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Ronald Reagan Tear Down That Wall Rhetorical Devices

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On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan arrived in West Berlin to speak to the people of West Germany at the Brandenburg Gate, with the intent of gathering support for democracy and to oppose the Berlin Wall along with the Soviet Government behind it. Reagan used several rhetorical strategies such as; rationality, using examples, imagery, and compare and contrast, to win the support of all who listened, including the Soviet leaders whom Reagan was hoping to persuade. Berlin was an incredible humanitarian and diplomatic crisis across the world because, the Eastern side of Berlin was impoverished, famined, and the people who lived there had to face cruel leadership and heinous punishment for the littles things, because they were under Soviet rule. This is why President Reagan travelled to Berlin, because he wanted to persuade the people of Berlin to resist the Soviet’s cruelty and to persuade the Soviets to “Tear down that wall!”. Reagan first uses rationality to …show more content…

From 1950 to 1960 alone, the standard of living in West Germany and Berlin doubled.”(Reagan). Reagan quotes specific events that occurred in the Western, more prosperous side of Germany so that he can contrast it to the unfortunate Eastern side which is under Soviet rule, he does this because this provides yet more evidence to support his purpose of persuading people to believe that communism does not work and that the USSR is backwards and evil. This works because he states a specific example of progress made in a certain area that the USSR is struggling greatly in, but because it is in West Germany/Berlin, this hits more close to home for the people Reagan is trying to persuade because the people who are suffering/causing the suffering are a mere hundred feet to the East on the other side of the

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Furthermore, Ronald Reagan started his argument with uses of word choices and appeals of emotions which creates strong feelings that effectively helps him to persuade the Soviet Union as well as the president Gorbachev. As he mentioned in paragraph two “standing before the Brandenburg gate, every man is a German, separated from his fellow man, every man is a Berliner forced to look upon a scar” here Reagan expressed the feeling of not being able to be connected to the other part of German. Those emotional appeal makes the Soviet Union to think about how the people were not connected to the other side of the berlin wall, which creates an eagerness inside them to bring down the

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There is a great deal of risk in the strategy spoken by President Reagan because of the imbalance between ends, ways and means. Lykke provides a conceptual framework and vocabulary for describing risk in strategy in his “three-legged stool” model. His main point is that a balanced strategy is solid, but if ends, ways, or means are not aligned, the strategy incurs risk (Reading C203 D, p. 4). In the spoken strategy there is especially an imbalance between the ends, ways and means to the desired end of a unified and free Europe. The ways in the strategy is only directed towards the city of Berlin.

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When giving Reagan 's speech he uses personification to draw people in and help them connect to his words. For example when he says “But my friends, there were a few things the Soviets didn 't count on--Berliner Herz, Berliner Humor, ja, und Berliner Schnauze. [Berliner heart, Berliner humor, yes, and a Berliner Schnauze.]”(Reagan, online). He gives Germany a heart and it’s own sense of humor while personifying Berlin. With this Berliner 's are able to relate to this speech because of the use of personification.

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Effectively, Reagan utilizes rhetorical devices in his speech to powerfully convince the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, and the rest of Eastern Europe to open up the Berlin Wall barrier which separated East and West Berlin! For example, Reagan states, “But in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history. In the Communist world, we see failure, technology backwardness, declining standards of health, even want of the most basic kind-too little food.” This is quote demonstrates logos because the author presented facts about how successful the Democratic world is in contrast to the unsuccessful East side. The fact that the Communist world has failure, technology backwardness, decreasing standards of health, and even a minimal food supply, shows how by taking down the wall, freedom can solve these issues and lead to prosperity for the Communist world.

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One minute and thirteen seconds. The last entry on the flight transcript: LOSS OF ALL DATA. On January 28, 1986, the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded 73 seconds into its flight. Aboard were five astronauts, one of whom, Christa McAuliffe, was ready to become the first school teacher in space. Sadly, none of the five survived.

