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Gigi R. English 102 6 oct. 2013 Rhetorical Essay Speeches often correlate, especially when they are written for a similar audience in a similar situation. For example, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Pearl Harbor Address” appeals to Americans fear during the time of war. President Roosevelt states what has happened and how it will in turn affect the citizens of America. President Roosevelt also appeals to logic, stating that because America has been attacked, they must engage in World War II. In addition, President Roosevelt ives confidence to American citizens saying that, once they enter into World War II, they will win.
Similarly, President Abraham Lincoln empathizes with American citizens. At this time, President Lincoln addresses Americans who have come together to commemorate the lives that America has lost during the Civil War. He encourages Americans to Join together to remember that these men have consecrated this ground. He encourages Americans to take courage and remember that they are together in a great country, Just as President Roosevelt encouraged Americans to continue to take pride in their country and not to be discouraged.
Both President Lincoln and Roosevelt use pathos, or emotion, to empathize with American citizens as well as ethos, or credibility, to be able to point out issues because of their positions as presidents. In the Pearl Harbor Address, Franklin D. Roosevelt uses pathos more than logos or ethos to get to the American citizens’ emotions. He says, “Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave anger,” letting the American people know that this is a serious matter and we should be cautious.
He ends the speech by saying, “With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph so help us God,” bringing the peoples hopes back up again that this attack will not go unpunished. He uses a little bit of ethos by stating who he is when he says, “As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navvy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. But always will our whole nation remember the haracter of the onslaught against us. With this statement he lets the people know how important of a roll he has in the situation, that he knows what he is doing, and that he will take care of things. The first example of pathos that he uses scares the citizens about the situation but it also makes them feel as though something should be done about it. The second example brings their confidence back in that they will win this battle. He appeals to their emotions by making them fear awful things will happen if they do not tight back witn the Japanese.
He then gives them selt-assurance that it they do go to war, they will be successful. Although ethos is the weakest of the appeals that he uses, he still states his title by establishing that he is the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navvy. This is good because he did not provide any examples of his moral character so his position as president and as commander and chief is what really gives him credibility in this speech. In the Gettysburg Address that Abraham Lincoln gives during the civil war he also uses pathos the most, since it’s a war and everyone’s emotions are scattered.
He says The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. ” He speaks about how the soldiers fought and died to create unity in the country. He then says, “It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work, which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. ” By saying this he is trying to motivate the Americans that the country will become unified. In the first example of pathos, Lincoln tugs at American citizens emotions by explaining how the men fought for what they each believed in to try and create a onnected country.
In the second example he is trying to motivate the United States to continue to work on the soldiers’ goal to unify the country. He says, “… These dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth. ” He doesn’t want these soldiers’ death to go to waste, and the American citizens need to finish what has been started and become a whole again. In both the Pearl Harbor Address and the Gettysburg Address, pathos is the main hetorical point that is used.
Since both speeches were by a president during the time of a war, they have several similarities. For instance, because both speeches occur at the height of an American military tragedy, the respective presidents utilize passionate appeals so that the American people feel the heartfelt sorrow and comfort of the Commander and Chief. In addition, these speeches that emphasize pathos have the ability to voice and appeal. They call out for the hearer to respond with greater patriotism. Also, the Gettysburg Address is a turning point for President
Lincoln to unite the war torn country. His use of pathos gives him a way to communicate how the county needs healing. President Roosevelt’s address on Pearl Harbor has the power to move the emotions of Americans into war. Roosevelt pushes the buttons of the citizens on an emotional level to move a county into action. Both speeches encouraging that the county needs to build its self back together and heal. In that way these speeches are timeless examples of the emotional power of the use of pathos in speeches in American history.