Theodore Roosevelt's Opinion On Muckrakers

In a 1906 speech, during the time known as the Progressive Era, President Theodore Roosevelt warned the American people against muckrakers. Roosevelt expressed his negative feelings towards newspapers, magazines, and books that attacked public figures with insults and lies. In summary, his speech declared that it is good for reporters to state the bad things that bad people did in the government. However, there are many muckrakers who lied about government and corporate figures for good publicity. Muckrakers made the bad people that they were look good, and the good people in the government look bad. Theodore Roosevelt expressed his opinion on muckrakers through the use of several literary devices to get his point across to the audience. It is important in any writing to write in a certain tone so the public can understand the feelings of the author. If an author uses happy words in a speech that is …show more content…
It’s stated, “In Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress” you may recall the description of the Man with the Muckrake...”. This refers to an article written where the author lied in order to make himself a hero, and the hero the villain. This allusion was important to the speech because it gave the audience an example of the lies the muckrakers made. If Roosevelt had not alluded to any article or newspaper, the audience would never have believed him, and would have kept accepting the lies. Another example of allusion comes later in the speech when he stated, “The eighth commandment reads, “thou shalt not steal””. This allusion to the bible explained that the muckrakers were almost stealing the truth from the American people. It also showed the unethics in the journalist's actions by showing how they broke the ten commandments. Teddy Roosevelt used allusion in his speech to show the audience proof to persuade them that the journalists actions were