Ronald Reagan: Challenger Speech Essay

The purpose of Reagan's address was to inspire the people to revitalize the American government and rebuild the economy. Reagan emphasizes the importance of returning power to the people, and he motivates the people to take part in improving the economy by calling the everyday working man an "American hero." Reagan creates the argument that a better future is in the hands of the people, not in the hands of the federal government. He specifies that the people are the everyday heroes that keep the economy alive. Reagan builds unity and a sense of togetherness in the American people through the use of rhetorical strategies like Kairos, anaphora, and rhetorical questions. He also drives his argument home by directly addressing the people, and by

Reagan spoke with passion and sorrow. But he showed an appreciation and respect for those who fought. He uses the word “we” very often, which unites the people and shows union. In his speech he uses the word we 19 times to show the bond between us as a people, and as a nation. He uses rhetorical questions asking why they served and fought till their last breath. “You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet, you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief; it was loyalty and love.”(Reagan). He answers his questions with love and loyalty for their families and their country. Reagan uses this in his speech to make the audience think deeply about why the men did what they did and

Throughout his Farewell Address, Reagan employs syntax to advance his purpose of the unification of America, when he says “We’ve got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom-freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It’s fragile; it needs protection.” he repeats the word freedom many times, which invokes the feeling of pride and patriotism to the audience and expresses that America is a very prominent symbol of freedom, people from all around the world come to America because when they think of America, they think of total freedom. Reagan also emphasizes how Americans need to teach their children of the pride and spirit of America, for the betterment of America’s future society. Moreover, points out three particular freedoms America provides, Freedom of

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.

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” was effective, because he gave personal examples to capture the audiences’ attention, and gave humor to a tough subject.

On the morning of January 28th, 1986, Americans watched in shock and horror as the space shuttle Challenger exploded only 74 seconds after its launch, killing all seven crew members on board including a high school teacher Christa McAuliffe. Thousands, including families of the crew and schoolchildren

Ronald Reagan was an inspirational speaker who planted hope in the minds of Americans through his speeches. He echoed throughout the streets of this democracy what true revolutionary ideas were. His ideas and beliefs rang true within the hearts of our fellow country-men as proven by his landslide second term victory. One of his most famous speeches, his First Inaugural Address, was spoken when he won the race for Presidency in 1980. President Reagan wanted to inspire the American people and inform them of how he planned to run the United States of America. He was not only speaking to his fellow citizens, but

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

Ronald Reagan was a professional actor and a brilliant orator. Researchers in the field of psychohistory, who studied the psychological Reagan's portrait, observed that he was not a successful politician, although a consummate orator. Reagan went to American history as one of the most beloved presidents. This speech about the shuttle tragedy only confirms this statement.

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.

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.

As a result, Reagan’s popularity slipped from 67 percent to 46 percent in less than a week (Mayer). By the time, it was the low point of the Reagan presidency (157, Ehrman) Add to this situation, the failure of space program led to negative ethos of Reagan in public’s mind. President Reagan understood this situation and tried to calm the hostilities by delivering the speech sincerely.

On the icy morning of January 28, 1986, seven brave people boarded the Challenger space shuttle. All of America sat around their televisions watching and waiting for the space shuttle to finally lift off. One of the seven people aboard this shuttle was Christa McAuliffe, a teacher in the Teachers in Space program and would have been the first civilian to go into space. Her students were invited to come to NASA and watch. The engines roar sounded loudly and the shuttle finally left the ground. It was an illuminating sight to see, until a flame started at the base of the shuttle. The space shuttle caught on fire what seemed like instantly, and exploded within seconds. Due to this tragedy, the NASA space program has made several improvements to prevent tragedies like this one from ever happening again (Carreau). NASA may have made improvements, but the horrifying memory of this disaster will be embedded in the minds of the people of America and Christa 's class for the rest of their lives.

One of the greatest tragedies in history occurred on January 8, 1986. Shortly after it was launched, the space shuttle Challenger exploded, killing seven astronauts, including Christa McAuliffe, a New Hampshire schoolteacher chosen to be the first teacher in space (“Challenger Disaster, n.d.). The explosion was caused by a failure of the O-rings of the solid rocket boosters. The O-rings were unable to seat properly, causing the leaking of hot combustion gases, which burnt through the external fuel tank. The malfunction was not any one person’s or organization’s fault; it was caused by many factors including the decision to launch despite the cold weather, the poor communication between management levels of the National Aeronautics and