A Time For Choosing By Ronald Reagan

In Ronald Regan’s speech, “A Time for Choosing” he starts by saying that for most of his life he was a Democrat and that “I have recently seen fit to follow another course. He then goes on to talk about the economy saying that the tax burden is one that no nation in history has ever survived. He then goes on to illustrate with facts saying that “Every 37 cents out of every dollar earned in this country is the tax collectors share, and yet our government continues to spend 17 million dollars a day more that the government takes in.” He also says that that out of the last 34 plus year 28 of those have not seen a balanced budget. Additionally the treasury only has 15 million dollars in gold and that 27.3 billion dollars of that is claimed by foreign governments. He then switches gears talking now about preserving peace and asking how can we preserve peace when the country is engaged in war in South Vietnam. He asks the if they (The Democrats) “ Mean peace, or do they mean we just want to be left in peace.” Saying that anywhere there are Americans fighting and dying there can be no real peace. He makes this point to say that peace is not just given it has to be earned and that there are always people out there that desire nothing more than to see our country and the rest of the free world in flames or under their heel. Regan then changes gears again and talk about how the American system of government is the most original plan in the history of the world. He

Margret Thatcher depicted the greatness of Ronald Reagan in all aspects of his life in a eulogy spoken at his funeral after his unfortunate passing in 2004. Her eulogy accurately describes the legacy of Reagan, his relationships with the American people, and his hardships throughout his presidency. Thatcher used a variety of rhetorical strategies to convey message, and her creative use of these strategies allowed for unison and proper tone within her speech.

Due to the rapidly changing America, in his farewell address, Ronald Reagan expresses the need for unification of America, and America’s culture. In Reagan’s address, he uses many rhetorical devices to advance his purpose of unifying America, for instance, Reagan utilizes tone, syntax, and pathos to portray his pride, hopefulness, and patriotism for America. He uses these devices to show Americans of the unification America needs.

I feel that the substance and context of Reagan’s speech were eloquently put. Reagan states that "nothing ends here" the space shuttle program will continue. President Reagan came across with certainty, respect, gratitude and compassion. Reagan also appeared strong but comforting. Reagan only had a short period of time to prepare for the speech which to me only solidifies his

With many changes on the horizon at the time, America was given something and someone to believe in. Many speakers in history have had powerful points and strong words sometimes expressing through a forceful nature intended to scare listeners. Reagan was a speaker who developed a commanding but soothing way that was appealing to the world. Regardless of his background as an actor, the

Ronald Reagan is known as “The great communicator” and it shows in his speech, he is able connect to the audience and this works very well for him, his speech “Address to the national challenger” it is a drastically emotional and important speech for the American people at the time it became one of Reagan’s great speeches and it was crucial to the American’s as they were all in such pain due to the accident which was the Challenger disaster. Instead of doing his report on the state union, he talks about the disaster and honors the members who had passed on board and he wishes that the United States will not stop its space exploration due to this. When listening to the speech is it distinguishable that is the speech is not something to joke about and the tone had an emotional and solemn feel with great respect to all involved being felt.

For the audience he gives them examples of how government interference hurts Americans and also allusions to past times such as the revolution and how the founding fathers did not want a big government. He shares that he has “an uncomfortable feeling that this prosperity isn’t something on which we base our hopes the future.” Reagan’s ability to connect with his audience was rare and unlike many of his colleagues. Whether the topics he spoke on were always relevant to that of the listener, it did not always matter.

Since prior to the 1980’s, the American education system has rapidly declined in all areas. The article, “A Nation at Risk,” written by President Ronald Reagan, depicts the many issues in the U.S. school systems regarding the content, standard and expectations, time, teaching, and leadership and fiscal support. This piece, apparently, has led the country into an extreme educational reform to improve all aspects of our school system. Based on my experiences in high school, student test scores, and current school conditions, I believe that while all issues raised by the commission in the report are not necessarily a problem anymore, issues with student growth.

Turning Point by Jimmy Carter provides a look into his first experience with politics as he runs for the Georgia state senate in 1962. He believed it was possible to change the direction his home state was headed, specifically focusing on education. Instead of having a run-of-the-mill experience in democracy, he faced election corruption by those in power and legal challenges up until the moment he was finally sworn in as state senator.

The last element of the rhetorical situation is speech. Reagan’s primary objective of this speech was to show his condolence to those of who suffered from the accident and involve audience to join for grief. Throughout his speech his ideas were carried in a coherent way, without deviating from his objective. Reagan achieved this through using various words and phrases that magnify his emotion. Using phrases such as “slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of god” illustrated his feeling towards the situation without much of explanation. In addition, because he understood that the audience of this particular speech consisted of diversity of

The most obvious way President Reagan delivers rhetoric to his audience is through his own ethos. Ronald Reagan wasn’t just your average president; he was a communicator. Reagan started his career as a sports announcer and continued on as an actor, which led to his later career in state and national politics. By the time President Reagan had delivered his address, the president had been in the spotlight his entire career and was looked up to worldwide. He had established an extrinsic ethos well before delivering this speech. By being the president of the free world, Reagan’s audience

In Reagan's speech certain communication rhetoric items for effect intensification of treatment were used. First of all, it is certain pathos for showing that the president shares the feelings of Americans: "Nancy [Reagan's wife] 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."

This speech has meaning, excites emotions and reaches out to all, which makes it a great speech. Although Reagan chooses to ignore his administrations responsibility in The Challenger disaster, he concentrates instead on reassurance of the nation which makes this speech uplifting to the American people.

The last element of the rhetorical situation is speech. Reagan’s primary objective of this speech was to show his condolence to those of who suffered from the accident and involve audience to join for grief. Throughout his speech his ideas were carried in a coherent way, without deviating from his objective. Reagan achieved this through using various words and phrases that magnify his emotion. Using phrases such as “slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of god” illustrated his feeling towards the situation without much of explanation. In addition, because he understood that the audience of this particular speech consisted of diversity of people, he used words that are more approachable and easy to the audience.

The president also spent a majority of both speeches talking about his view of government, specifically the relationship between the individual citizen and government and the responsibility of centralized government’s. In his “First Inaugural Address” President Reagan declared, “Our Government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed” (Reagan). 17 years prior in “A Time for Choosing” Ronald Reagan said essentially the same thing, “And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except that sovereign people is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man’s relation to man” (Reagan). Here, Reagan is affirming and then