Pearl Harbor Address To The Nation Speech Analysis

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December 7th, 1941. This was the date of one of the most significant attacks on American soil in United States history. It was on this date that the Japanese Empire launched an attack on the American naval base Pearl Harbor. Within two hours, the Japanese managed to destroy nearly twenty American naval vessels, more than three hundred airplanes, with more than two thousand casualties and another thousand wounded (History.com Staff). Prior to the attack, relations between the United States and Japan were becoming progressively worse, but no violent measures were taken. The day after the assault President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his famous “Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation Speech” in which he asked Congress to declare war on Japan and …show more content…

Roosevelt throughout his speech was the use of pathos. Roosevelt uses an authoritative, logical, and persuasive tone in his address to the nation. The President also talks in a slow manner in order to emphasize the sorrow and urgency in his tone, while allowing people of all ages, and educational level to understand his message with ease. Roosevelt is deliberately aiming for a gut-level, emotional response from the members of the Senate, House of Representatives and the American people in order to persuade them into a sense of unity and a mindset of hatred towards the Japanese empire. President Roosevelt stated, “Yesterday, December 7th, 1941—a date that will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan” (Roosevelt). President Roosevelt uses a furious tone to deliver this message to the nation in order to strengthen nationality and support the cause for the upcoming war. Roosevelt effectively does this when he states, “I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.” Roosevelt uses this tactic to put the idea of war in the mind of the nation, and with this, he was able to convince Congress to declare war on Japan immediately after his

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