Presidential Speeches Similar Purposes, Different

Presidential Speeches

Similar Purposes, Different Values

A Comparison of Roosevelt and Bush's Speeches with Implications for Changing American Values

Like December 7, 1941, September 11, 2001 was "a date which will live in infamy" (Roosevelt). During both occasions, the United States was attacked during apparent peacetime; and during both occasions the President of the United States gave a speech in order to consol citizens, advocate steadfastness, and gain support for war. A comparison of the speeches given by President Theodore Roosevelt and George W. Bush immediately after these two "date[s] which will live in infamy" (Roosevelt), however, suggest that while the speeches have similar goals, they suggest different types of American values.

Both President Roosevelt's address to congress on December 8, 1941, and President Bush's address after the September 11 terrorist attacks have a similar goal -- to encourage Congress and citizens to support the retaliatory war that will ensue. In Roosevelt's speech, the president spends a great deal of time discussing reasons why Japan's attack on the United States was wrong. Adopting the form of a logical argument that one might see during a Lincoln-Douglass type debate, Roosevelt argues that the United States was still pursuing peace talks with Japan when the country attacked the United States, and maintains that the distance of the attack suggests that it was planned during peacetime. Furthermore, he continues his argument by using a very convincing parallel structure to emphasize the fact that Japan's aggressiveness will not stop with the United States, and references the lives that have been lost due to the attack. After the culmination of this evidence, Roosevelt then presents his call to action, or purpose for delivering the speech. He states that he has "directed that al measures be taken for our defense," and suggests that Congress and the American people have already made up their minds about the seriousness of the war. In other words, he asks Congress and the American people to support him in undertaking a war of his own.

President George W. Bush's purpose is the same, though he achieves it in a different way. Instead of beginning his speech with logical reasoning, showing how the terrorist attacks were wrong, premeditated, and likely to expand into further conflict, he appeals to the emotions of his listeners. In a style much different then Roosevelt's, Bush paints images of horrific deaths, and seeks to win his audience's emotions by calling the victims "moms and dads," as well as "friends and neighbors" (Bush). He continues, not by discussing the seriousness of the war or likelihood of the terrorists attacking again, but instead by praising the United States, advocating its positive aspects. This style of appealing to his audience is evident, once again, in his speech to the American people on the anniversary of the attacks in 2006. In this speech, Bush discusses the children who "still long for the daddies who will never cradle them in their arms," but who cannot be consoled because their fathers have been killed by terrorists. Thus, Bush also asks for Congress and the American people to support him going to war, but by using a much different technique than Roosevelt.

The difference in technique between Roosevelt's speech, which was delivered in 1941, and Bush's two speeches, delivered in 2001 and 2006, suggest a difference in American Values. When Roosevelt presents a logical argument, drawing attention to the ways in which the Japanese will continue to harm unless they are stopped, he suggests knowledge of his audience. Knowing that his audience will respond to this kind of logical appeal, he uses this to gain their support. When Bush uses his emotional appeal, he suggests a similar knowledge of his audience, but acknowledges that his audience's values are different -- they value emotion and emotional arguments, rather than logical ones.