What is an American?
It’s 1941 and Germany is on the verge of taking over England, America’s number one ally. America, however, has yet to declare war on Germany and provide aid to England. Some Americans were divided in the notion of joining the war; half the country wanted to join and help our allies and the other half declared that it wasn’t any of our business and we should stay out of it. “America was coming out of a devastating economic depression, not to mention less than 20 years ago 116,516 U.S troops had died in Europe, fighting World War 11” (The Free Library). However, Harold Ickes, who was President Roosevelt’s Secretary of the Interior, knew better than to just sit back and ...view middle of the document...
We will use TRA to determine the effectiveness of the speech, which parts were successful, which parts were unsuccessful and what could have been changed or included in order to enhance the persuasiveness of his message. In May of 1941 in New York City, Harold Ickes delivered the speech, “What is an American?” with the intent to persuade Americans to come together and join World War II in order to help England, our Allies, and prevent losing our freedom and democracy. Germany had already invaded many European countries and was beginning to advance on England with full force. Harold Ickes’ speech urges Americans that if they don’t join and help stop the Nazis, then England would be invaded and America would be next. As I mentioned above, Americans were divided with the notion of war. Some held ideals of non-violence and peace. They believed that, even though two-thirds of the world would be invaded by Germany, America would still be able to live in separation and hold its own. This is where Harold Ickes had to step in and deliver this speech in order to remind Americans that we had a reputation to uphold for fighting for democracy and freedom and it would go against what we stand for as a country, if we didn’t step in. Not only that, but Ickes’ used a scare tactic as well in his persuasive speech telling Americans that if England should get invaded, America would be next and we would suffer living under German rule. He told Americans that their beliefs about America being able to effectively live in isolation were false and that they would soon be conquered by Hitler and his Nazi troops. “If we are to retain our own freedom, we must do everything within our power to aid Britain. We must also do everything to restore to the conquered peoples their freedom” (Ickes). This quote is taken directly from his speech and gives us an idea of how strong his power of oration was and how effectively his persuasive speech was delivered. Not only was the persuasive speech effective, but also the person giving the speech, Harold Hicks, had an excellent reputation with Americans as well and was nicknamed “Honest Harold”. “Although he was the Secretary of the Interior, he was better known to the public for his simultaneous work as the director of the Public Works Administration. Here he directed billions of dollars of projects designed to lure private investment and provide employment during the depths of the Great Depression” (Tutorgigpedia.com). His management of the PWA budget and his opposition to corruption is what gave him such a good reputation and people looked up to him and trusted him. Therefore, his ethos, which appeals to the credibility of the speaker, was already established beforehand. Now, we will begin to take a more in depth look at how TRA was used to make this speech an effective and thus successful one.
One of the most important components of the Theory of Reasoned action is Attitude. We cannot determine the behavioral intent...
