Reagan's Speech Essay

Conclusion The conclusion captures the sentiment of the rest of the speech as explorers who dedicated their lives to a cause that were not in vain and should not be lamented. Because of the independent nature of Reagan’s speaking, the conclusion mostly appears at the end of his main points with two new references that relate to the lives of those aboard the challenger. These references being of Sir Francis Drake and his coincidental death date and a WWII poem about “touching the face of G-d”. Both of the references serve to reiterate the central ideas that the astronauts were brave explorers and pioneers that died for discovery and values that should be continuously followed even when adversity or tragedy arises. While this is different than

While commemorative eulogies are never easy to deliver, Reagan’s poise, words, and empathy speaking from a position of power in a time of national crises allowed him to succeed with flying colors. It is the brevity, simplicity, and connection this speech brings that make it relatable and available to all of his audience. Lasting only four and a half minutes, this speech is short and allows the audience to maintain attention. Around six hundred and fifty words, the introduction and conclusion take up roughly a fourth each with about a minute respectively, and the body the resulting half with a run time of around two and a half minutes. These lengths are appropriate for both the curtness of the type of speech and in respect to each other. By delegating enough time to address the general audience and event before his specifics in his body and then back to the general conclusion, Reagan was able to maintain his audience’s attention and interest. In addition to this, besides directly addressing three different affected and grieving groups, the president’s simple language and diction allowed for all to follow what he was saying. Jumping from the families to schoolchildren to NASA while most of America was watching limited him to only going so far as to use anguish and coincidence as his most complex words. Through his simplicity he shifted the focus to his style which was to commemorate and commiserate the lost astronauts by highlighting his grief and connection to the rest of