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A Rhetorical Analysis Of The Ronald Reagan Challenger Eulogy

1524 Words7 Pages

Nhu Phan
Public speaking 1315-310
Dr. Mary L. Nichols
Oct 21st, 2014
Rhetorical Analysis of the Ronald Reagan Challenger Eulogy January 28, 1986 would be an unforgotten day for not only the Houston, but also a United States. During the tenth flight of National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) space shuttle, “Challenger,” seven crews have sacrificed their lives on board (BBC ON THIS DAY 1986.) To cherish the bravery of these heroes: Ronald McNair, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Gregory Jarvis, Michael Smith, Ellison Onizuka, and one school teacher Christa McAuliffe, three days later, President Ronald Reagan eulogized NASA astronauts, at NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas (Dennis and Kunkel 2003, pp.35-38.) …show more content…

Based on the guideline set of A Speaker’s Guidebook, the eulogy must balance the emotions and delivery. Beside that, it must refer to the family of the deceased. In the speech, Reagan has balance and manage his delivery and emotions by focus on the families of the deceased feeling, instead of, his real personal feelings. It cited by the sentence “our nation’s loss is first a profound personal loss to the family and the friends and loved ones of our shuttle astronauts.” The other saying was “to those they have left behind—the mothers, the fathers, the husbands and wives, brothers, sisters and yes, especially the children”, in additionally, he also stated it one more time near the end of the speech with “your families and your country mourn your passing.” 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 …show more content…

According to Sociology: A Brief Introduction, “Values” are defined as “collective conceptions of what is considered good, desirable, and prosper in a culture. They indicate what people in a given culture prefer as well as what they find important and morally right.” Depend of the list of American core values, being achievement and success, hard work, change, progress and science, equal opportunity, democracy, and freedom are a requirement. And Reagan has contained some of these values in his speech, especially, are the progress and science. The importance of progress and scientific, Reagan stated that we “must forge ahead, with a space program that is effective, safe and efficient, but bold and committed.” Reagan also dedicated the advancement of human knowledge are significant for future actions, as being continue to explore, although the tragedy are may happen, “Man will continue his conquest of space. To reach out for new goals and ever greater advancements—that is the way we shall commemorate our seven Challenger heroes”. To cheer up, comfort, and giving the citizens the connection through the Challenger tragedy, “Across America, we are reaching out, holding hands, finding in comfort in one another,” “all of America stands beside you in your time of sorrow.” Reagan affirm that, as a united of a nation, by standing together, we can overcome the

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In Reagan’s eulogy Thatcher uses pathos to unite herself with the audience, through the mutual feelings of grief and sorrow over losing a friend. In the opening lines of the eulogy Thatcher creates pathos by using diction. In lines one and two Thatcher said that a “Great President… Great American… Great man….” has died. Her choice of using the word great instead of good or any other adjective, effects the audience by showing what kind of man Reagan was. Since death is a universally known topic, it is safe to say that everybody has experienced the pain of losing a great person to death.

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His inclusion of analogies and emotional appeals, combined with his strong sense of authority, brings his arguments into focus and gives them a punch. His power in delivering this speech quite possibly kept America looking towards the stars and propelled them into the next age of space exploration. President Reagan’s speech serves as a touching conclusion to a tragic event. Despite the terrible catastrophe, Reagan’s four-minute speech provided closure on the one-minute tragedy whose impact will be felt for

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In my opinion this helps comfort the families by informing them that we all stand with them One example of this is when Reagan says “But we feel the loss” in the fourth paragraph. Also Reagan strays away from the negative aspect of the disaster. The focus of staying positive provides a sense of purpose. Regan explains how the “seven” was full of courage and that they died doing what they

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Thatcher opens her eulogy by off by using pathos. Addressing how America lost a president and a man, it is making citizens feel sorrow. “We have lost a great president, a great American, and a great man, and I have

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This speech was intended to inform America of the Challenge disaster. Reagan used specific pronouns to address the audience. He focused a lot on the individuals that lost someone due to this dismal occurrence. One thing that he said specifically to those close to the astronauts was, “Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace” (3). He said this to honor the astronauts and explicate how wondrous the seven astronauts were.

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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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Reagan applies oratorical devices and figurative language to explain to the nation the passion and bravery the seven astronauts have. He uses parallel structure and listing to imply the passion and bravery the Challenger crew have. “But, we never lost an astronaut in flight, we’ve never had a tragedy like this” (2). The parallel structure creates a cause and effect to the tragedy. Its shocking devastation, however, it shows the nation how the future is creating new things.

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Margaret Thatcher, former prime minister of Great Britain, portrays her sorrow in the death of Ronald Reagan, and emphasizes the former president’s accomplishments. Thatcher utilizes cause and effect to show how Reagan prospered under immense pressure of the public. Thatcher projects her admiration for Reagan by using glittering diction. Lastly, she adds shift change to show the changing tone in her eulogy. Margaret Thatcher appeals to not only Americans but others who are grieving the loss of Reagan through the use of informal tone and Thatcher creates a sense of relief and praise for the deceased.

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