Essay about Rhetorical Analysis: “the Challenger Address”

Imagine telling millions of people that seven United States citizens were killed in a fatal accident that could have easily been prevented. On January 28, 1986, Ronald Reagan made an address to the nation over the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in the oval office. At 11:38 am on a chilly Saturday morning the shuttle Challenger set out for its adventure for space. No one knew that the lives of Americans nationwide would change dramatically in just one minute. The shuttle exploded at 11:39 am, ending the lives of seven brave men and women. Later that evening, Ronald Reagan made an address to the nation over the tragic event. Ronald Reagan employs the rhetorical appeals of pathos and ethos, combined with a heavy hearted tone to show sympathy for the Challenger accident.

Reagan had commenced his speech with the use of Pathos, The day Reagan had given his speech, he proclaimed that it was a day of “mourning” and “remembering” (1). Regan has put into recognition of the tragedy that recently took place, which was the explosion of the Challenger. Not only that the families of the astronauts were victimized are experiencing the pain, but the whole nation as a whole for it was a national loss. The country has lost a group of people in order to find new discoveries for their country due to a failure of a shuttle. Thus,

He justifies the importance of the space program by stating, “It’s hard to dazzle us. But for the past 25 years the United States space program has been doing just that.” The space program is justified by that statement because it shows the space program has helped the U.S. learn so much more about, not only the world we live in, but the universe we live in. He goes onto state “we’ve only just begun.” This also justifies the space program by showing, if we’ve already learned this much already, there’s no limit to what we can learn. He then establishes logos by calling the Challenger Seven “pioneers” and space is still a frontier waiting to be explored.This also shows the crew knew the risk, and their sacrifice is still important, and we should commemorate them by continuing space

He then uses logos to state cold, solid facts that talks about the west’s economic success, which was difficult to achieve after the war. “In the 1950s, Khrushchev predicted: “We will bury you.” But in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history.” He then continues by adhering to the west’s success by deliberately listing their accomplishments. In addition, Reagan makes several claims to pathos. His emotional and moral principles do balance his rhetoric. His relationship with his audience was positive by using words such as “we” and “our” throughout the speech. He makes sure that he and the American people are together with the Berliners to help bring unite Germany once again and to end Soviet control. Most importantly, he emphasizes hope towards the East, “We in the West stand ready to cooperate with the East to promote true openness, to break down barriers that separate people, to create a safe, freer world.” He was able to reach to

Introduction: Imagine watching a space shuttle take off and being really excited and then BAM- EXPLOSION. On live TV, millions of viewers saw the explosion take place and the death of seven astronauts. The world was in mourning and President Ronald Reagan was the only one who could give the nation comfort. During our time in this course, we have learned a lot about how to structure a speech to maximize its effects. As a class, we can learn a lot about how to give a great speech from Reagan’s Challenger address. President Reagan analyzed the needs of his audience and used strong speech techniques and stylistic devices to provide comfort to a grieving nation and give hope for a better future.

To effectively get his point across, Reagan manages to weave the rhetoric device Pathos throughout his speech. He personalizes it by referencing to himself that, "Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the Challenger shuttle" (4). By doing this, he was able to connect to everyone. It reminds the people watching that the president is simply a human being and this topic is one that every single person has dealt with: loss. Losing someone or something that has importance to you, can change us in ways that are sometimes incomprehensible, but Reagan does a gracious job of putting those catastrophic feelings into words for all to understand. Moreover, he uses Ethos to encourage the nation to not give up; to keep fighting for what you

Imagine that anxious feeling you get when you are about to give a speech. You are shaking, sweating, nervous, and despite the countless hours of preparation, you still are getting worked up over presenting to your class. Now, imagine finding out at the last moment that you prepared your speech for the wrong topic and are forced to present a new speech, with little to no preparation at all. This is a situation Ronald Reagan faced (to a much extremer extent) in his famous “White House Address to the Nation,” speech on January 28th, 1986, following the tragic results of the Challenger disaster.

