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Essay on An Analysis of “A Time For Choosing”

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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, …show more content…

“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

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