Reaction Paper - Roosevelt

Date Written: November 2, 2009

Written For: UCCS English 131

An Exigent Arsenal with a Purpose

            President Roosevelt wanted Americans to be ready for war to help them fight against the Axis powers.  He saw a way to help the economy out of the Great Depression and keep our country safe from the Axis.  By using claims of fact to build an exigent situation, Roosevelt asks the country to help out and support the cause.  His case is aided by appeals to pathos and ethos.  Roosevelt used his personal arsenal of knowledge to get the American people on his side and prepared for the dangers ahead.  He wanted his country to prosper.

            One of the biggest forms of entertainment and news during this time was the radio.  Families would gather around the radio and listen to news, stories, or music.  Roosevelt begins his speech with, “this is not a fireside chat on war” (409).  This alone builds exigency.  The family is immediately alerted to the fact that this is not any normal evening spent listening to the radio.  This was their clue that this night would be very important.  Roosevelt knows that Americans will understand the situation in other countries, but when it enters their own territory, they will be called to action.  He wants to let Americans know that they are not immune, “let us no longer blind ourselves to the undeniable fact that the evil forces which have crushed and undermined and corrupted so many others are already within our own gates” (413).  A threat to the home front is something that every American fears and it is something they are willing to defend with their lives, so if they can prevent it before it happens, then they will do what they can to keep it from happening.

            Kairos deals with timing and if Roosevelt had spoken this speech in an untimely manner, the United States of America would have suffered a checkmate.  This situation had reached a point of no return.  The Axis were planning their attacks and hurting innocent people, Roosevelt had to make this point known, “some of our people like to believe that wars in Europe and in Asia are of no concern to us.  But it is a matter of most vital concern to us that European and Asiatic war makers should not gain control of the oceans which lead to this hemisphere” (411).  Roosevelt’s reliance on this exigency really builds on the importance of this situation and information, and without kairos, the value of this situation would be passed over.  However, he does try to keep the people calm with, “does anyone seriously believe that we need to fear attack anywhere in the Americas while a free Britain remains our most powerful naval neighbor in the Atlantic?” (411).   He wants the magnitude of this situation to be known, but he does not want the people to fear an attack at this very moment.  He demands preparedness and his use of kairos affords it to him. 

            Exigency of a situation is different depending on intended audience.  Without the correct audience, every minute piece of information that Roosevelt has spoken would be of little importance to those to whom it is being spoken.   The audience in this piece is most specifically the American people as a whole.  He is not just speaking to CEOs or other big businessmen; he is also speaking with the middle and lower classes.  He clearly states, “so, I appeal to the owners of plants, to the managers, to the workers, to our own government employees to put every ounce of effort into producing these munitions swiftly and without stitnt” (417).  This is an issue that affected everyone and he needed that to be known.  By stating, “as the government is determined to protect the rights of the workers, so the nation has a right to expect that the men who man the machines will discharge their full responsibilities to the urgent needs of defense” (416).  He gives every man a purpose in a way that says help us because we have helped you, which is something many Americans were willing to do at this time.  Americans are a prideful people and they will protect their country no matter the length of time or strength needed in this battle.  Americans are a perfect audience when it comes to issues of their country because many of them will be ready to help their beloved country at the drop of a hat. 

            Roosevelt knows that the American people are prideful and so he uses pathetic appeals to strengthen his case.  To threaten an American’s freedom is to threaten their soul.  So when, “the Nazi masters of Germany have made it clear that they intend not only to dominate all life and thought in their own country, but also enslave the whole of Europe, and then to use the resources of Europe to dominate the rest of the world” (410), an American’s sense of pride and security are put on alert.  Sure, the American wants to help Europe, but a main part of that is so the war will not be brought to the country they love so much.  Roosevelt characterizes Nazi Germany as an evil super power hungry and aching for more.  He tells Americans that unless they help Britain’s fight, the war will spread to America.  Another sense Roosevelt appeals to is that of responsibility and remorse.  He states, “There are also American citizens, many of them in high places, who, unwittingly in most cases, are aiding and abetting the work of those agents” (413).  Americans are a whole.  When one does wrong, it is almost as if nothing can be right until it is fixed and because of this, Americans rely on each other in a familial way.  Roosevelt goes on to clarify, “I do not charge these American citizens with being foreign agents.  I do not charge them with doing exactly the kind of work that the dictators want done in the United States” (413).  He also knows that this will increase the want to help, as many Americans are taught from a young age that people make mistakes and they can be helped.  What better way to help your fellow American, than to protect the country form war?  One appeal to the audience’s emotions which Roosevelt fails to mention (or possibly chooses to ignore) is the body count already totaled by the Axis.  Many lives had already been lost at this point.  His case might have been strengthened if he had mentioned these numbers.  Americans would have been scared for their lives as well if this had been mentioned.

            The speech would hold little importance without the help of ethos.  The ethos for this speech deals with not only the moral character of the orator, but also but also the orator’s knowledge of the subject at hand. When speaking to the body of people, especially in the United States, the title, President, holds a very high importance.  Roosevelt is the elected leader and without his guidance, the country would be a completely different place.  Roosevelt begins to establish his personal ethos from the second paragraph of the speech, “my mind goes back eight years to a night in the midst of a domestic crisis.  It was a time when the wheels of American industry were grinding to a full stop, when the whole banking system of our country had ceased function.  I well remember that while I sat in my study in the White House, preparing to talk to the people of the United States, I had before my eyes the picture of all those Americans with whom I was talking” (409-10).  In those few sentences, Roosevelt reminds that he is the president and he has dealt with a very serious, habilitating crisis in the past, and this crisis is something that was still affecting Americans at the time of his speech.  As for his ethos from knowledge of the war, Roosevelt lets the readers know, “on September 27^th, 1940---this year---by an agreement signed in Berlin, three powerful nations, two in Europe and one in Asia, joined themselves together in the threat that if the United States of America interfered with or blocked the expansion program of these three nations---a program aimed at world control---they would unite in ultimate action against the United States” (410).  His knowledge of this fact lets the audience know that the President knows exactly what they will be up against and he is not scared of the consequences.  By appealing to pathos and ethos, the author’s argument is strengthened.  The audience responds to certain points and when they hear them from somebody who has a proven track record, they know they are in the best hands possible. A very important link between these two appeals is that Americans, being a prideful nation, prefer a knowledgeable President, so they can have pride and trust in him.  Overall, these appeals combined make a strong case for what Roosevelt asks of the American people.  As an American citizen, it would be very hard to turn his request down.  It would almost be a blasphemy of sorts. 

            The direct way that Roosevelt addresses the issue adds exigency and importance to the speech.  He lets the listeners know what is going to happen and just how they can help their country.  His use of pathos and ethos afford him room to ask for such an important task from an entire nation.  These tasks he requests are ways to create preparedness and hopefully economic stimulation. His reliance on timing gives him a base on which to stand.  This is a speech which roused a nation to act and without expert wording and knowledge, it might have had an opposite effect.