Lauren Clowney

Mrs. Crandall

AP Language-2nd

8 August 2019

Analysis Essay: Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation

Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941, and the sitting president, Franklin

Delano Roosevelt delivered this powerful Pearl Harbor Address to the American people in

response to this appalling attack. This is one of the most well-known and significant speeches in

American history because FDR’s rhetoric is what convinced Congress to declare war on Japan.

The secondary purpose of this speech was to assure the country that we will retaliate against

Japan. FDR achieves his purpose by using pathos to empathize with the emotional loss that just

happened, strong diction and a serious tone for a call to action, and parallelism and repetition to

convey the gravity of the attack.

Employing ethos is very crucial considering Roosevelt was the President of the United

States at the time. FDR’s source of credibility would make the American people feel more at

ease once Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. Roosevelt utilizes parallelism to

pinpoint the clear enemy: Japan. This method of propaganda is used to persuade the listeners that

Japan is at fault and the best option is to declare war on them: “Japan makes it obvious that the

attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago”, “the Japanese government has

deliberately sought to deceive the United States”, “Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise

offensive” (Roosevelt par.2 & 4).

 Roosevelt also integrated his credible argument with an equally powerful logical

argument. The logical appeals in this speech were intended more for Congress, since they make

the decision whether to declare war on Japan or not. FDR uses logical appeals to convince the

audience that the best decision is to declare war on Japan. This rhetorical strategy is used to

convey that the United States was not the only target, and that Japan must be stopped:

“Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya. Last night,

Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong. Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam. Last night,

Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands. Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island.

And this morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island” (Roosevelt par.5).Consequently,

Roosevelt’s impactful use of logos convinced many Americans to join the war effort.

Roosevelt creates a feeling of unity and togetherness during this grueling time by using

the repetition of “our” throughout his speech . Roosevelt also uses parallelism by saying “I

believe”, “I interpret”, “I regret” , and “I assert” to create a sense of power and control in a

situation where most feel powerless (Roosevelt par.9). Roosevelt uses pathos and repetition to

stir emotion by saying “our country, our territory, and our interests” (Roosevelt par.10).

Throughout FDR’s speech, pathos is used to appeal to the emotions of America. FDR stirred

emotions such as anger and vexation by having a serious tone. Roosevelt provokes anger in

Americans directed towards the Japanese by calling the attack “unprovoked and dastardly”

(Roosevelt par.12).

The primary purpose of this speech was to convince Congress to declare war on Japan

and to rally Americans to the war effort. To achieve this goal, Roosevelt also uses strong diction
and has a serious tone with the intent of a call to action against Japan: “I ask that the Congress

declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December seventh, a

state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire” (Roosevelt par.12).

This confident and reassuring tone that “we will gain the inevitable triumph -- so help us God”

reveals the President predicts victory in the future and is certain in his statement (Roosevelt

par.12).

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation is not known or remembered

for its fluency or use of language; furthermore, the speech is pretty flat, full of passive voice and

long sentences. However, this speech is good enough to be featured on AmericanRhetoric.com

because he grasped the audience’s attention throughout the entire speech, explained the gravity

of the attack, but also said exactly what the next step was, predicted victory as the outcome, and

declared war on Japan. Roosevelt accomplished all of this in a brief, seven minute speech.

Roosevelt portrayed confidence throughout the entire speech, so much so that Congress declared

war on Japan three hours after the speech was given. Roosevelt used rhetorical strategies

repeatedly in this speech to empathize with, convey the seriousness of the attack, and make a

clear call to action. That is why this speech is featured on AmericanRhetoric.com. Certain

speeches continue to have such power for years to come because they continue to arouse

emotion, combine simplicity and sincerity, are personal, and most importantly, are convincing

through the use of rhetoric.