Rhetorical Analysis Of Ronald Reagan's Inaugural Address

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The United States of America is faced with many problems and concerning topics every year. Every citizen holds on tightly to their own beliefs and viewpoints, ultimately hoping the nation’s leader can lead the country in the right direction. Every election year, the next presidential candidate gives an important speech, known as the inaugural address. In this address, the candidate informs the nation of his or her intentions as the president. In these inaugural speeches, the upcoming presidents use many different rhetorical strategies to get their main points to the citizens of the country. For example, Ronald Reagan, a former well-liked president, delivered his inaugural speech with many rhetorical strategies such as, cause and effect of certain problems (what’s at stake), repetition of his various intentions as president, and superb word choice, in order to get his thoughts to the audience clearly and effectively to win them over to his side. To begin his famous speech, Reagan does not hesitate to start in on what problems the United States of America is currently facing. Within the first ten sentences, the new president begins to explain the problem of …show more content…

It also causes them to rethink what is happening to the country. Reagan clearly explains to the audience that inflation is the cause of many things that could happen, as he puts that in perspective for the listeners to ponder. “It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed-income elderly alike. It threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people” (Reagan “Inaugural Speech”). This is when Mr. Reagan begins to effectively portray what will happen if something is not done. He began by stating what is causing problems, inflation, and then finishes by explaining what’s at stake if something is not done about the