Roosevelt in World War II

Zifei Yin

The Second World War is an unprecedented epoch in human history. Franklin D. Roosevelt made a great contribution to the worldanti-fascist war and could be regarded as the American president who has the largest and most profound impact on the world.Roosevelts presidential rhetorical strategy could be taken as an example by not only current presidents， but also every leader because it could inspire people and strengthen unity.

This research looks at three key characteristics of Roosevelt's rhetoric， including optimism， intimacy andinterpersonal function， that helped make him successful in unifying the American people to overcome economic crisis and win the war.

Optimism

One of Roosevelt's signature rhetorical moves was his use of optimism. We see his optimism particularly in his use of "probabilistic modal phrases". To be specific， Roosevelts inaugural address used the largest number of probabilistic modal phrases within various modal phrases， like “may” and “possible”.In the front part of the speech， some problems “may” exist in the reality. In the back part of the speech， the reason why Roosevelt used probabilistic modal phrase in quantity is to express that as long as the government and the people work together， the realistic problem “may” be solved and the crisis would be solved.But from the number of distributions，the number of the probabilistic modal phrase in the second half significantly exceeded the first half（Zhao 155）. Thus， it can be seen that Roosevelt did not want to emphasize how bad reality was. But from the viewpoint of the objective to transfer information actively， he focused more on encouraging people to deal with realistic condition.

Intimacy

In addition to “optimism”， Roosevelt also used “intimacy” in his speech， especially by the fireside chat.Roosevelt wasa physically handicapped， but mentally persistent President. At night， beside thefire， through radio waves， Roosevelt would pour countrys difficulties， need and hope to his voters by storytelling form.Fireside chats were the most typicalpresidential rhetoric to reflect the intimacy and shows his excellent ability to use language. There are three relevant ways in which "intimacy" has been used by fireside chats： “1） in describing the personal way in which FDR revealed and projected his inmost self in his appeals to the people 2） in describing FDR's emotional and social association with the people； and 3） in his familiarity with them” （Lim 439）. He used the family tone to spread the sense of warmth and intimacy through the whole nation， which closed psychological distance because the fireplace was the most common place for the whole family to hold family talk. In this way，Rooseveltpresented himself as a family member rather than president. It makes them feel like that they are equal. The public is willing to listen to his persuasion and guidance.

Interpersonal Function

Rooseveltused frequently first-person plural “we” to put his personal thoughts into public awareness.At the same time， he expressed the attitude that he kept the same stance with the public to achieve the purpose of an alliance withaudiences. For example， “In the days and in the years that are to come we shall work for just a and honorable peace，a durable peace， as today we work and fight for total victory in war” （Roosevelt， “Fourth Inaugural Address”）.If he used “I”， it will be a personal will. He changed “I” into “We”， which means that this is our common hope. Additionally， “my” becomes anotherimage for Roosevelt to align with the audiences， like my friends， my fellow countrymen and my fellow Americans， which expresses the friendship with the public and in the meantime， expresses the difference between him and the public because it hints his prestige and unique status. Aside from this， I cannot find Roosevelt using second person “you” in his inaugural address. Second person has less intimacy， which means that it will alienate his audience.

Conclusion

Roosevelts rhetoric proved to be effective， and this strategy could be used for reference by every leader. What is more， how to build a close connection with the public could be a supplement for the study of interpersonal function which realizes the tenor of discourse and greatly influences and realizes the persuading function of the discourse

Work Cited

Lim， Elvin T. "The Lion and the Lamb： De-Mythologizing Franklin Roosevelt's Fireside Chats." Rhetoric & Public Affairs， vol. 6， no. 3， Fall2003， pp. 437-464. EBSCOhost， proxy.li.suu.edu：2443/login？url=http：//search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx？direct=true&db;=aph&AN;=11636514&site;=ehost-live.

Roosevelt， Franklin Delano. “Fourth Inaugural Address.”Bartleby.com，20 Jan.1945，

http：//www.bartleby.com/124/pres52.html

Zhao， Jiangrong. Analysis of the Modal Categories of President Roosevelts Inaugural Speech in

1933. The Science Education Article Collects， 2014.

Yin 2