Darian
Ms. White
English 101.42
2 October 2013
An Analysis of “A Time For Choosing” Millions of viewers tuned into the National Broadcasting Company television network for a special broadcast on the 27th of October. Viewers were anticipating Ronald Reagan’s “A Time for Choosing” speech. Reagan was acknowledged for his acting in motion pictures and television episodes since 1937, and was now being seen in an unfamiliar role. Reagan emerged in support of the Republican nominee Barry Goldwater. Barry Morris Goldwater was a businessman and five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for president in the 1964 election. “A Time for Choosing” utilizes a plethora of rhetoric: style, delivery, pathos,
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“You and I have a rendezvous with destiny” is perhaps the most famous line from the speech. People are inspired by the speech because Reagan gives the American people hope for their future and their children’s future. His use of repetition conveys to us that we “have the ability and the dignity and the right to make our own decisions and determine our own destiny”. Repetition is a powerful rhetorical technique that Reagan exercises to emphasize unity among the American people. Reagan kept his audience eager for more. He would expose an issue or problem and then create a solution. Exposing faults within the existing government Reagan is able to crack part of the “once believed” solid foundation of the U.S. government. He also exposes how the seediness and greediness of the government is leaking into the minds of other fellow Americans. He states situations where individuals are taking desperate measures such as divorce, in order to earn a higher salary so they can provide for their families. Reagan tells us that there are ways around this and that these issues are not individual but collective. Reagan uses pathos when he mentions the recent escalation in Vietnam. He said, “As for the peace that we would preserve, I wonder who among us would like to approach the wife or mother whose husband or son has died in South Vietnam and ask them if they think this is a peace that should
The book focuses on showcasing the nearly impossible obstacles he had to overcome in order to carry out the duties as a man and as President of the United States. The authors wanted to create a portrait of a “great man operating in violent times”, and that they did, albeit it being a bit skewed. The book is a bit all over the place, but after the first chapter (1980 presidential debate) it follows a chronological trend, with each chapter marking an important moment in Reagan’s life. In regards to the prologue, Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard begin with the death of “the former leader of the free world, the man who defeated Soviet communism and ended the Cold War.” Honorable tribute to Reagan indeed but the more you read the book, the more you start to ponder who really was calling the shots.
In order to compare these two influential elections, one must first have a firm grasp of the historiography of both elections. The 1964 election was the 45th quadrennial presidential election. It had a lot of controversy around it due to the Republican nomination of politician and businessman Barry M. Goldwater for the president run. He outweighed prominent Republican candidates, for instance, Nelson A. Rockefeller. Goldwater did not have the support of his own party to run the election and underwent heavy criticism due to his unpopular conservative political position. He faced the Democrat
Thatcher used a pathos appeal to get the audience to feel bad for the passing of Reagan. With this, she gets the audience to feel sorry for her dear friend, and makes them feel the sorrow that she endures. One example of this is shown on lines one through two, “We have lost a great president, a great American, and a great man, and I have lost a dear friend.” These lines get the reader to
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.
Ronald Reagan, the former 40th president of the United States died on June 5th of 2004. A couple of days later on the 11th, Margaret Thatcher the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, wrote an eulogy for Ronald Reagan. In this eulogy, Thatcher uses rhetorical strategies to convince her readers into believing what she states. She uses the strategies of parallelism, pathos and diction to get her message out and to help her reader receive it. And thus Thatcher can convince her readers into believing what she says.
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
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.
In conclusion, President Reagan was operative in convincing his audience that he was the right choice for who should lead the U.S. I firmly believe that Ronald Reagan was the last good President we had in office. He not only kept to his word, but also was able to inspire the American people and remind them what hope was and what it looked and felt like. Shown through this piece, it is evident that he was an eloquent communicator and an overall persuasive orator. By using pathos, rhetorical questioning,
His speech is stirring, remembering the great contributions to history of fallen and living soldiers of all nationalities who fought for their beliefs in the Second World War. Reagan’s dramatic and detailed descriptions of the heroism of the Army Rangers are skillfully complemented by his use of rhetorical devices such as tetracolon, anaphora, tautology, and synchises. His eloquent yet simple style allows him to weave vivid images of history into his listeners and readers’ minds, adding a new dimension to his speaking. Reagan’s speech surely served its purpose: to commemorate the actions of the Rangers, to commemorate the power of unity, and to commemorate as well as celebrate the dedication, bravery, and spirit that makes 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
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
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.
Just over two years before Ronald Reagan competed in his first statewide or national office, the former actor gave a speech in support of a doomed presidential candidate, Senator Barry Goldwater. This speech had little effect on 1964 presidential election. However, the “A Time for Choosing” speech established Ronald Reagan as the future of the conservative movement, and outlined his view of what America should be. “A Time for Choosing” fastened Reagan’s conservatism in the minds of both Republicans and Americans. This speech propelled Reagan to win the California governor’s race in 1967 and a sweeping victory in the 1980 presidential election. The “A Time for Choosing” speech declared
Ronald Reagan gave a speech in Orlando, Florida on March 8, 1983 called, “The Evil Empire.” This speech was intended for the ears of all Americans and is one of the best known presidential speeches ever given. In his speech, Reagan uses multiple rhetorical strategies such as; metaphors, allusions, rhetorical questions, tone, pathos, and uses references from the bible. He talks about all the main points of abortion, teenage sex, drugs, the Soviet Union, and the practice of praying and God in our public schools. His speech was very well written, moving, and extremely influential. This speech shows the president’s belief that the