On December 7th, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japanese forces. The next day, Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the United States Congress with his memorable “a date which will live in infamy” speech. Throughout this essay, I will be using SOAPSTone to analyze this speech rhetorically and identify its speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, subject, and tone. This will be able to provide us with a better understanding of the speech, in addition to being able to learn how the president uses words and sentence structure to influence his audience. Firstly, the initial component of SOAPSTone is speaker. In this speech, the speaker is Franklin Delano Roosevelt, otherwise known as the president of the United States at the time. From the speech
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The occasion in this particular speech is the nation being addressed about Japan’s multiple attacks on pacific territory of the U.S including Pearl Harbor. This is supported by the text when it states: “the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan”. Moreover, the third component of SOAPSTone is the audience. In this speech, the audience is the Congress of the U.S and the people of the United States as well. The Congress is shown as audience as Roosevelt demands them to take action when he says: “I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire”. Roosevelt also calls for the citizens of the U.S when he says: “With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable …show more content…
There are two purposes provided by this speech. The first is to urge Congress to formally declare war on Japan (which they did just minutes later), and to rally the American people to support the war effort. This poen by the text when it states: “I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire”, and “the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory”. In addition, the penultimate component of SOAPSTone is subject. The subject here is the Japanese attack on U.S territories in the Pacific and the commencing of war between the U.S and Japan. This is shown in the text when it says: “the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of
The occasion in this particular speech is the nation being addressed about Japan’s multiple attacks on pacific territory of the U.S including Pearl Harbor. This is supported by the text when it states: “the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan”. Moreover, the third component of SOAPSTone is the audience. In this speech, the audience is the Congress of the U.S and the people of the United States as well. The Congress is shown as audience as Roosevelt demands them to take action when he says: “I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire”. Roosevelt also calls for the citizens of the U.S when he says: “With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable …show more content…
There are two purposes provided by this speech. The first is to urge Congress to formally declare war on Japan (which they did just minutes later), and to rally the American people to support the war effort. This poen by the text when it states: “I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire”, and “the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory”. In addition, the penultimate component of SOAPSTone is subject. The subject here is the Japanese attack on U.S territories in the Pacific and the commencing of war between the U.S and Japan. This is shown in the text when it says: “the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of