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A Rhetorical Analysis Of Ronald Reagan's Challenger Address

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Analysis of Ronald Reagan’s Challenger Address Ronald Regan gave his Challenger Address on January 28, 1986 in place of his State of the Union Address. His plans for the speech were morphed into that which was presented in response to the tragedy of the Challenger shuttle’s explosion and subsequent deaths of seven astronauts, witnessed by the American public both in person and via live broadcast. Given that this great loss happened the day of the speech, it was composed quickly and concisely to acknowledge the mourning of the American people and their concerns regarding the continuation of the space program. During his speech, Regan praises the progress and sacrifices made by the Amercian space program and the astronauts in the Challenger. By doing so, he …show more content…

Firstly, he ensures the audience is able to relate to him as a person, thus establishing further ethos, by mentioning his wife and their own sorrow regarding the day's events. This choice builds the foundation of credibility from which he speaks for the remainder of the speech. Secondly, he makes use of an advantageous organization within his speech wherein he names those who lost their lives in the accident to create pathos and illustrate how he mourns with the American people and the families of those lost, rebuilds confidence in the space program by listing accomplishments and calling to patriotism to garner support for its continuation, and concludes with a story of human progress and perseverance followed with a final, impactful send off for the lost astronauts. Within this organization, the language choices he makes also add to the weight of his statements. For instance, in the final acknowledgement of the lost astronauts, his divisive language in the statement “slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God” has long been seen as one of the most powerful statements in a presidential

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Speaker Ronald Reagan in his speech, Speech on the Challenger Disaster, expounds a sympathetic tone to connect emotionally to the audience. Reagan’s purpose is to comfort the families who suffered tragic losses in the Challenger Disaster. He adopts a compassionate tone in order to allow the audience and the families who have lost someone in the accident to know he is thinking about them during this time.     Reagan opens his speech by recognizing the losses people have suffered during this disaster. He relates to the emotions of the audience by using pathos, “ Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger.”

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Later that night President Ronald Reagan came on air to give the State of the Union address and talk on the tragedy that had just unfolded. Through this speech President Reagan consoles the families of those who lost their lives, the American schoolchildren, and the American public as a whole. He also gives this speech to reassure America of the viability of the NASA program and the light in the future. By the use of rhetorical skill, including analogy, strong emotional appeals, and his position of power, President Reagan manages to convince America that despite the tragedy the benefits of keeping a space exploration program greatly outweigh the losses.

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At least that’s what I understood from the context of the speech. Overall, the speech was very compelling and persuasive. While, I do not agree with everything said in the speech. I still believe Ronald Reagan was a great president who had good constitutional and Christian

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Being personal is a good way to unify people. In this speech President Regan uses a rhetorical canon; which is style, effectively. President Reagan personalizes his speech by talking directly to the families of the fallen heroes. Personalizing the speech was a good choice because it is a more effective way of talking about the situation rather than just talking about the incident an informing what happened. Also his choice of using the words “us” and “we” triggers unity among the nation.

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Highly concentrates on the families’ feeling, Reagan providing a sesnse of closeure to the audience with his declaration that “you who flew so high and so proud now make your home beyond the stars, safe in God’s promise of eternal life,” the eulogy is not filled with grief. He also addresses a considerable portion of his speech to the lives of the “Challenger Seven; satisfied the need to commemorate a life. The importance of the lives of the crew has focused by Reagan “the best we can do is remember our seven astronauts-our Challenger-Seven remember them

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On December 8th, 1941 Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered a speech to the House of Representatives, Members of the Senate, the House Speaker, to the Vice President, and to the American people. Franklin spoke of the incident of the attack on Pearl Harbor the day after it occurred. Mr. Roosevelt was stern and concise. He spoke on the occasion of tragedy to inform the House and the American people what the Japanese have done.

