Question

Read the excerpt from President Woodrow Wilson’s speech, “War Message to Congress”. On the 3d of February last I officially laid before you the extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German Government that on and after the 1st day of February it was its purpose to put aside all restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink every vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and Ireland or the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean. It is a war against all nations. American ships have been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and friendly nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters in the same way. There has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all mankind. Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. The choice we make for ourselves must be made with a moderation of counsel and a temperateness of judgment befitting our character and our motives as a nation. We must put excited feelings away. Our motive will not be revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical might of the nation, but only the vindication of right, of human right, of which we are only a single champion. Which best states if the speech is effective or ineffective? ineffective because it still involves the U.S. in a World War effective because President Wilson outlines the emotional reasons for entering the war effective because President Wilson is a good, strong speaker ineffective because the speech made Congress angry

Answer 1

In my opinion, the correct answer would be B. effective because President Wilson outlines the emotional reasons for entering the war. His argument is based on the fact that many American lives have already been taken in the repeated attacks; and not only American, but the lives of so many innocent people in the world. What he basically says is that there is no other option but to take part in this war and stop the world's bully from oppressing everyone. When he says: "We must put excited feelings away," he appeals to those very emotions.