The famous speech spoken by Robert F. Kennedy in Indianapolis, bearing the news of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., given to a crowd of mostly black people, is a great example of the humanistic speech style of Robert F. Kennedy. Although a short speech, Kennedy’s words are heartfelt and timeless. Through rhetorical devices it is known that Kennedy was a clever, glowing public moderator who used his time at the podium not only to commemorate a life, but also build support for his own presidential campaign. I found that Kennedy uses many different types of rhetorical devices in his speech such as: anaphora, antithesis, epistrophe, pathos, logos, and ethos.

Layton begins his essay describing what engineering is; that its work is in the marketplace rather than in a laboratory. He then states the “engineer’s dilemma” is based on bureaucracy, not capitalism. Engineers are called the “original organization man,” and are important to large businesses, but a social revolution amongst them would not end their terms of marginality. Moving on, Layton then goes over engineering and its history in America.

Kennedy played a major role in creating NASA and winning the Space Race. He persuaded Congress to fund space exploration which lead to the United States winning the Space Race and eventually NASA made many life changing discoveries that contributed so much knowledge and wisdom to science. Now we have a much better grasp on the outer space and the unknown. On September 12, 1962 at the Rice Stadium, John F. Kennedy delivered a speech that ignited and generated new-found excitement in the American people. Those who were previously against the funding of space exploration were now touched by Kennedy’s speech and were determined to discover more about outer space. In his speech Kennedy quoted George Mallory, a famous mountaineer. “Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, "Because it is there. "Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there.” Kennedy’s determination and leadership excited and interested the American people. Now there were not as many people against space

Reagan’s reliable ethos and strong logos gives acceptance to the nation. Reagan’s well known appeal for his speech was the credibility he gives the space program and the seven astronauts. “I wanted to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA or who worked on this mission and tell them: ‘Your dedication and professionalism have moved an impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it’ “ (6). His words gives credit to the space program for all their hard work they put to make the space program a growing journey. The space program is helping the future. “We don’t hide our space program. We don’t keep secrets and cover things up” (6). Reagan represents credibility to the space program for being

Ronald Reagan’s speech “Evil Empire” was given in front of the National Convention of Evangelicals on March 8, 1983. The National Convention of Evangelicals was a big enough platform for Reagan to convey his message to the citizens of the United States and the world. Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, served his presidency during the reign of the Soviet Union. Reagan established his credibility throughout the speech, through quoting many different individuals such as, C.S. Lewis, Abraham Lincoln, and many others. Along with using quotes, Reagan also used statistics and facts to back up his messages. Reagan’s objective was to inform and persuade not only the citizens of the United States, but the rest of the world, about the cruel ideologies of the Soviet Union, abortion, and infanticide.

Exploration and innovation are an innate part of America today, yet some of the public during the early 1960s was opposed to joining the space race which lead America into a great technological era. After proposing a plan to Congress to increase the budget for space exploration, Harvard graduate and President John F. Kennedy addressed the American people from Rice University in Houston, Texas in 1962 to arouse support for the continuation of space exploration and increasing funding for NASA (Freidel and Sidey). In his revered speech, “We choose to go to the moon,” he ambitiously proclaimed the need for American exploration and the maintenance of leadership in all aspects of innovation. Kennedy reminds his audience space must be “used

Margaret Lazarus Dean’s novel, Leaving Orbit, revolves around the thought provoking question: What does it mean that a spacefaring nation won't be going to space anymore? However, the question could be transformed to ask how this nation has been impacted by the era of space exploration. While tremendous amounts of scientific information has been gained, the effects on society has transformed the lives of generations. Growing up in a spacefaring nation has allowed citizens to develop a sense of pride in America’s accomplishments while inspiring children to work hard to achieve their goals.

It is difficult to hold the attention of a crowd without consistently being relative. This speech is relevant to the audience in front of him, and they are dangling on by every word that Reagan is professing. It is evident that Reagan takes pleasure in being able to speak his mind and run wild with it, “but unlike most television programs, the performer hasn 't been provided with a script. As a matter of fact, I have been permitted to choose my own words and discuss my own ideas regarding the choice that we face in the