Franklin D. Roosevelt Quarantine Speech Analysis

At a time when America was recovering from the worse economic decline in its history, a new crisis was on the horizon, World War II. In the beginning of this crisis many countries, including America, practiced isolationism and made sure to steer clear of political matters that were of no concern to them. However, as more countries were targeted, it seemed clear that whether or not the country went to war, America would be impacted some way or another. President Frankin D. Roosevelt knew how devastating the impact would be on the recovering American economy and wanted to protect in any way he could tried to make known the danger that lay ahead. He prepared and delivered two speeches that spoke of the problems to come and could be done to prevent

Franklin D. Roosevelt was very aware of the situation and also the neutral stance most allied countries were taking on the situation. Roosevelt knew that the actions occurring overseas would most likely have an effect on the the world’s economy and wanted to protect the international treaties and trading pacts somehow. In his speech, Roosevelt took a subtle approach in how these allying nations would come to this non-aggressive resolution. He made sure to mention that innocent civilians were being ruthlessly murrded. He then transitioned on to how the current situation at the time would effect the world’s economy. He stated that in those nations that are at war, thirty to fifty percent of their national income was being used on defense, while in constrast, America only used about eleven to tweleve percent of its national income on defense and spends the rest on repairing and restoring the country . He compared the act’s of the aggressive countries to a physical epidemic and how allied countries needed to come together to “quarantine” the “epidemic” to protect the rest of the community (world) while avoiding