ipl-logo

Rhetorical Analysis Of Ronald Reagan's Speech

1042 Words5 Pages

“To infinity and beyond” wasn’t always so joyful. On January 28, 1986, seven astronauts died from the space shuttle Challenger explosion. Ronald Reagan was given the daunting task of addressing the accident to the nation and bringing comfort to them. He made a decision to postpone his state of the union speech so he could help the nation cope with this tragedy. His speech had to acknowledge every group of people from the school children watching on tv, to the families of the victim, and NASA too. His speech had to acknowledge the accident and help the entire nation mourn and to do this he used rhetorical strategies like pathos. Ronald Reagan managed to bring the nation together, mourn with them, and explain this tragedy through his speech after …show more content…

He started, “Today is a day for mourning and remembering. 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.” He showed the nation that he too was in horror over the events and they aren’t alone because everyone is going through this together. He made this disaster a way to bring the community together and make connections with each other. So many people can just get up there and say what they need to say but the rhetoric Reagan chose here allowed for Ronald Reagan to connect with everyone else; you could tell he really felt the pain along side everyone else. An ending is the last words everyone will remember so, Reagan brought pain, hope, and honor together in one tear jerking sentence by using God. Reagan says, “We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'” This is the statement that truly carries Reagan’s speech on throughout time. By using God as a rhetorical strategy, he made it seem as if this all happened and it’s horrible but it is a miracle because God had plans for them. The statement took the victims and purified them by saying they made it in Heaven and are safe with God; it was time for them to be somewhere better. Overall, he had pathos in his speech to help the nation heal from the

Show More
Related

A Rhetorical Analysis Of Reagan's Eulogy Thatcher

400 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More

Ronald Reagan Speech Rhetorical Analysis Essay

873 Words | 4 Pages

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

Read More

Rhetorical Analysis Of Ronald Reagan's Speech

1123 Words | 5 Pages

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

Read More

Ronald Reagan Challenger Disaster Rhetorical Analysis

1002 Words | 5 Pages

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

Read More

Ronald Reagan's Speech Challenger Speech

922 Words | 4 Pages

(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.

Read More

Ronald Reagan Rhetorical Devices Essay

421 Words | 2 Pages

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,’

Read More

Rhetorical Analysis Of Ronald Reagan's Evil Empire

474 Words | 2 Pages

The changing in the tone of his voice helped emphasize words of importance and helped keep the audience interested. I feel that the quality of President Reagan's voice was great because he changed his tone throughout the speech to emphasize topics and words of importance which also helped keep the audience listening. I think that Reagan used very little movement throughout his speech, but his did maintain eye contact and he ensured moving from looking to one side to the other to include the audience. I feel that the movement was appropriate for the speech because the president wanted the speech to inform and the movement helped include the whole audience.

Read More

A Rhetorical Analysis Of The Ronald Reagan Shuttle Crash Speech

624 Words | 3 Pages

Ronald Reagan Shuttle Crash Speech President Ronald Reagan speech to the American citizen expresses grief towards the Challenger shuttle disaster in 1986. Relating in Missouri, Despair and utter sadness with the American citizens in the victim's family and friends. This was truly a despairing time for America that needed as many prayers as possible, President Reagan deeply felt the families of the victims pain and address it as much as he could. Ronald Reagan uses allegory to express his deep sorrow and empathy. He states for the families of the seven, “We cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy.

Read More

George Bush 9/11 Speech Rhetorical Devices

1767 Words | 8 Pages

Considering the state that the country was in after the attacks, the presentation of this speech may have seemed an almost necessary thing to do for the president. However, the use of rhetoric goes above and beyond the basic presidential speech, it enables a connection with the American people on a personal level. Overall, we will never forget the events of that day, but we will especially remember how we pulled together as a nation, and how President Bush’s speech aided that feeling of

Read More

Ronald Reagan Informative Essay

493 Words | 2 Pages

To me, he did such a great thing for the united states that day because of all his hard work. He did do a lot to improve the economy and end the cold war for our safety during his time serving. All in all, Ronald Reagan was such an inspiration, hard worker and courageous person. He really did work his hardest to help our economy and end wars that were damaging our living environments. In my opinion, Reagan only wanted the best for the people, and he definitely showed it during his time as President of the United

Read More

Rhetorical Analysis Of George W Bush 9/11 Speech

805 Words | 4 Pages

His speech that was broadcasted to the entire world highlighted everything America needed at this time of grief, and will forever be remembered. In the introduction of Bush’s speech, he describes the despicable acts of terror our country witnessed that day. Bush shows his compassion for those affected by the attacks. He knew he could not repair what had been done, but he knew we could fight back.

Read More

Ronald Reagan Hero

515 Words | 3 Pages

They found his voice reassuring and that it gave them hope (Brands 25). Reagan was known for his great communication skills and even at a young age he was able to capture an audience and give them inspiration that they were longing

Read More

Figurative Language In Ronald Reagan's Speech On 7 Astronauts

272 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More

Rhetorical Analysis Of Ronald Reagan's Shuttle Challenger Address

604 Words | 3 Pages

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

Read More

Ronald Reagan Speech Rhetorical Analysis

850 Words | 4 Pages

Former President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, in his address to the nation about the Challenger explosion, distinguishes the terrifying news of the explosion of the space shuttle. Reagan's purpose is to remember the lives lost in this painful accident and to ensure that space program will keep our faith with its future in space. He adopts a sorrowful tone in order to acknowledge all the courage and breakers that those seven astronauts expressed to his nation. Reagan opens his tribute to the Challenger astronauts by recognizing that this accident delayed his State of the Union address and by showing the pain of him and his wife’s grief. He appeal to the emotions of the listeners by expressing that “today is a day for mourning and remembering” (Reagan, 1986), that he and his wife are “pained to the core” (Reagan, 1986), and that we all know that this accident is “truly a national loss” (Reagan, 1986).

Read More

More about Rhetorical Analysis Of Ronald Reagan's Speech

Related Topics

Open Document