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Space Shuttle Challenger Speech Analysis

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On January 28, 1986, NASA launched the Space Shuttle Challenger, which exploded within minutes of liftoff, killing all astronauts aboard. On this same night, President Ronald Reagan was originally scheduled to give the State of the Union, but instead had to speak on this national tragedy. The speech is titled, “Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger, Address to the Union, January 28, 1986” and is given by President Ronald Reagan from his desk in the Oval Office. The intended audience of the speech given by President Reagan is all of the American People. Giving this speech, President Reagan had a saddened, grieving, and woeful tone. He opens by stating that instead of his State of the Union Address, he would be addressing the tragedy that …show more content…

Reagan tells us how he has always looked up to our space program and that he has faith in it, which coincides with his faith in the country as a whole. He tells us that we have no secrets, everything is out in public because that’s what freedom is. This speech has everything in it that an American citizen would want to hear after something like this happens. Our president and his family are sad, our country is sad, but that doesn’t stop America, we are strong, brave, courageous, always working toward the future. So much in fact that we are now speaking to the children about the future, telling them that in order to have a future they must be brave, the American way.
President Reagan appeals to several different emotions throughout the speech, he starts to wrap up the speech by telling a story, he tells a historical story of Sir Frances Drake and compares the astronauts that we have lost to him and his last exploration where he was killed doing the thing he loved. The speech is brought to a close with the biggest emotional appeal that Reagan uses all night, he uses a lingering tone when he recalls to the audience that the last time that we, or anyone ever saw these brave heroes was this morning, when they waved goodbye and “slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God.” This was the last thing that he said and really left the country with a sense of sadness and loss, but even though we were sad and grieving, we had the

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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

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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

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Then former prime minister of Great Britain, Margaret Thatcher, recited a eulogy in 2004 in remembrance of former President of the United States Ronald Reagan on how both world leaders were so close. Thatcher’s purpose to speak about President Ronald Reagan was to show how great of a leader Reagan was during the political upheaval during the Cold War. She adopts a heartwarming tone in order to show the citizens of the United States the level of leadership and heroism he incorporated when trying to prevent two countries from the destroying the Earth and humanity itself. Thatcher begins the eulogy towards President Reagan by mentioning that not just the citizens of the United States has lost a great president but that the whole democratic world has lost a great and influential man. She uses many

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