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Rhetorical Analysis Of President Ronald Reagan's Challenger Speech

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Recommended: President Reagan’s commemorative speech after the Challenger space shuttle disaster on January 28, 1986. analysis

On January 28th, 1986, the Challenger exploded after launching with delays just days before. Media coverage of the mission was extreme because of Christa McAuliffe, who was going to be the first school teacher to go on a mission to space. Many people around the globe witnessed the destruction of the space shuttle on tv. This tragedy called for President Ronald Reagan to address the issue. Through the rhetorical arrangement and style of his speech, Reagan expressed condolences to people who were affected by the event. The way the address was arranged allowed him to acknowledge what happened and advocate for future expansion into space. Reagan began his speech by empathizing with the pain that people are feeling: "Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss." (see para 1). In this statement, he addresses his wife to deliver relatable speech. He then expands his viewpoint to all Americans. By delivering the speech in this way, he shows himself as a person that can empathize and relate to his fellow man. After this, the speech’s …show more content…

He puts himself at the same level as family to show that his sympathy is just as heartfelt as the family of the seven. He goes on to talk about how the astronauts died a courageous death while doing something they loved; they died as "pioneers". The wording he used when he expressed his feelings caused him to sound empathetic. Afterwards, he addresses the youth that were watching; "And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's take-off" (see para 6). He acknowledges them because younger people are the next-generation of the U.S. Also by addressing the children, Reagan creates a sense of relaxation to the

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On January 28, 1986, President Ronald Reagan delivered a speech to the nation following the Challenger disaster, in which the space shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 seconds after lift-off, killing all seven crew members on board. The speech, which was televised live, was watched by millions of people around the world and is remembered as one of Reagan's most memorable and poignant moments as president. Reagen utilizes rhetorical choices, such as personal anecdotes, rhetorical questions, and repetition to make the audience feel One of the most striking rhetorical choices that Reagan made during the Challenger speech was his use of personal anecdotes and stories. Reagan began the speech by recalling his own experience as a young boy watching

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Thirty two years ago on June 6, 1984, at Pointe du Hoc on the northern shore of France President Ronald Reagan delivered what would be considered to be one of his greatest speeches. On the fortieth anniversary of D-Day, President Reagan spoke with raw emotion and simplicity that made the events of that longest day real to those who were not there. He honored, inspired, and touched people that he would never meet all in the short span of under fifteen minutes. The man who was dubbed the “Great Communicator” communicated a chilling message of freedom, determination, and heart to America and the rest of the world. He would use this speech to describe the events of that day forty years before in a way that made one see the bombs, and hear the gunfire.

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He declares his love for his country and for his people by announcing that he would not “exchange places with any other generation” and salutes those who “answered the call of service”. By acknowledging the “energy, faith, and devotion of the people” he reassures the people that he knows what they’re going through. Through his word choice, he is able to appeal to the masses and relate to them on an emotional level. He inspires them to serve their country as he states that the “graces” of American soldiers “surround the globe”. By invoking nationalistic feelings within the public he points out the need for the people to continue to support the ideals they have stood for.

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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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(Dennis 714) By giving the members of the space shuttle crew recognition as “pioneers”, the speech had 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. Considering its effectiveness, the transition between the bad news and the new hope is one of the greatest features of the speech. This transition is crucial to connect two parts of the speech that are equally important.

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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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Throughout his entire speech, Reagan repeats the words “America’s greatness” or a similar form of this phrase (Reagan 2). The reiteration of this phrase exhibits Reagan’s genuine pride in America. He sincerely loves his country and declares his confidence in the U.S. to combat this global issue. Reagan also used words such as we, our, and together to point out that they are in this fight side by side. No one stands alone in this war against the Soviets and for the people behind the Iron Curtain.

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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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Rhetorical Devices Open Ended Response In Ronald Reagan`s speech, ethos and logos are two rhetorical devices using either exquisite knowledge and integrity or logicality to persuade his audience of knocking the Wall of Berlin down. Throughout Reagan`s speech, ethos is a rhetorical device in which he uses to demonstrate and express his knowledge, and show integrity to those listening. Subsequently, this technique is what convinces the author of the continuous idea of knocking down the Wall of Berlin; overall, knocking down the wall would no longer separate Europe, and would spread the freedom between East and West Berlin. Ronald states, “President von Weizsacker has said, ‘The German question is open as long as the Brandenburg Gate is closed,’

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It was a day when soldiers of different countries came together as one for the greater good, to give freedom back to those it was taken from. There is no doubt the soldiers were nothing less of courageous and Ronald Reagan expresses gratitude to them. He also recognized those lives that were lost. He closes his speech with “Strengthened by their courage, heartened by their value, and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for their ideals for which they lived and died. Thank you very much, and God bless you all.”

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The speech I would like to discuss in this week’s discussion is “Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger Address” to the Nation by President Ronald W. Reagan on January 28th, 1986. I chose this speech because it is aimed to children, adolescents, adults and seniors without demeaning anyone. Reagan’s Challenger speech is a touching proof not only to his talent as an speaker but also to his idea of America. This speech stood out to me because it is hard to imagine a political leader today speaking as he

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At the beginning of his speech, he conveys emotion through telling his own story and putting the audience in his shoes. He states “On the one hand he is born in the shadow of the stars and stripes and he is assured it represents a nation which has never lost a war. He pledges allegiance to that flag which guarantees "liberty and justice for all. " He is part of a country in which anyone can become President, and so forth”. This shows the audience how African American children feel when living in a country made on the premise of equality, but feeling anything but equal to their Caucasian peers.

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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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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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