Wolfgang Mieder

We Are All in the Same Boat Now : The Proverbial Rhetoric of Franklin D. Roosevelt Wolfgang Mieder New ed edition

The book is based on Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s speeches, press conferences, proclamations, and letters. The eleven chapters of the first part address his interest in language, his visionary outlook in his four inaugural addresses, his "four freedoms" phrase, his use of proverbial language for world peace, his reliance on quotations, his tendency to coin sententious remarks, his dependence on Biblical proverbs, his use of folk proverbs, his employment of proverbial phrases, his reliance on animal metaphors, and his use of maritime expressions. The second part provides a comprehensive index of the numerous passages that include proverbial references.

The study demonstrates that Roosevelt was a skilled communicator, persuader, and, at times, manipulator. His effective use of proverbial language added significant figurative expressiveness to his communications. The phrase "We are all in the same boat now" aptly captures his worldview in dealing with the depression, the war, and his hope for peace.