The First Fireside Chat America had not seen much prosperity until the 1920s. Ever since the beginning of industrialization, taking place at the end of the nineteenth century, the economy had been in good shape. Life seemed great for many American citizens, until the “Roaring 20’s” started coming to an end. America entered into the Great Depression and this came as a shock to many. This led to a series of hard times for Americans. The nation quickly became desperate and close to the edge of panic throughout the years of the Depression. Banks, in particular started to fail at alarming rates in the early 30s. By March of 1933, the collapse of the nations financial system had, arguably, become the nations biggest issue. America had, in a sense, …show more content…
He used pathos, and logos, two forms of effective language through forms of persuasion. Pathos is an appeal to emotion; and, Roosevelt uses this approach the most throughout his speech. In paragraph 18 of the speech, Roosevelt expresses that it is up to the people of America to make this New Deal program work. This can appeal to one’s emotions by encouraging them to feel like it is their duty to help. Another good example is in paragraph 19, when he says “It is your problem no less than it is mine” and then ends the broadcast by saying “together we cannot fail”. By saying this, the president comforts the American citizens by making them feel like they are in this together. The other type of persuasion that Roosevelt uses to his advantage is logos. Logos is an appeal to logic through means of persuading the audience. Roosevelt uses logos as an effective use of language when he explains the use of banks and breaks down what and why the Bank Holiday was put into place. One example of this is in paragraph two when Roosevelt says “First of all let me state the simple fact that when you deposit money in a bank the bank does not put the money into a safe deposit vault”. He uses his short, precise use of language to express the logic of how depositing works. This statement, along with the rest of his broadcast, helped people …show more content…
His fireside chat made the people of America feel like they were not alone in this fight and that the President had everything under control. It it evident that this speech was effective during the time it was given because of the response Roosevelt got. It was so effective because it opened the eyes of the citizens and gave them a better understanding of what was happening. It made people feel a part and encouraged. This is what the people needed in such a hard time of their life. It made them feel reassured that everything was going to be okay. I also think this speech was effective because it allowed people to have an inside on what the President was doing, and I think this could have comforted people greatly because they did not feel like the government was hiding anything from them. Roosevelt did not have to go on the radio and explain what and why these things were happening, but he did and by doing so he retained the loyalty of many; however Roosevelt’s fireside chat was not only effective in people’s feelings towards him, but also their actions. The public responded as Roosevelt had hoped by depositing money in the banks and exceeded the amount of money withdrawn. The way Roosevelt stressed to the people that their money was safer in the bank then under the mattress worked. People took their money that they had previously taken home and hidden, and returned it to the