Four Minute Men Rhetorical Analysis

In the year of 1917, world war one in Europe had been going on for three years and America was not yet involved. President Woodrow Wilson was re-elected president using the campaign slogan "He Kept Us Out of War". Britain was calling for the United States to get involved in the war. Events such as the sinking of the RMS Lusitania and the Zimmerman Telegram helped convince Woodrow Wilson, with the help of events such as the Zimmermann Telegram and the sinking of the RMS Lusitania. Eventually, on April, 6th 1917 the US Congress declared war on Germany.With a large number of German-Americans in the United States and many others with strong isolationist feelings, there was a strong need for a propaganda campaign to stir support for the war.[citation needed] This effort had many unique challenges to meet to address the existing political climate. Wilson needed to speak directly to the fragmented and spread out audience in the United States.[citation needed] He had to address the country's self-perception to generate support for the war.[citation needed] The Four-Minute Men provided an answer to these challenges. …show more content…
One of the challenges of the effort was the fragmented audience of the United States. Many different heritages were represented in the United States, and the president needed their support for the war. To address each group's specific needs, the director of the Four Minute Men, William McCormick Blair, delegated the duty of speaking to local men. Well known and respected community figures often volunteered for the Four Minute Men program. This gave the speeches a local voice. Also, the four-minute men were given general topics and talking points to follow and rotated between theaters to help the speeches seem fresh, instead of generic propaganda