All the foundations of effective speaking lead back to the audience. Moreover, sitting through a presentation in which the speaker doesn’t have a rhetorical appeal makes the valuable content to become valueless. In this regard, the late 1940s became Eleanor Roosevelt’s most prolific period of public speaking, due to the speech on the Struggle for Human Rights to the United Nations delegates. Not only did her speech explain the process that ensued in the human rights declaration, but also established unification with her democratic audience. The motivation by Roosevelt was to employ persuasion techniques that would give non-compliant states a clear and precise definition of freedom and human rights. Through the use of logos, ethos, and pathos, Eleanor Roosevelt speech evokes a sense of unity in an attempt to persuade UN delegates to fight for a universal approach of freedoms and human rights.
An appeal to logic commonly entails persuading an audience by reason. Moreover, it is a means of convincing someone through subjective and objective components of the believability of a message. In her speech, Eleanor Roosevelt appeals to credibility through her strong tone. Some of the phrases she uses centers on her self-presentation and reveals her expertise in the knowledge of human rights and freedom.
It was here the declaration of the Rights of Man was proclaimed, and the great slogans of the French Revolution liberty, equality, and Fraternity-fired the imagination of men (Roosevelt 1).
Roosevelt compares the French Revolution with aspects of human rights. It is through the Declaration of the Rights of Man that individual and collective rights that Eleanor uses before the UN delegates, brings a common sense of the subject. It is clear that she does not want to form new principles or new arguments that have never before been thought of, but rather seeks to use the already present principles to emphasize unity. Through aspects of human rights such as liberty, equality, and fraternity as proclaimed by the declaration of the Rights of Man, Eleanor does not claim any originality and uses the already existing principles to justify her argument on the unification of states for a common purpose.
Consequently, Roosevelt’s speech attempts to win an argument by acquiring an emotional reaction from the UN delegates. She uses pathos as an effective rhetorical device in her speech since it appeals more to the prejudices of the UN Charter of Human Rights, rather than a sober assessment of the situation. By repeating the phrases such as “we in the United States” at the beginning of each clause and the phrase “the charter of the United Nations,” she introduces an emotional appeal to her arguments making them be stronger (Roosevelt 1). As she constantly repeats the phrases, she not only urges the delegates to abide by the principles of the charter but also sets up a common meeting ground for all nations to adhere to. The fundamental democratic procedures contained in the charter distinctively elaborates the fundamental freedoms that are essential throughout the world and the achievements of human rights contained in those charters.
Moreover, the phrase “criticism” has been used severally in her speech to illustrate the opposite of democracy that defies the charter of the United Nations. “…criticism of a belief which would be considered vital to the acceptance of communism” (Roosevelt 1). Since she constantly mentions the word criticism at the course of her speech, she refers to the communist nations who have always been on the verge of criticizing all aspects of democracy. According to her the criticism are barriers to achieving the fundamental freedoms and human rights throughout the world that would therefore not unify the world.
Furthermore, Roosevelt presents Logos through the use of allusion. She often states direct citations from the preamble and the constitution, therefore, adding more sentimental value to her speech with facts and knowledge. She quotes several instances of the declaration of the independence to compare with the theme she intends to portray to the audience. “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own” (Roosevelt 1). Moreover, for it to be inclusive of the Soviet representatives’ clause, she adds, “in accordance with the procedure laid down in the laws of that country” (Roosevelt 1). It is therefore obvious that through an appeal to logic she includes the communist point of view in the Declaration of Human Rights so that it becomes inclusive to all the nation’s representative, present as UN delegates. The importance of the proposition to the theme of unity becomes clear after the addition of the Soviet representative’s clause to the democratic declaration of Human Rights. According to her, she does not intend to compromise the fundamental human rights merely by reaching unanimity, but rather by coming to a universal agreement of how they must be attained and the logic behind attaining them.
In conclusion, the speech delivered by Eleanor Roosevelt on “The Struggle for Human Rights” at Sorbonne in Paris was able to form a sense of unity among the nations present at the delegate’s conference (Roosevelt 1). In her speech, she states direct citations from the preamble and the constitution, therefore, adding more sentimental value to her speech with facts and knowledge, as an appeal to logos. Moreover, by repeating the phrases such as “we in the United States” at the beginning of each clause and the phrase “the charter of the United Nations,” she introduces an emotional appeal to her arguments that urge the delegates to abide by the principles of the charter. Lastly, through an appeal to credibility, she sets up a common meeting ground for all nations to adhere.
