blog




  • Essay / Nationalism in Theodore Roosevelt's National Duties Speech

    Theodore Roosevelt's “National Duties” speech calls for nationalism and unity because it says that every individual must work hard and individuals must work together. Furthermore, it aims to motivate our nation using two ideas: what a nation can leave behind and how a nation should behave. The speech itself, although delivered while he was vice president, accurately describes what his actions were as president, whether on nationalism, personnel matters, or foreign diplomacy. His ideology of how a nation should act, expressed in the phrase “speak softly and carry a big stick,” motivates many, including our current military, because it focuses on civility backed by power. This idea of ​​leadership style, combined with looking at what Theodore Roosevelt did during his presidency, is very similar to Trump's way of leading our nation, although they came to power with different political experience. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The aforementioned speech is heavily focused on nationalism and foreign diplomacy, foreshadowing such focus throughout Theodore Roosevelt's presidency. His clearly nationalist accent is seen when he mentions that all citizens have a duty and that all must work hard, which works to his advantage by attracting the attention of the middle and working class and positioning himself as a populist, since he says “our first duty”. is for our own people” (Roosevelt, 1905). In doing so, he quickly gained media attention and public love, which helped him win another term after becoming president following McKinley's death. After touching on nationalist ideals in his speech, he quickly moves on to his most important central point: foreign affairs and how a nation should behave. One of his most important foreign policy ideologies that can motivate a nation toward greatness is the idea of ​​what one leaves behind, as evidenced by the statement: "while the nation that does not has done nothing leaves nothing behind, the nation that has done a great job in reality. continues, although in a modified form, to live eternally” (Roosevelt, 1905). This idea of ​​living forever while leaving something behind not only motivates listeners and readers to want our nation to improve and do something great, but it also causes them to think about what they themselves will leave behind. behind them and how they can impact others. By integrating such thinking into the population, citizens are more likely to want to have a positive impact on their own communities, thereby strengthening nationalism, and will likely want the United States to become involved in foreign affairs to create an impression as sustainable. Perhaps most importantly, he begins to talk about the “big stick” ideology, known as “speak softly and carry a big stick – you will go far” (Roosevelt, 1905). This philosophy behind this is that if a man lacks civility and the ability to be polite, having power or strength would be useless, just as if a man is civil and speaks softly, but has no power or strength, he does not will probably not be respected. . When translating this regarding a nation, the “big stick” ideology is that one should be courteous and negotiate when possible, but be supported by military forces when necessary. The reasoning behind.