Franklin Roosevelt Pearl Harbor Address

Franklin Roosevelt Pearl Harbor Address Franklin Roosevelt was the thirty-second president of the United States. He served twelve years and four terms. He fought to keep the United States out of the war and helped those nations that were threatened or attacked. As a result, when France fell and Great Britain came under siege in 1940; he began to send all possible aid short of military involvement. The nation’s largest contribution was made to Great Britain in the form of fifty old and out dated destroyers that were built between 1918 and 1920. The Lend Lease Program and the Destroyers Bases Program was a major way the U.S. supported the Allies was efforts in 1940. At this point as a country we were anti-war and isolationist. So when Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941 and after Roosevelt gave his speech the following day, we switched from being anti-war to uniting as a country and flooding the nation’s recruiting stations with volunteers wanting to fight for the country. Roosevelt’s speech was given on December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese bombing on Pearl Harbor. When he gave his speech the country was in a state of shock and angry at the Japanese for the bombing. His objective of the speech was to urge congress to declare war on Japan and to rally the American people to support the war effort. In which he was successful in both for Congress declared war on Japan thirty-three minutes following the conclusion of his speech, and also the American people supported the war whole-heartedly. His main target audience was congress but also to the United States citizens, as the speech was being broadcast live by radio, with over eighty-one percent of American homes listening in. Roosevelt’s use of both emotional and logical proofs was extremely effective in spurring America to declare war on Japan. During his speech, he plays to the emotions of his audience by using a somber tone. He also makes a point to say that the attack by Japan was