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Isaac Will
Mr. Fonash
English 137H
22 October, 2015

Rhetorical Analysis of Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima and an FDR

Fireside Chat

On December 7th, 1941 -a date which will live in infamy- the

United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by
naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. Their ships had traveled
across the Pacific Ocean, entirely under the radar, carrying planes and
bombers equipped with hundreds of munitions. Theyd made the
journey to stun American forces at Pearl Harbor. Theyd made the
journey to incapacitate the U.S. ability to wage war before it could
even begin. And the attack succeeded; thousands of American lives
were tragically lost before they had a fighting chance. Hundreds of
planes were annihilated before they could even take to the air. Tens of
naval vessels were incapacitated before they could merely retaliate.
Then, just hours later, the Japanese invaded Wake Island, then Guam,
then U.S. territories throughout the Philippines. By the end of the week
(if not the day), the nation was left reeling in the aftermath of utter
defeat, certainly on the brink of hopelessness and definitely

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unconfident in the ability of their military. But it only took one civic
artifact to completely change the tide, restore hope, gather
confidence, and rally the nation together as one- the Fireside Chat
delivered by Franklin Delano Roosevelt on February 23rd, 1942. But,
unfortunately, exactly two years later, this zeal began to wear off. The
European Theatre was visibly drawing to a close. Meanwhile, the public
had grown exhausted with the fighting on the alternate hemisphere
where battlefields began to represent those from the Great War:
hundreds of days and thousands of lives were often lost for just
meager yards of razed land. But, yet again, it only took one civic
artifact to completely change the tide: the image of five Marines and
one Navy corpsman raising the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima. Both civic
artifacts the image by Joe Rosenthal and the Fireside Chat by FDRkairotically surfaced just years after the U.S. ideologies of nationalism
and overcoming adversity with unified hard work emerged. Resultantly,
with these ideologies still strong, the artifacts similar attributes
allowed for the maximum possible effect on the nations war effort:
invigorating latent nationalism, stimulating national unity, and
encouraging U.S. citizens to overcome the adversity of war with
resolute hard work.
To understand how Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima by Joe
Rosenthal and the Fireside Chat by FDR stimulated such a massive
impact, one must first digress to examine the historical context. Here,

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the basis for the ideologies appealed to by both artifacts can be
brought to light. The photograph and the Fireside Chat were introduced
to the public between 1942-1944. Preceding both artifacts were
several events that provided the basis for the emergence of these
engaged ideologies/commonplaces: the global competition for national
identification and the Great Depression. First, as the world entered the
20th century it simultaneously began entering the modern age. Here
only the most effectively unified countries could be the most stable
and have the greatest impact throughout the globe. Necessarily, many
nations would begin unifying to simply maintain their existence. The
most effective method: giving the masses unique symbols to identify
with (such as flags, statues, music, or photographs) for the sake of
creating vested passion in a state. Ergo, from the early 1900s through
the emergence of the artifacts, citizens and governments were
constantly in desire of symbols to provoke nationalism, and
collaterally, symbols to provoke unity. In addition, the Great Depression
in the 1930s would develop another ideology to last throughout the
Second World War. These difficult economic years would weed out the
weak, where solely the hardworking could manage to sustain
themselves. The commonplaces it empowered? Success and survival
could only be achieved through hard work. Also, it commissioned the
commonplace that overcoming adversity was no longer an
individualistic possibility. For these two civic artifacts during WWII, it

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was simply a matter of appealing to those ideologies- and both did it to
perfection.
The first commonplace appealed to by both the photograph and
the Fireside Chat was nationalism (powerful love for ones country).
The image taps into U.S. nationalism in a straightforward manner.
Plastered directly on the center of the image is a waving, photogenic
American flag, with its shadows perfect, its cloth not too wrinkled, but
not too straight in the wind. A flag is the most outright symbol of a
country, and therefore, its also the most effective symbol to provoke
nationalism in a state. Also, the flag is clearly rising into the air above
the mountain. Any logical individual knows that in battlethis almost
definitely suggests victory. This picture evoked nationalism through an
image of their flag rising in triumph. Meanwhile, although the Fireside
Chat was obviously audial, or textual, rather than visual, FDR
employed similar rhetorical strategies. By directly referring to national
symbols such as George Washington, freedom, self-determination,
patriots, the Continental Army, and the eagle, FDR is able to provoke
nationalism just as the image did. Although he presents no visual flag,
FDR stirs the country to action by stating the Axis Powers think of them
as weaklings-playboys-who would hiresoldiers to do our fighting for
us. Together, the two artifacts call the masses to love their own nation
and show it through their actions, because, clearly, its been worth

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while. But this isnt the only national ideology/commonplace both
artifacts appealed to.
The second commonplace the two employ is one of success with
hard work and unity. Instilled primarily by experiences from the Great
Depression, citizens were in great belief that adversity could be
overcome by dedicatedly working hard alongside each other. The
image literally captures this commonplace in action- six military men
are bunched together as one, sweat is seeping through their dirty
clothing, their muscles are bulging in their arms, their legs, and their
backs, and the rubble beneath them suggests the labor endured and
the adversity overcome. There is no individual or superior; they all
wear the same attire and they all face away from the camera. The
image calls its audience to do the same, to get up and work hard
alongside their countrymen to achieve victory. It even tangibly shows
the home front an example of it happening. While the images civic
calling must be inferred, FDRs chat instead vividly details the
sacrifices that must be made throughout a literal step-by-step process.
He also vividly details the hard work that must be endured to fight an
enemy an ocean away. Both obligate the home front to contribute its
share. To illustrate that its not just the governments, militarys, or the
foreigners war, he unites the country together by using specific
pronouns such as we, us, other uniting vocabulary like our, and
only using singular vocabulary in the context of My fellow

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Roosevelt was careful never to separate any facet of the nation when
discussing the war effort. Such rhetoric obligates war contributions
through implying that everything done necessarily must be done by all.
The image and chat were effectual because they clearly
employed ethos, pathos, and logos. The chat simultaneously employed
both ethos and logos as FDR explicably laid out their war plan to
establish credibility using logic- he described the U.S. role in the world,

what it had been, why was their duty to stop the Axis powers, and how
they must do it. Credibility is assumed in the image again by logic, by
the mere raising of the flag over rubble to suggest victory. The Fireside
Chat primarily employs to pathos- FDR stokes the nation by reiterating
the enemy misconception to suggest the U.S. has got something to
prove, he also points out what evil has been done to others and whats
been done to them, and he urges the nation to strike back, all the
while appealing to emotional pride invested within American history.
The image appeals to pathos because the public knew what had been
done to raise that flag- they knew of the physical labor, the horrible
stories, and the brutal combat.
The photo by Joe Rosenthal and the Fireside Chat by FDR desired
the U.S. population to be actively united with intense nationalism
while contributing to the war effort. Because of their kairotic
employment in the midst of two ideological emergences, and features
strongly suggesting each, the artifacts achieved exactly the condition

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they desired. Collaterally, the forces of good received the condition
they desired as well as these two artifacts used civic to save the
world.