Franklin D Roosevelt Inaugural Address Rhetorical Analysis

In 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered his first inauguration speech to the people of America. In an objective yet sympathetic tone, he addressed the citizens of the United States on the crisis of depression the country was facing, alongside proffering solutions such as the ethical rebuild of citizens and increase the rate of employment to this problem. His skillful employ of ethos, logos, and pathos in conjunction with his craft of various grammatical devices formed the magnificent speech Roosevelt used to inspire Americans to effectively support his claims.
Firstly, President Roosevelt first started off his speech with an ethical appeal. Introducing himself he makes mention of his initiation in the beginning paragraph of his speech. Thus, establishing his authenticity to his audience, and encouraging them to lend him a listening ear. Following in paragraph three, Roosevelt further captures his audience with logic as he convinces them using past evidence that their attention is key to the solution to their
President Roosevelt in paragraph five still goes further to reassure citizens not to fear by using parallelism. He places the country’s present issues side by side with the more pressing issues our forefathers had such as plagues etc. Enabling his audience to share a sense of trust in him. Next, he shifts the audience focus to the cause of the current problem which can be summarized to the moral decline of leaders or as he referred to them “money changers.” He also uses repetition of the first consonant, repetition of the first vowel, and personification in paragraph eleven to place emphasis on the country and its needs. Lastly, now focusing on the possible solutions he has conceived such as ethical rebuild and increase in the rate of employment. In paragraph thirteen he uses inclusive language such as “our” and “we” to invite all listeners to take part in the reconstruction of the