Essay on Rhetorical Analysis

Submitted By kborrisove
Words: 796
Pages: 4

December 7th, 1941 will forever be remembered as “The Day Of Infamy.” As President Roosevelt states in his speech on the attacks of Pearl Harbor caused by the Japanese. Roosevelt presented his famous speech the day after the Japanese attacked. When the attacks began at 7:55 am, an unexpected wave of shock was brought all across America. In the end of it all, the Japanese sank and damaged 21 ships and killing a total of 2,335 servicemen, 68 civilians and wounding about 1,178 others. American leaders took initiative as soon as the news was spread. Even though the speech consisted of 25 sentences, a count of less than 500 words, all for a total presentation time of 7 minutes, it sure did leave major impact toward Americans. Throughout the speech, Roosevelt opens his famous speech with how truly horrible the attacks were and brought a dark shadow over the United States of America. Two goals were devised by the Japanese for this massive devastating attack. One being destruction, and two was to sink as many American ships within the naval base as possible, specifically targeting battleships. No, this was no fun game of “who sunk my battleship.” Before the attacks took place, the US and Japan were at peace. There were many conversations talking about maintaining peace between the two countries. But it turns out that the Japanese government had been lying to the US by sending out false accusations of any hope of keeping the peace. Warnings and events of hostiles occurring in Japan had become present in weeks before the attack of Pearl Harbor, but there was no expectation of an attack a few weeks later.
The Japanese may have come off as successful, their plan was not complete. Planning to damage American aircraft carriers, and shoreline facilities, the Japanese did not find any success. Having failed to create more damage than what was already done, the Japanese still thought they were unstoppable. Not only was Pearl Harbor attacked, surrounding countries around Japan were also targeted and attacked as well.
As soon as President Roosevelt heard the news, there was no time for him to just sit around. He needed a way to educate the US nation on what had occurred and persuade everyone to agree with his decision to declare war. When Roosevelt says “Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, members of the Senate, and House of Representatives, as commander of chief, of Army and Navy,” he shows that he is qualified to declare war on the Japanese. In his speech, he uses pathos to convey both emotions of betrayal and sorrow within the audience. By showing distance from Hawaii to Japan, Roosevelt shows logos to prove that the Japanese had this surprising attack planned weeks earlier. Thus, enraging Americans into anger claiming that the Japanese empire is “evil” and wanting to begin revenge.
“The Day of Infamy” speech uses many rhetorical terms. Anaphora is seen when Roosevelt repeats words and phrases such as “last night” and “deliberately” to give significance that December 7th, 1941 is a day that was and won't