Rhetorical Analysis Of The Attributes Of Ronald Reagan

The phrase “Carrying the weight of the world on one’s shoulders” most appropriately describes the responsibilities of the President of the United States. Presidency is one of the most difficult jobs in the world mentally, physically, and diplomatically. It is extremely stressful and, as proved by history, extremely easy to make costly mistakes. In her eulogy, Margaret Thatcher uses her personal experience to discuss the strength and lightness of Ronald Reagan’s character. Through this, she describes instances in which Reagan applied these attributes, directly contributing to their overall success in order to illuminate the effectiveness of his leadership abilities as a President.

Immediately, Thatcher opens her speech with an anaphora, repeating

The repetition of this adjective causes the attendees of the funeral to pay refined attention to her compliments. This highlights the positivity of his character and success as a leader of the United States, which she explains more explicitly later in her speech. Additionally, Thatcher personifies America and Regan’s policies. She mentions how Regan tried “to mend America’s wounded spirit” (line 6) and how his policies “won converts from every class and every nation… from the very heart of the ‘evil empire’” (lines 13-15). This gives a greater sense of passion to her sentences and intensifies the actions of Regan and how the improved the overall spirit of America. It causes Regan to appear like a hero worthy of praise due to his ability to reinstall hope and confidence in Americans, as a good leader should. Thatcher also alludes to several famous phrases in her speech. She makes her first within the aforementioned quote by referencing Reagan’s own name for the Soviet Union. Further in the speech, Thatcher states, “[Regan’s jokes] were truly grace under pressure” (lines 21-22). This is an allusion to Hemingway’s quote about

His act of “[inspiring] America and its allies with renewed faith” (line 31) more emphatically contributes to the notion of Reagan’s impressive presidency proposed by Thatcher when it follows the bleak ideas that fundamentally say the state of America was worsening. These lines are actual examples of actions that Reagan successfully accomplished which further shows the audience of how his light personality when mixed with his strength helps him be a successful leader. Thatcher also references her personal, platonic relationship with Ronald Regan that laid outside the typical diplomacy between world leaders often in her eulogy. She refers to him as “Ronnie” (line 23), a nickname that only a close friend would use and says she and him “talked regularly, both before and after his presidency” (lines 56-57). By mentioning their closeness, she exposes her ability to evaluate his character and leadership abilities to those at the funeral