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Ronald Reagan’s speech to the American people after the Challenger disaster was a message of unity, to come together as a nation and support each other. The address showed the American people that we can overcome tragedies and take them in stride as long as we are a unified nation of individuals. Reagan used many rhetorical strategies like purpose, historical allusion, and tone to highlight how America could come out of this tragedy unified and resolved to do better. The purpose of the speech is clear, it is a speech to promote solidarity among the American people in a time that could divide or heal, and to give hope for the future of the country and its people. Reagan fleshes out the topic thoroughly while constantly returning back to stating his purpose.

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The live streaming video of Mr. Ronald Reagan delivering his message to his audience is educating and persuading his audience into making a decision during choosing time due to the fact that Mr.Reagan knew that the government couldn’t control the economy without first taking control of the people. So in regards to Mr. Reagan's tone of voice he first and foremost notifies his audience that he was not provided a script,and that he was just speaking on behalf of his very own choice of words in regards to the choice that they will soon have to face that lie ahead of them, and that’s in choosing the best candidate. I feel like Mr. Reagan immediately exposed his biggest strength in identifying himself and his position. Due to Mr.Reagan already having

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On January 28th, 1986, Ronald Reagan, the president of the United States at the time, in his speech, entitled “Challenger Disaster,” addressed the Challenger Disaster. He supported this claim by first mourning over the tragedy, then he promoted NASA, also he tried to make sense of this calamity, and finally he informed the audience that the seven astronauts will never be forgotten and as a country we will be forever thankful for their service. Through Reagan’s use of tone, rhetorical analysis, and rhetorical tools he effectively persuaded America to mourn and appreciate the lives of the seven astronauts loss and to convince American people to continue their support for NASA and move forward as a country. Reagan unified America with his supportive

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(Dennis 714) By giving the members of the space shuttle crew a recognition as “pioneers”, the speech was poised for a smooth transition from its nature as sincere eulogy into a rhetorical work with a deliberative occasion. As soon as audience received a message implying that Challenger was a beginning instead of an end and how discovery has its risk, Ronald Reagan was in a good position to elaborate his objectives on the space program. Surely, the transition between the bad news and the new hope is one of the greatest features of the speech.

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President Ronald Reagan was known for many things he has done throughout his presidency and lifetime. One of the things he was known for was being the first United States President that has gotten a divorce. This is interesting because he doesn't let other people's opinions stop him from doing what he wants to do. He was one of the few presidents that have gotten shot, the bullet was an inch away from his heart. This is interesting to me because he was so close to death; if he did die, he would have never given that speech and he wouldn't have served two terms as president.

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The speech unleashed strong feelings that related directly to the audience helping capture their attention. This made it feel as if it was not just a response from the President but instead, a statement on behalf on the entire American people recovering from such a great trauma. The purpose was to inform the nation that the United States will respond to Japan’s surprise assault. Instead of discussing all the damage and loss

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As well, figurative language in his speech showed the passion and bravery the astronauts had. “As they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of god’” (8). His use of personification justifies to all citizens that the journey that turned into a disaster was not their last. It was only the beginning for them.

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In his emotionally inspiring speech, “Shuttle Challenger Address,” Ronald Reagan expresses his deepest condolences to the people most affected by the Challenger accident. He advances his speech with a gentle yet strong willed facade in order to inspire the future generations of astronauts to not let this tragedy affect their future endeavors. Raegen then briefly puts his presidential status aside in order to further express the depth of his pain, not only at a presidential level, but as an American citizen concerned for the well being of his country. Raegen applies different types of rhetorical devices in order to emotionally appeal to the people most affected by the accident, while at the same time encourage the general public to not let this

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On January 20, 1981, Ronald Reagan gave his “First Inaugural Address” with the United States listening; some people were able to experience firsthand Ronald Reagan’s passion and views for our country, in Front of the Capitol Building, while others tuned in to listen on the momentous occasion. Ronald Reagan sets the stage for his presidency using logos through logical sentences that are meant to bring the audience a better perspective on his point of view. Diction was a key factor in showing Ronald Reagan’s strong sense of nationalism; he chose powerful, hopeful words and phrases that were intended to unify the people. He shows syntax through anaphora, repetition, and parallelism. By using these rhetorical devices, he states key phrases more than once to create an urgency and therefore grab listener’s attention.

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