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| Joe Biden, 2024 State of the Union |
“… freedom and democracy are under attack at both at home and overseas at the very same time.”Biden painted a dark, dark picture: forces, domestic and foreign alike, threaten our way of life. Yes, a good introduction sets a speech’s tone. Beginning this speech, Biden laid out two historical analogies of times that the United States was attacked from without, and within.
As they begin their presentations, good speakers want to gain the audience’s attention while pressing home their key point. Starting the speech, Biden first linked the United States of America’s current political crises with the onset of World War II:
“… in January 1941, Franklin Roosevelt came to this chamber to speak to the nation and he said, ‘I address you at a moment unprecedented in the history of the Union.’”Biden’s startling historical analogy set the speech’s central message. In January 1941, Roosevelt had worried that neither Congress nor the nation understood the growing threat of totalitarian governments abroad. Like Roosevelt before him, Biden wanted to alert the nation of the growing catastrophe. Biden continued:
“Hitler was on the march, war was raging in Europe, President Roosevelt’s purpose was to wake up Congress and alert the American people that this was no ordinary time. Freedom and democracy were under assault in the world.” [italics added]Pushing for aid to Ukraine, Biden then carried his analogy to the present day:
“Overseas, Putin of Russia is on the march, invading Ukraine and sowing chaos throughout Europe and beyond. If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you he will not.”The war in Europe is not, Biden insisted, not our only threat. Making a second historical analogy, Biden warned:
“Not since President Lincoln in the Civil War have freedom and democracy been under assault at home as they are today. What makes our moment rare is that freedom and democracy are under attack both at home and overseas at the very same time.”After all, January 2021 represented the first time in United States history that we failed to have a peaceful transfer of power.
Biden’s goal was to “wake up Congress and alert the American people.” A mild, mealy-mouthed introduction would wake up no one.
Did Congress wake up that night? Given the amount of heckling and cat- calling from the republican side, well, probably not. Maybe, however, Biden’s introduction may have been the opening salvo to break the United States out of its complacency and to remind us that we live in perilous times. I only wish that Biden had said these things a year ago. As the speech continued, Biden laid out the importance of aiding Ukraine, addressing the southern border, protecting women’s rights, and other key themes.
Two historical analogies established Biden’s theme. Those starting analogies gave the speech a powerful framework. Biden referred to President Franklin Roosevelt and the onset of World War II, making a second reference to Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War. Both of those times plagued the United States with terrible danger. Biden alerted Congress and the nation alike that we face great dangers today. Are we listening? No one wants to think about oncoming calamity. Yet, if we face calamity unprepared, do we not choose to become lifeless victims?
Did Biden overstate his introductory analogies? I don’t think so. If we forget history, we will relive history. World War II, the worst disaster in human history, did not break out in one gigantic attack. In fact, the long gap between the September 1939 invasion of Poland and Germany’s June 1940 assault on France was called “the phony war.” Yes, today, Ukraine seems a long way away. All the same, today, while Russia brutalizes Ukraine, does the United States confront growing danger? Do we need to wake up?
by William D. Harpine
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Earlier Posts:
Earlier Posts:
Trump's Speech of January 6, 2021: A "Firehose of Falsehood"
Franklin Roosevelt’s Pearl Harbor Speech: A Lesson for Our Own Time
Dr. Margaret Chan Organized Her Public Health Speech for Success
Copyright © 2024 William D. Harpine
Image: Official White House photo, via Wikimedia Commons
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