Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation" Analysis.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt's “Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation” was a compelling speech that rallied congress and the American people to declare war on Japan about twenty-four hours after the devastating Pearl Harbor attack from the Japanese Empire. This seven minute forty-two second speech is short, but it is successful on two fronts: Roosevelt simultaneously manages to convince two audiences into war, the first audience being Congress themselves, and the second being the American people. Although Roosevelt delivers his speech to Congress; several different news stations such as NBC and CBS broad-casted the speech to the homes of the American people. Throughout the speech, Roosevelt applies several rhetorical techniques to successfully manipulate a dual audience into declaring war against the Japanese Empire.

The most obvious example of rhetoric in Roosevelt’s Pearl Harbor speech is that he used the ability to manipulate two audiences simultaneously. The major reason that Roosevelt was so successful in this area was the fact that he set a a non-specific audience for the speech. That is, Roosevelt restrained from making his speech specific to one target group, such as only the Congress or only the American public. An example of this is when Roosevelt asserts that he will, “...interpret the will of the Congress and of the people...”. This is important because by not targeting a specific audience, Roosevelt left the speeches intended audience openly interpretable to anyone. Although Roosevelt was aware that he would be presenting the speech to the Congress, Roosevelt restrained from using any technical political terms that would confuse the average audience. To complete this feat, but still gain approval from the two different audiences, being the Congress and the American people, Roosevelt created a short speech, that used minimal amounts of time but yet gave all the facts of the war in a polished manner.

Roosevelt also maintained his rhetorical success by conveying the tone in an appropriate manner. This is evident in Fig. 1, when Roosevelt is recorded while delivering his speech to Congress.

Great Speeches Vol. 5. Perf. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. 1941. YouTube. Web.

When listening to the speech, it is clear that the President maintains a clear, and forceful cadence throughout the entire speech. Although the speech is relatively short, the President from his successful use of tone is interrupted several times by the uproar of applause from the Congress giving the President approval of his words. Roosevelt additionally is successful auditorily in using emphasis on the devastating attacks that the Japanese had done in the past forty-eight hours. This emphasis was created by Roosevelt listing each area that the Japanese had attacked separately, and at what time the attack had taken place with a pause in between each event. This allowed the audience to fully take in and comprehend the severity of the devastating events. The speech overall is compelling to list en to, with pieces of patriotism such as “No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.” and, “We will gain the inevitable triumph -- so help us God.” which was successful in stirring the American peoples’ emotions. This is an example of how he captures the home listening audience.

Overall, Roosevelt is successful in manipulating a dual audience with his extensive rhetorical usage. The former President was able to convince the Congress and the American people into declaring war with the Japanese Empire within twenty-four hours of the devastating Pearl Harbor attack. This was achieved by Roosevelt purposefully not targeting one specific audience, although Roosevelt was aware that he was presenting his speech to Congress. Roosevelt was also successful in creating a memorable speech that carried significance whether it is analyzed auditorily or visually.

Work Cited
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano. "Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation." 8 December 1941.

Works Consulted
"American Rhetoric: Franklin Delano Roosevelt - Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation (12-08-41)." American Rhetoric: The Power of Oratory in the United States. Web. 30 Sept. 2010.
Google News Timeline. Web. 30 Sept. 2010.

"YouTube - Franklin D. Roosevelt - Declaration of War." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 30 Sept. 2010.

Textual Analysis Assignment

English 101: Rhetoric

Paper #3: Textual Analysis

Purpose: This assignment is designed for you to complete an extensive textual analysis. Critical readers do not just read texts for information, but they are also able to analyze how and why texts communicate that information. Therefore, as you complete this assignment, you will show your understanding of the role that the rhetorical situation plays in the critical reading of texts. As stated in the Norton, "Your goal in analyzing a text is to lead readers through careful examination [considering the rhetorical situation] of the text to some kind of interpretation or reasoned judgment" (50). The gentlemen in Figure 1 demonstrate their argument as a cohesive rock quartet.

Fig. 1. Overt Defiance Promotional Photograph. Prendergast, Jack; Overt Defiance; 2006; JPEG.

Assignment:
Compose a textual analysis blog post of a speech where you communicate your understanding, or reading, of what the text says, how it says it, and what it means.

As you write your analysis you should consider what the text says (summary), how the text works (analysis of how the parts work together to make up the whole), and what argument you want to make about how the text should be read (evaluation). In other words, you are arguing for the legitimacy of your reading of the text. You will need to do some outside research to gain an understanding of the context of your chosen speech.

When coming up with a thesis, you may want to consider a specific aspect of the rhetorical situation and how the text uses it to convey meaning and why that is important. You may examine whether or not the author is successful in communicating his/her purpose/argument. Or, you may want to show that the text has a specific meaning.

Sources: Go to http://www.americanrhetoric.com/ and select "Top 100 Speeches" from the menu on the left side of the page. Then you will select "Top Speeches by Rank" from the right side of the page. Choose one speech to analyze. You will need an additional source (or sources) to gain background information on this person's speech as part of the summary. Your sources must be cited in MLA format at the bottom of your blog post.

Audience: Your audience for this assignment is the educated public interested in the specific speech you choose to analyze. Keep in mind that blogs usually have a narrow readership. Therefore, in staying true to publishing an authentic posting of a textual analysis of a historically significant speech, you will need to make sure that your presentation meets the demands of the audience. With that, your audience expects a college-level vocabulary and writing in the present-tense.

Length: Minimum 500 words/Maximum 750 words.

Due Date: Monday, October 4^th, 10:00 p.m. via e-mail. Late by 5 minutes = a day, which is one letter grade lower. Essays submitted by 10:05 p.m. on Tuesday will be 2 grades lower and so on. No essay is accepted after 9:59 p.m. on Monday, October 11^th.

Format/Medium/Layout: You will be publishing your analysis to a blog: http://www.newmanrhetoric.blogspot.com/. You have been "invited" through G-mail as authors. You will log-in and then post. I would recommend typing in Word first to get your thoughts together. Because of the expectations of blogs as a genre, you will need to utilize hypertext and images, as appropriate. Minimum requirements include hyperlinks to the speech, as well as one additional link that will help in conveying your argument. You will include at least one image—referenced in your post—and you will cite the image following MLA guidelines in your book.

Stance: This assignment is thesis driven. The best blog posts will have a clear argument/reading of the text supported with evidence from the text.

For Help: Norton pages 49-57 (Analyzing a Text), 469 (Documenting Images), 528-531 (Labeling Visuals)

Work Cited

Bullock, Richard and Maureen Daly Goggin, eds. Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings. New York: Norton, 2010. Print.

Overview of the Blog

This blog will most likely be used for the next Rhetoric assignment as long as student posting works flawlessly. I'll let you know by Friday, September 23.