It is December 7th, 1941, and Japan has bombed Pearl Harbor with American naval troops still on its base. America is stunned because they believed that they were at peace with Japan and now realize that this attack was planned a while ago. On December 8th, 1941, Franklin Roosevelt delivers a speech, titled “A Day Which Will Live in Infamy,” regarding the previous attacks on the naval base. This speech By Franklin Roosevelt states for a declaration of war against Japan due to the malicious attack. Franklin Roosevelt effectively describes and explains in his speech what happened on that day, using logos and invention in the canons of rhetoric. He uses a cause and effect ordeal to explain what the Japanese had done at Pearl Harbor, and how it
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Roosevelt has a great deal of pauses between his phrases, especially at the beginning, to pull his audience into his speech. His first greatest pause is the famous quote “A date that will live in infamy,” where he pauses after live to create tension and suspension of how the audience thinks he may describe the event that took place (Roosevelt). The clarity in his speech is remarkable, as he takes each word and syllable and slowly pronounces it, to gain more and more of the audience’s undivided attention. Phrases that were seen as positive or specifically important, he ended with a higher vocal pitch, while negative or neutral phrases he ended with a lower vocal pitch. For instance, he says the “United States was at peace with that nation”, ending the word peace at a higher vocal pitch, while ending nation with a lower vocal pitch; anything that referred to Japan he ended with a lower vocal pitch. When he explains the beginning of what happened at Pearl Harbor, he deliberately emphasizes the words, “One hour after”--which was when the Japanese ambassador contacted American and said there was no attack from them--to show that the Japanese are violent, and they are liars, so he has a better chance of the audience to hear these specific words and persuade them more. He also deliberately persuades the people’s opinion when he changes his vocal pitch (as he does many times in the speech) from the sentence: “…deliberately sought (a pause) to (crescendo of vocal pitch) deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace (ends with low vocal)” (Roosevelt). He wanted to emphasize the words deceive and false statements and hope to show the imbalance between what the word means and what the Japan didn’t do for the United States. Nearing the end of the speech when he refers to the United States as “our nation,” the “whole nation,” “ourselves”, and “our forces our people,” he
Roosevelt has a great deal of pauses between his phrases, especially at the beginning, to pull his audience into his speech. His first greatest pause is the famous quote “A date that will live in infamy,” where he pauses after live to create tension and suspension of how the audience thinks he may describe the event that took place (Roosevelt). The clarity in his speech is remarkable, as he takes each word and syllable and slowly pronounces it, to gain more and more of the audience’s undivided attention. Phrases that were seen as positive or specifically important, he ended with a higher vocal pitch, while negative or neutral phrases he ended with a lower vocal pitch. For instance, he says the “United States was at peace with that nation”, ending the word peace at a higher vocal pitch, while ending nation with a lower vocal pitch; anything that referred to Japan he ended with a lower vocal pitch. When he explains the beginning of what happened at Pearl Harbor, he deliberately emphasizes the words, “One hour after”--which was when the Japanese ambassador contacted American and said there was no attack from them--to show that the Japanese are violent, and they are liars, so he has a better chance of the audience to hear these specific words and persuade them more. He also deliberately persuades the people’s opinion when he changes his vocal pitch (as he does many times in the speech) from the sentence: “…deliberately sought (a pause) to (crescendo of vocal pitch) deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace (ends with low vocal)” (Roosevelt). He wanted to emphasize the words deceive and false statements and hope to show the imbalance between what the word means and what the Japan didn’t do for the United States. Nearing the end of the speech when he refers to the United States as “our nation,” the “whole nation,” “ourselves”, and “our forces our people,” he