Compare And Contrast Fireside Chat

World War II was one of the most devastating wars in the history of the world and changed the future course of many countries. The United States played a major role in the outcome of the war and its President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, presided over many of the most important moments of the war. Roosevelt became famous for his ‘Fireside Chats’ that were meant to both inform and comfort the citizens of the United States. It was in one of those chats, just after the summer of 1939 that he announced the start of World War II in Europe, pledging the neutrality of the United States. Two years later, Roosevelt addressed Congress, asking them to declare war. These two documents highlight how the world has changed. Even though very little time has passed, there are many differences between the tone of both passages and the crux of each document changes, with few similarities connecting them.

Very little time has passed between when President …show more content…
In Roosevelt’s Fireside Chat, he speaks of nothing but how the United States ‘will remain a neutral nation’ (Roosevelt, 1939). However, two years later after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt focuses on the consequences of the attack. At the end, he closes with ‘I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, 7 December, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire’ (Roosevelt, 1941). While Roosevelt’s Fireside Chat to the people of the United States proclaimed that the U.S. would remain neutral, Roosevelt’s Address to Congress takes on a violent catastrophe and urges Congress to declare war. While the time difference between the two speeches was very little, the intention varied

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