Day Of Infamy Speech Analysis

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How Roosevelt Influenced America “What’s are we going to do now?”, “I’m Scared”, “Is this the start of a war?”. These are some things that many American people must have been thinking after they heard of the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. Luckily President Roosevelt knew exactly how to calm the people and prepare them for war. Roosevelt, like many other war time leaders, expressed his ideas through a well thought out and influential speech. His Day of Infamy speech is remembered as what brought America into WWII. His use of pathos and repetition were essential to convince the American people that war was necessary. Nearly sixty years later President Bush gave his 9/11 Address to the Nation speech. Both of these influential …show more content…
He wanted the people to feel like he had a handle on everything. One thing I noticed when listening to a recording of his speech was the short pauses he took in the middle of sentences. For example he says “Today our fellow citizens……our way of life……our very freedom…” (Bush). These short pauses make his speech much more dramatic and they leave the listener waiting to hear what he has to say next. His tone is very stern, there is no wavering in his voice that would cause the audience to believe that he is scared or worried. He speaks very softly as if he is surrounded by scared or worried citizens, he doesn 't want yell at the people and tell them what to do. President Bush was very particular in his word choice, he says the words “we” and “our” a total of 24 times. He repeats those words so many times to emphasize that fact that he is a citizen just like his audience and that together they will recover and rise again. Powerful words that define America like “peace”, “justice”, and “strong” are included as well. Bush truly knew how to present himself in a serious manner when giving this …show more content…
Right after reading them you will realize that they have very different purposes. The purpose of Roosevelt 's Day of Infamy speech was to push congress to officially declare war on Japan. While doing this he also rallied up the American people and encouraged them to support the war they were about to enter. Roosevelt was more focused on getting revenge and defending his country than healing the wounds of the nation. President Bush on the other hand did not call for war at all. Bush instead mentions to the people that the attacks will not cripple the nation or its government. He states that America will overcome these attacks and that they will never give up fighting for peace and security. Bush focused more on mourning the dead and emotionally helping America get through the attack, he asks the audience to pray and even includes a quote from the

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