Terse

They say that up to 90% of communication is nonverbal: stuff like body language, tone of voice, vocal volume, et cetera.

But we don't need the nonverbal stuff to pick up what FDR is laying down in this speech.

His short sentences, definitive declarations, and simple summary of events leave no doubt in our minds as to his frame of mind when he wrote this puppy: he was peeved.

After spending the afternoon of December 7th in his office with his crew, piecing together the intel he was getting from Hawaii and beyond, he called his secretary into the room, sat her down, and dictated this speech.

And this wasn't one of those long-winded, super-nuanced, let-me-wow-you-with-big-words-and-deep-thoughts kinds of speeches. This was a "here's what happened and here's what we're gonna do about it" kind of speech.

It was less than five hundred words in total, and it took up less than three sheets of seriously wide-ruled paper.

That night, he revised by hand what he'd dictated. But even though a few key words changed ("world history" became "infamy," most notably), the style of the message remained the same: concise, collected, and coming to getcha.