A healthy state
Roosevelt in his speech tells the dwellers of Chicago that it is the matter of extremely importance for each of them to build a “healthy state”, which is a fundament of a healthy nation and vice versa: “a healthy state can exist only when the men and women who make it up lead clean, vigorous, healthy lives; when the children are so trained that they shall endeavor, not to shirk difficulties, but to overcome them; not to seek ease, but to know how to wrest triumph from toil and risk”. So, it costs a lot of efforts to build up the healthy state, but it is the great goal to achieve, the President states. The image of the healthy state represents one of the conditions to build a great country.
Civil war
The image of Civil War, its greatness and importance for the whole of American history, is one of the key points of the speech. The President highlights the bravery of those men, who dedicated their lives to serving the state and it’s honor. “And if we had thus avoided it, we would have shown that we were weaklings, and that we were unfit to stand among the great nations of the earth”. He also states that the positive consequences of the Civil War gave a lot for the country: “the years of strife endured; for in the end the slave was freed, the Union restored, and the mighty American republic placed once more as a helmeted queen among nations.”
An anti-hero of America
In his tremendous speech, Roosevelt pays much attention to the detailed description of the role model of true American. This is the brave, strong and hardworking man who lives his country and is ready to serve it any minute. But he also describes the anti-hero of America, who, as Roosevelt mentions, is “ the timid man, the lazy man, the man who distrusts his country, the over-civilized man, who has lost the great fighting, masterful virtues, the ignorant man, and the man of dull mind”. The image is used for the enforcing of the effect of the speech, for humiliating those “anti-heroes” and motivation for getting better people.
American global policy
“If we let the public service of the islands be turned into the prey of the spoils politician, we shall have begun to tread the path which Spain trod to her own destruction” – says the President. He persuades the citizens of Chicago that it is an urgent and important matter to send American soldiers to the islands because, once their rule is acknowledged, they have to act according to their reputation and do good for people. America shouldn’t be aside of the global problems and conflicts, points out Roosevelt; otherwise, it means that the country doesn’t have a point to stand for, and it is impossible for such a great country as the United States is. The image represents the important role of America in the global policy.