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Tragedies, they will happen without a hint of awareness but they cannot be stopped or answered for. When they do occur it leads people to shock and grief. However tragedies brings forth something that gives people unity, hope, and direction. This something is called a leader and throughout history many people have embodied this quality. There are many instances where people have stood up an embodied this quality.

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Knowing President Reagan’s past is something that is not spoken and written of enough. In the Writing the Life of Ronald Reagan: An Impossible Mission? it helps to bring light to his past and why he was able to use these forms of rhetoric to speak to the harsh realities of the Berlin Wall and its impact on many people around the world. It is important to note that President Reagan “published two (ghostwritten) autobiographies. The first one was published in 1965, just before he entered politics in California; it is entitled Where’s the Rest of Me?”

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The last phrase that he spoke in German means “There is only one Berlin.” He says this specifically to try and show that no matter what the two different names of the cities are, East and West Berlin, there is still really only one Berlin. He also refers to the wall as a scar to all Germans but also to all Berliners. Ronald Reagan expressively shows that he wants the conflicts in Eastern Europe to stop. He is not subtle with his statements, he wants to be clear and to the point by showing that he wants change.

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All in all, Reagan uses logos which he logically explained to tell why the wall should be brought down; it is due to the hope of spreading freedom by knocking down the Wall of Berlin, which ultimately defends his thesis. Conclusively, Ronald Reagan uses two rhetorical devices, ethos and logos in his speech to persuade

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January 28, 1986, is when the space shuttle Challenger took flight with seven astronauts aboard and America observing, while the shuttle exploded in air. All astronauts die from the tragedy with their loved ones watching. President Ronald Reagan is in the White House ready to fulfill duties as the President of the United States of America. In his role as president he changes his plans to address the tragedy of the Challenger shuttle and respond to America’s anguish. President Reagan speaks to his audience, the citizens of America, to bring assurance through his speech.

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In addition to being President, Reagan was known to be an effective communicator and an excellent rhetorician”(Abrams, Friedman, Picanco, Chiu, & Mayur, para. 2). Ragan used several other examples to enforce the ethos within his speech, one by pointing out the oppressive nature of communism, as well as the views of the leader of the Soviet regime that was reasonable for it. Continuing, he appealed to logos by pointing among other things how "Even today, the Soviet Union still cannot feed itself"(Abrams et al., para. 4). Finally, he appeals to pathos several ways most notably in his statement “For I find in Berlin a message of hope … a message

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On June 26, 1963, John F. Kennedy stopped in the city of West Berlin in Germany which, at the time, was under American, French, and British control after the city of Berlin was split into four sections controlled by France, Great Britain, United States of America, and the Soviet Union following World War 2. Kennedy delivered this speech in order to reassure the citizens of West Berlin that they had the support of the Western powers such as America despite attempts from the Soviet Union to destroy West Berlin by blockading all roads and railways into West Berlin and constructing the infamous Berlin Wall to prevent those who were living under Soviet control from moving from East Berlin to West Berlin and achieving freedom. Kennedy used this speech to not only show support to the people of West Berlin, but also to show the Soviet Union that the USA and other powerful nations were backing up the citizens of West Berlin who were willing to

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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).

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The rhetorical elements, logos and pathos, included in Ronald Reagan’s speech, “ Tear Down This Wall” assist Reagan and his words to convince Gorbachev, along with the people of Berlin, that the wall between eastern and western Berlin must be dismantled. Logos is an appeal to logic, or a way of persuading an audience by reason. Reagan provides details of how other countries have reached a state of freedom, at the same time have maintained a strong financial background. In “Tear Down This Wall” logos is used to show that countries who are not separated by a wall are thriving economically. For example, Reagan explained, “in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history.”

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1118 Words | 5 Pages

On 19th June 2013 Barack Obama, who is the current president of America, held a speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. It brought thousands of people there and millions around the world in front of the televisions. Its purpose is to inform the world about the beginning of negotiations with Russia aimed at ending the two nations` Cold War military posture and a reduction of nuclear arms by up to one third. The American president starts the speech by simply saying "Hello Berlin!

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