Rhetorical Analysis Of The Reagan Eulogy

Two-hundred and nine thousand. That is the number of lives that were nobly given to save the many during the invasion of Normandy (D-day and the Battle of Normandy). The courageous men and women fought continuously for days on end, climbing the jagged cliffs of Normandy, France. Under rifle fire from gun nests from above, the allied troops were able to take control of the coastline, but not without great sacrifice. The speech given by Ronald Reagan was made to commemorate those who fearlessly fought for our country and the many thousands that gave their lives during those hard days of war. His speech had a clear message, to honor and remember those who gave and risked their lives during the invasion of Normandy.

Thatcher shows the reader that even when Reagan had hard times he never showed it and always rose above any problem that he was faced with, nor did he “shrink.” Much like how Thatcher and the rest of the country could not let this hard loss keep them down. She got the reader to understand his accomplishments, through metaphors really showed the depth of the job that Reagan was tasked with, and all he had to overcome. She also used metaphors to show what strong leader he was, and how he emerged from problems and overcame them, as the country will have to do, without him.

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.

Margaret Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister, reflected on the benign qualities of President Ronald Reagan, with whom she worked closely with in office, in her eulogy to the American public. Her purpose was to emphasize Reagan’s hardworking, reassuring, and friendly personality through the use of different rhetorical strategies, in order to create a sense of pathos. Thatcher was able to pay her respects and covey her meaningful message by using anecdotes, parallelism, and contrast.

As a person who was known for his ability to speak publicly, and communicate comprehensible meanings while inspiring the people of his nation, President John F. Kennedy (JFK) gave his inaugural address on January 20th, 1961 in Washington D.C.. JFK was widely distinguished for his ability to use rhetoric in front of the masses, and in mass media. Like many authors and penman, President Kennedy implemented huge doses of rhetorical strategies in his speech, focusing on the appeals of Aristotle: ethos, logos and pathos. Ethos is used to convince the audience of the author’s credibility, logos is an appeal through the use of logic and reasoning, while pathos is an emotional appeal (Gayle et al). JFK applied all these rhetorical appeals

Her use of informal diction when talking about Reagan and his life allows the audience to get a feeling of closeness to him, even after he died. Margaret Thatcher very rarely uses his full name, compared to the amount of times she uses nicknames or personal pronouns, which allows the audience to join in to the feelings that she is feeling and for them to better understand her position.

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 Farewell Address embodied Washington’s political principles and hopes for the United States, a newly developed nation, to grow strong and remain independent. He stressed the importance of national unity. Despite the confidence Washington had for his country to continue to thrive without his leadership, he felt obligated to forewarn the American people and future generations the greatest dangers, or threats, to the United States. Washington believed threats such as political parties, and associations with foreign alliances could weaken the nation. Today, it is believed that the Farewell Address is a prophetic warning for contemporary politics.

In the speech “Tear Down this Wall”, the author, Peter Robinson a speechwriter for the White House, attempts to end the divide between East and West Berlin. Robinson wrote the speech; however, former President Ronald Reagan brought it to life when he delivered the speech in West Berlin in June of 1987. Reagan presented this speech in a calm yet persuasive manner, ultimately winning over his immediate Berlin audience. President Reagan’s speech did not just reach Berlin. It was broadcasted all over from Western Europe to North America resulting in Reagan’s tremendous contributions to ending the Cold War. In order to persuade his audience, Reagan uses various rhetorical tools such as suggestions of hope, liberty, and freedom to grab the alienated German forces and reunite the opposing sides.

This heartfelt letter begins with Reagan explaining how he feels bad that he is not home for the holidays. Even from the first sentence, Reagan expresses his sympathy towards the struggles of being the wife of the President. He begins with saying how sorry he is for the current circumstances, and how he should be giving “gold, precious stones, perfume, furs and lace” to the women who are so important to him. Starting from the first paragraph, he uses affectionate language when referring to his wife to show her how much she means to him. In addition, Reagan begins to tell his story of the “multiple women” who he feels that Nancy encompasses. He wants her to feel that although she might feel lonely at the time, a part of her is always with him.

For instance, parallelism such as the statement, “whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, hear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe,” gives flavor to the speech by pointing out opposite words within a single sentence but still making it work. A few antimetaboles are used in the speech, such as “let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate” and “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” make the speech more effective by twisting around the order of the words, or syntax, to get people to realize a point. Additionally, what makes Kennedy’s speech so effective is that he can transition from a simple sentence to a more complex, meaningful one in a matter of lines of the speech. In accordance to the diction, the words in his speech (freedom, poverty, devotion, and loyalty) are considered abstract. This is because they all convey a tone of desire and significant qualities held by friends. They strengthen and add more feeling to the speech as well. However, the archaic words, such as writ and forebears, are used in a manner to bring in the old language as well as the new, therefore there is sophistication as well as understanding. Kennedy also uses juxtaposition when he says, “peaceful revolution,” and this adds spice to the speech because of the contradiction of the two powerful words. Yet

On the morning of Janurary 28th 1986, the world witnessed in shock and horror what was known as the Challenger disaster as the space shuttle exploded only 73 seconds after its launch, killing all seven crew members onboard including one teacher Christa McAuliffe. Approximately 17 percent of Americans watched the live broadcast of this launch, many of them schoolchildren including those from McAuliffe’s school. From this grave moment emerged an exigency that demands immediate action by the president. Later on that same day, President Ronald Reagan delivered his Challenger address to the nation.

On January 11, 1989, President Ronald Reagan sat at his desk in the Oval Office to address his nation for the final time. This rhetorical moment was not the first of its kind. Rather, the Farewell Address is a Presidential tradition, started by George Washington, that every president takes part in before leaving office. As a sort of “goodbye” to the nation, the President discusses the accomplishments of his administration while offering pieces of advice for the future. Washington warned against a government with an “unmoderated” political party system (Spalding 75), Ronald Reagan warned of the effects of an America devoid of patriotism.

The first use of metaphors in this speech is, “Yes, let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream” (Reagan 5). The use of this metaphor is referring to everlasting justice and righteousness in what Reagan believes as the spiritual awakening that is about to initiate in the United States of America. Reagan also uses a simile in “The Evil Empire” speech. The simile he uses is, “We know that living in this world means dealing with what philosophers would call the phenomenology of evil or, as theologians would put it, the doctrine of sin” (Reagan 5). The use of this simile in this speech is stated to show that no matter what we do or what happens we will never be able to fully rid the world of evil. It is inevitable. Human kind will always have to face evil. It is just up to us to battle evil the best way that we can.