Analysis

“A Day Which Will Live In Infamy” Analysis
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on 30 January 1882 at his family's estate in New
York State. His father was a businessman. He attended Harvard and Columbia University Law
School, but had little enthusiasm for the legal profession (Beschloss 1). Franklin D. Roosevelt spent his early years at his family home in Hyde Park. Since he was tutored at home and traveled extensively with his family, Roosevelt did not spend much time with others his age. In 1896, at age 14, Roosevelt was sent for his first formal schooling at the prestigious preparatory boarding school, Groton School in Groton, Massachusetts (Rosenberg 2). While at Groton, Roosevelt was an average student. In 1900, Roosevelt entered Harvard University. Only a few months into his first year at Harvard, Roosevelt's father died. During his college years, Roosevelt became very active with the school newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, and became its managing editor in
1903 (Rosenberg 4). Franklin and Eleanor were married two years later, on St. Patrick's Day,
March 17, 1905. Within the next eleven years, they had six children, five of whom lived past infancy ( Rosenberg 7). Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted to rise in politics like his fifth cousin
President Theodore Roosevelt. Even though Franklin D. Roosevelt's political career looked very promising, he did not win every election. Having lost, Roosevelt decided to take a short break from politics and re-enter the business world. Just a few months later, Roosevelt became sick.
Dr. Robert Lovett diagnosed him with polio after a week when they came back from vacation.
Despite the paralysis, Roosevelt kept his humor and charisma. Unfortunately, he also still had pain. At this spa in Warm Springs, Georgia, Roosevelt subsequently built a house (known as "the
Little White House") and established a polio treatment center to help other polio sufferers (Koch
4). In 1928, Franklin D. Roosevelt was asked to run for governor of New York. While he wanted back into politics, FDR had to determine whether or not his body was strong enough to withstand a gubernatorial campaign. In the end, he decided he could do it. Roosevelt won the election in
1928 for governor of New York and then won again in 1930 (Bassanese 13). During his term, social security tax was passed. Eleanor Roosevelt stayed active in politics, championing civil rights, and writing a daily syndicated newspaper column called, “My Day.” After her husband’s death, she continued her own career as an American spokeswoman in the United Nations. Early in the afternoon of December 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his chief foreign policy aide, Harry Hopkins, were interrupted by a telephone call from Secretary of
War Henry Stimson and told that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor (Freeman 3). At about
5:00 p.m., following meetings with his military advisers, the President calmly dictated to his secretary, Grace Tully, a request to Congress for a declaration of war. He had composed the speech in his head after deciding on a brief, uncomplicated appeal to the people of the United.
President Roosevelt then revised the typed draft—marking it up, updating military information, and selecting alternative wordings that strengthened the tone of the speech. He made the most significant change in the critical first line, which originally read, "a date which will live in world history." Grace Tully then prepared the final reading copy, which Roosevelt subsequently altered in three more places. Roosevelt's audience in his First Inaugural Address was, of course, the American people, but his immediate listeners were some 150,000 people “spread over forty acres facing the
Capitol,” writes Jean Edward Smith. While Roosevelt dealt with the spirit of the American people, he also targeted the business and banking sectors. Except for his one statement about his
“good neighbor policy,” Roosevelt did not address foreign powers. His audience was primarily national, not international. This was a time when Americans looked inward, so that the nation's relationships with the world seemed of secondary importance—as Roosevelt himself emphasized in his address. President Roosevelt’s purpose was to address/report about the recent attack on Pearl
Harbor, to explain the actions he has taken in response, and to ask/persuade Congress to declare a state of war. The first paragraph of the speech was carefully worded to reinforce Roosevelt's portrayal of the United States as the innocent victim of unprovoked Japanese aggression. The wording was deliberately passive. Rather than taking the more usual active voice. Roosevelt chose to put in the foreground the object being acted upon, namely the United States, to emphasize America's status as a victim. The theme of "innocence violated" was further reinforced by Roosevelt's recounting of the ongoing diplomatic negotiations with Japan, which the president characterized as having been pursued cynically and dishonestly by the Japanese government while it was secretly preparing for war against the United States. In President Roosevelt’s speech called “Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation” there are many rhetorical strategies to persuade Congress to go to war. The two questions at issue in his speech are: is the attack on Pearl Harbor an act of war, which is a question of definition, and secondly, what should America’s response be to this unjustified attack, which is a question of policy. President Roosevelt’s answer to these questions is that yes, this attack was an act of war, and in response we have to declare war against the Japanese Empire. The main intent of his speech was to inform Congress of the situation and persuade Congress to agree to go to war against Japan. President Roosevelt used repetition many times through his speech. “Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong. Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam. Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.” Repeating those phrases emphasizes to the listener the amount of burden Japan has brought upon not only to the U.S. but to numerous other people. It also makes the listener realize that japan planned all these attacks to pursue in one night. This can cause the listener to feel angry or betrayed. There is a strong ethical appeal throughout Roosevelt’s speech as well. There is an ethical dilemma regarding what to do because of these attacks. Is it ethically justified to declare war with the Japanese empire? Although Roosevelt, along with his audience, has a strong bias towards the United States of America, his decision is that, yes it is ethically justified to declare war against Japan. He shows that it is ethically justified to declare war against Japan, particularly when he lists off the places Japan has attacked in the previous 48 hours. The list creates an ethical argument of why it is correct to declare war with Japan. This list shows the various unethical decisions that Japan made requiring an ethical response. Roosevelt also uses a logical appeal when he provides his listeners with the cold hard facts of the attack. For example, he states, “Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 a date which will live in infamy the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” This states logic in that it clearly displays the fact of the day and year that the United States of America was attacked without warning. Thus, he argues that the logical thing to do would be to fight back. Roosevelt uses repetition to reiterate his points. A word that is repeated throughout the entire speech is “deliberately.” This word means on purpose, with a plan, with intent. This word quickly and easily allows the listeners to understand that the attack was for a reason and was previously planned. The word “deliberately” also demonstrates the outrage towards the Japanese empire because of this attack. In the statement where Roosevelt states, “The American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory,” the words “righteous might” make the statement felt at a religious level; it is a phrase that would be used during a sermon at a place of prayer. This phrase is a good choice because it helps to justify Americans’ actions. It also gives people the idea that the country will be protected by God no matter what they do.
Throughout the entire speech, Roosevelt uses the words “we” and “our.” These words help to bring everybody listening to the speech together as one big family. Those words also allow the speaker to bring himself to an equal level with his audience. These are some examples of how
Roosevelt uses diction to make his point. The overall structure of the speech also has a great effect on helping to persuade
Congress. He starts off by saying, “The United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” This part of the speech lets Congress know in a very clear format they were attacked by the Japanese empire. Then in the next paragraph Roosevelt states, “The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.” This paragraph informs Congress that Japan and the United States were at peace, and that we thought the Japanese were trying to maintain peace with the United States. Roosevelt started by saying what happened and then told Congress that because of the peace negotiations with Japan they never thought anything like this could happen.
This would cause the audience to feel a deep sense of betrayal. This helps Roosevelt reach his goal because the audience would want to seek revenge against their untrustworthy so-called friends. Throughout President Roosevelt’s speech he uses many rhetorical strategies such as context, appeals, diction, syntax, and structure. These rhetorical strategies allow him to achieve his purpose, which is to convince the United States Congress along with American citizens to declare war on the Empire of Japan. This strategy worked in that shortly after this speech was given the United States declared war with Japan which led to the use of the two first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The rhetorical strategies uses by President Roosevelt in his speech “Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation” were successful in allowing him to convince
Congress and the citizens of the United States of America to declare war against Japan.