Ronald Reagan Speech Analysis

Reviewing the speech given in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan that addressed the nation about the limitations and lack of armaments and weapons available at the time to effectively fight the Soviet Union in an instance of an attack, President Reagan stressed the need to not argue against the budgetary amount but in fact, talk to members of Congress to reaffirm the need to fund the budget for additional weaponry. In the speech, President Reagan stressed that the United States has never been the aggressor in any of the previous worldwide conflicts (Reagan, 1983). There were several zingers in the speech aimed at the previous liberal president’s that questioned allowing the budgetary means to protect the country to significantly dwindle while at the same time spending those same funds to take care of the social ills of the United States citizens. Previous Presidential administrations advocated for methods of deterrence of war

Anticipating the worst, Reagan needed to convince Congress and the people of the country that the budget must be increased to maintain peace (Reagan, 1983). President Reagan reiterated that budget allocation had switched significantly since 1955 when over half the budget was for defense spending and 20% was for social programs. For 1983, the numbers were reversed, 49% for social programs and 23% for defense. Through his appeal for additional budgetary funds, President Reagan not only wanted to increase the number of armaments, he also wanted to negotiate a reduction in the number of nuclear weapons of the Soviets. Through more impressive innovation and technology, he thought there would be a way to counter any threat of Soviet invasion (Reagan,