Rhetorical Analysis Of I Have A Dream Speech

When Franklin D. Roosevelt was awarded the title of President of the United States of America, he delivered a zealous, and sanguine speech. This speech offered hope to all of America, at a time in which it was immensely needed. He allowed comfort to envelope millions of Americans that day, all of whom were wishing for a better tomorrow.
Roosevelt (1933) dispensed a calm over America with a few simple words, “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself” (para. 1). This phrase, suggesting there was hope for the future, was a paradox of the Nation’s attitude throughout the hardships of the Great Depression. As he continues on he accompanies the concept of fear with the phrase, “Unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat

into advance” (para. 1), emphasizing just how effective the Great Depression was on the public.
Intending to reassure those he was now presiding over that the current state at which they were in was not everlasting, he continues on with the idea of a hopeful future by saying, “This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously” (para.

10). A reassuring statement that Roosevelt continues to expand on throughout the paragraph, and the entirety of his speech by developing a plan for change. He focuses on money, claiming that it was the problem, and addressing that many saw it as, or wanted it to be, the solution as well. “Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment” (para. 3) he says, acknowledging the problem, but as he iterates in multiple ways, money was not the key to life. There should be a greater gain in happiness from the work and effort put into earning money and the achievements it takes, rather than in having the money itself. If they learned of how to coincide with money, rather than being controlled by it throughout these dreadful times, the value of these lessons would amount to or surpass the pain and fear they suffered (para. 7). It makes one realize that while money was only a want, the accomplishment of earning it should be an

essential.
Although Roosevelt didn’t believe that the money focused path society and the government were on was the most effective way to handle the issues at hand, he knew, “We must act, and we must act quickly” (para.

11). He knew that the economical problems being faced needed to be addressed, but the way people had previously tried to take care of them had just involved more borrowing and lending of money. His stance on it was more towards employing the unemployed. Roosevelt believed that society needed the government alongside them in handling the unemployment rates. He believed so strongly in the idea of joining the forces of the government and society that he went to the extent of proclaiming that, “we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline” (para. 17) , and that the government needed to, “[treat] the task as we would treat the emergency of a war” (para. 10). To him it seemed obvious that the key to fixing the problems at hand was the attack them as a united

nation.
Roosevelt felt so strongly about the importance of the matter that he associated them with the most effective route the world has ever seen individuals, and entire societies use to get things done, war. Throughout the rest of his speech he ties war into his urges of trying to get society to unify and help solve problems together. He assures the public that as they band together he will, “assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army” (para. 18), and as they attack their problems, they’ll do it as a whole.
“I can do no less” (para. 23). Roosevelt utters these words upon the upcoming closure of his speech as a promise to his listeners across the country. In a time of long lasting pain and suffering he has offered hope, and leadership to an entire nation who are desperate to see a change in their society. He has provided a light in a time of darkness, and with that he praises God and asks for his guidance along the way, thus ending Franklin Delano Roosevelts’ Inaugural Address.