With this closing sentence

Woodrow Wilson left with America with no choice but to defend her honor

((Blakey 2). Americans had never before made the sacrifices their country

was calling for, but Wilson was confident of the outcome. Two days later

Congress voted overwhelming that “the state of war.....which had been thust

upon the United States is hereby formally declared” (Bailey 10).

In conclusion, after a rhetorical analysis of Woodrow Wilson’s address

to the war congress on April 2, 1917 the reader is more aware of all of the

opposing factions to which Wilson had to appeal to and the methods he

employed to do so. By admitting his own fears about American entry into

the Great War, he helped to calm the apprehensions of the American people

as he sought to rally them behind his cause to safeguard democracy for the

world.