Metaphorical transcendence: Images of the holy war in Franklin Roosevelt's first inaugural

Franklin Delano Roosevelt's First Inaugural Address is a prime example of a speech that used metaphor to transcend a recurring rhetorical problem. Roosevelt's twofold task was first to calm, then activate the American people. In service of these conflicted goals, Roosevelt merged two metaphoric clusters, religious and military, into a powerful and familiar image of “holy war,” which drew its strength from the nation's civil‐religious traditions. In so doing, Roosevelt enacted military and religious leadership and called for action in a genre of speech normally focusing on contemplation.