Rhetorical Analysis Pearl Harbor Speech

Rhetorical Analysis of Franklin Roosevelt’s Pearl Harbor Speech
Commander in chief of the Army and Navy, President Franklin Roosevelt, in his speech addressing the bombing of Pearl Harbor, formulates a declaration of war on Japan. Roosevelt’s purpose in his speech is to unify the American people and to gain support for his pre-existing plan to declare war on Japan. He adopts a patriotic tone to appeal to the emotions of his audience.
    Roosevelt begins his speech by describing the treachery of the Japanese government. He appeals to his fearful audience by detailing the iniquity of the recent attacks explaining that it was “sudden ad deliberate” and that previous communications entailed “no threat or hint of war.” He includes persuasive phrases

like, “deliberately sought to deceive” in order to evoke feelings of betrayal and to appear relatable to the people. The reliability and integrity that Roosevelt portrays consoles the American people in a time of hysteria. Roosevelt employs logical appeals to unify the citizens and gain support for the declaration of war on Japan.
The speech then shifts from a sorrowful narrative to a forceful and determined enumeration by use of repetition. He lists the number of places that Japan has attacked in a repetitive manner using the phrase “last night” and the word “attacked” multiple times. The parallelism that ROosevelt displays conveys the seriousness and actuality of the situation. Roosevelt speaks in a matter- of - fact way to encourage his audience to agree with him in his proposal.
Striving to achieve solidarity, Roosevelt concludes his speech by utilizing a passionate diction. He chooses to burn the memory of the bombing into the minds of citizens using words like “onslaught”, “invasion”, and “treachery.” He also strengthens his nation by using “unbounding determination” and the “righteous might” of the American people. Roosevelt uses powerful adjectives to unify his citizens. The efficacy of his heartfelt diction aided him in securing the support from the American people.
Roosevelt produces a level of contentment during a time of widespread panic through his use of rhetorical devices such as logos, parallelism, and passionate diction.