Rhetorical Analysis Of Margaret Thatcher's Eulogy Speech For President Ronald Reagan

756 Words4 Pages

In former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s eulogy speech for President Ronald Reagan(2004), she elucidates what a kind and powerful man he was. Margaret expresses that Reagan’s leadership was the key to ending The Cold War and unifying a formerly divided nation. She adopts an endearing and sentimental tone using ethos, repetition, and strong diction in order to appeal to the American people to maintain an alliance and illustrate what an influential president Ronald Reagan was. Thatcher develops her ethos by divulging her friendship with Ronald Reagan to create a connection with her audience as she tries to establish a relationship between Great Britain and the United States of America. She introduces the closeness and friendship they shared by using the nickname “Ronnie” when describing him in the interest of persuading the audience. She refers to him as her dear friend and mentions that they worked together closely as prime minister and president. She …show more content…

As she said in the first paragraph, “his policies had a freshness and optimism that won converts from every class and every nation.” This shows that he was able to unite not only the American people, but also other countries during the horrible times of fighting communism. Reagan not only “embodied another great cause,” he had the ability to take on great challenges such as “the heart of the evil empire” and defeating them. Thatcher creates a casual diction through the use of the words such as “baffled” and “evil empire” to connect with the majority of the people of America, not only the educated. Thatcher’s diction show that he would always remain positive and hopeful in the darkest of times and had inspiring and influential qualities shown