Analysis Of Franklin D. Roosevelt's The Great Arsenal Of Democracy

From September 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945, the world was witness to the most fatal war in our history. During this six year period, an estimated 78 million died. In 1940, The US, despite not having joined the war at the time, was at risk of being invaded. Franklin D. Roosevelt realized that without the help of the US, the war efforts of Great Britain and the rest of Europe were futile. However, American citizens were opposed to joining the war because of the horrors of World War 1 and the idea of those horrors being repeated. In an effort to convince the American public to take action, Roosevelt addressed the country on December 29, 1940. Roosevelt’s use of repetition and pathos within his speech, “The Great Arsenal of Democracy,” illustrated

Repeating the phrase “I call” in his last paragraph, Roosevelt is emphasizing that he, as the president, is asking everyone listening to do his or her part in the great effort and reiterating that he, despite all the power he holds, needs the citizens to work with him. Furthermore, Roosevelt uses the word “defense” to restate that the US would not be attacking or entering the war, but if they were complacent then they would be put on the defensive. In addition, Roosevelt repeats words like “swiftly”, “urgency” and “speed” to illustrate the urgency with which the country as whole must take action and become the arsenal of democracy. Finally, within Roosevelt’s speech, there are many occurrences of inclusive words such as “we”, “all” and “our”. By emphasizing the unity of the country through these words, Roosevelt reiterates that without a national effort, the situation they are in may become apocalyptic. The repetition of certain words throughout his speech allows Roosevelt to assuage the fears of his people and make a call to action to those

When he states "’Please, Mr. President, don 't frighten us by telling us the facts.’ Frankly and definitely there is danger ahead...But we well know that we cannot escape danger...by crawling into bed and pulling the covers over our heads”, Roosevelt is cautioning that if the American citizens simply ignore the facts, nothing will change, and they will not be able to escape the danger. The danger in this situation being the Nazi invasions throughout Europe; Roosevelt knows that inaction will not fix the situation, but simply stall the inevitable. However, Roosevelt also understands that the American citizens can fix the situation simply by helping out the European countries. At the same time, many American workers weren’t willing to work and help the Europeans. They felt they were being deprived of certain rights that managers and engineers were afforded and went on strike or a lockout as a result of this. They were fearful of being laid off and not having any sort of job security. To respond to this, Roosevelt states “The worker possesses the same human dignity and is entitled to the same security of position as the engineer or the manager or the owner. For the workers provide the human power that turns out the destroyers, and the planes, and the tanks.” In an By appealing to pathos throughout his speech, Roosevelt lessens the fears of his