Elizabeth David Advanced Technical Communications: Paper Assignment #1 February 27, 2012 On January 11, 1989 President Ronald Reagan gave his Farewell Address to the Nation from the Oval Office in The White House. The speech was broadcast live on nationwide radio and television. He had served our country for 8 years and now it was time for George Bush to take office. He used his 34th and final speech as president to not only bid the nation farewell but also to give thanks to the American people. He shares with America his experience as the U.S President and ensures that he could not have made the changes he made without the nation’s help. The speech is deliberative. His goal is to be sure to persuade the people that America is a …show more content…
Most of the appeal in this speech is to pathos. Very early on in his speech Reagan states, “And so many times I wanted to stop and reach out from behind the glass, and connect. Well maybe I can do a little of that tonight”. This is the beginning of his regard to pathos. With this statement he is trying to make a connection with the people which he did a phenomenal job of doing so. He uses the term “we” throughout the speech because he wants to be sure that the people know and understand that he has served this country for them. Reagan is also sure to make the people apart of his serving time. “I’ve been asked if I have any regrets. Well I do. The deficit is one”, this is another example of Reagan stepping out of his President shoes and admitting that there were mistakes that were made during his term. His intentions are to simply make the American people proud to be Americans. In regard to ethos, he talks about how the American tradition is the first in the history of the mankind where we “truly reversed the course of government.” The purpose of government is not to tell people what to do and “tell the people what their privileges are.” Rather, it is the people who tell the government what to do, including “where it should go, and by what route, and how fast.” This is because we are free. The recognition of this principle was, Reagan said, “the underlying basis for everything I’ve tried to do these past eight years.” Of all the
Furthermore, aside from organization and pathos, Reagan uses repetition of an allusion. In paragraph 23, Reagan uses repetition, but he repeats an allusion to the preamble of the Constitution. He says, “‘We the people.’ ‘We the people’ tell the government what to do, it doesn’t tell us. ‘We the people’ are the driver, the government is the car…. ‘We the people’ are free.” The preamble begins as so, “We the people of the United States, to form a more perfect union…” (Baltzell, George W.). Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan made many economic decisions that supported his beliefs in Social Darwinism throughout his presidency. Social Darwinism is considered to be the ideas of struggle for existence and “survival of the fittest,” a term coined by Herbert Spencer in order to justify social policies. Over time the individuals with superior biological characteristics will dominate populations that this super species possessed. Couples who possessed these special qualities would then pass them down to their offspring, creating an elite generation in the modern world. Dominic Sandbrook the author of Mad as Hell, The Crisis of the 1970s and the Rise of
“There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect” (Reagan 's State of the Union, n.d.). Ronald Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and took office during a time of economic crisis, a disorderly foreign policy, and a decline in national morale. When Reagan left office 8 years later, the economic crisis was over, foreign policy was at an all time high and national morale had been restored. In this essay I will illustrate how President Reagan was both a visionary leader and ethical leader in the way he conducted himself throughout his Presidency. I will demonstrate how he used the visionary leadership traits of a
At the end of the Carter presidency, the nation’s idealistic dreams of the 60’s was worn down by inflation, foreign policy turmoil and rising crime rate, the nation was troubled by the late 70’s. Due to this many Americans were ready to embrace a new conservatism in social, economic and political life in the 80’s. In the 1980 bid for President, Reagan won the Republican nomination after two failed attempts in 1968 and 1976. Although Ronald Reagan once held Democratic views, he grew more conservative and he official took the side of the Republicans in the 1960’s. Reagans domestic views were the change Americans were looking for and Reagan, along with his running mate George H.W Bush, won the 1980 election. In his 1981 inauguration,
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.
Ronald Reagan “We Will Be a City upon a Hill” is a speech in which he gives an uplifting as well as an upbeat opinion about the United States. Anyone that was born before about 1983 will remember Ronald Reagan as the President that brought about an end to major communistic rule in Europe as well as being credited with bringing down the Berlin Wall. Reagan was about as “American” a President as we have ever had. He had a great love and pride for the United States as well as democracy and the freedoms that we have in this nation.
What does it take to stand up against politicians? To fight for what you believe in and what you think would benefit the United States of America? It takes courage. Ronald Reagan has that courage, not only did he stay true to his beliefs and ideas, he accomplished them within his presidency. He believed people should be less dependent on their government. Reagan asked citizens to "Begin an era of national renewal" during his inaugural address. He also declared, "Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." These were not popular ideas among some politicians, but that did not sway the USA's fortieth president.
President Reagan was a man with strong beliefs that made his statements believable and logical. He believed that democracy was the way to go and communism was the root of all evil. In Philip Kostka's piece, he addresses, “ The president presents us with the basic idea that freedom is the natural state of man, and that one reaches his fullest potential under freedom. In contrast, totalitarianism holds individuals back,keeps one from doing things that he
President Ronald Reagan’s speech “A Time for Choosing” was my selection for this assignment. Prior to his presidential election, Ronald Reagan was catapulted forward in his career by his motivational speech later titled by some simply as “The Speech”. At the time, Regan had recently changed from a long-standing Democrat to a Republican. Although his speech was unable to prevent President Lyndon Johnson’s ultimate win, it was very memorable due to the emotionally powerful and deeply moving presentation. Creating an unknown, yet powerful pull for his inevitable position as President. By conveying his points with such an emotional drive, “A Time for Choosing” became one of the most important speeches of his career. The soon to be President delivered this speech with strong words many Americans were not prepared to hear but came to accept. A speech that created many questions and provided many answers managed to express a level of emotion that seemed urgently calm. As one of President Reagans greatest speeches “A Time for Change” provided the world with a preview of a President in the making.
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.
President Reagan read his speech in public with so much care for the people and their families. Some examples that shows that he cares is that in the first paragraph he says “We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country”. This part of speech says a lot because he is referring to that the deaths of the astronauts has not been hard on the families but also on the country. President Reagan wants the audience and the crowd watching to feel the pain and also the astronauts were brave enough to go up in mission without caring about the consequences.
Throughout his speech Reagan uses examples after examples of how other countries are doing well with freedom, he shows how other countries are doing with the right of freedom and how they are doing extremely well, "Japan rose from ruin to become an economic giant. Italy, France, Belgium-virtually every nation in Western Europe saw political and economic rebirth ; the European Community was founded"(40-41). This shows that Reagan strongly believes that being a Giant economy is a positive thing. This is important because he tries to give facts to the people of berlin that freedom is necessary. Ronald Reagan uses Ethos "We come to Berlin, we American presidents, because it's our duty to speak, in this place, of freedom"(5). This shows that Reagan is telling the people of berlin that he comes here to give back berlin their freedom and tear down the wall that divides the east from the west. This is important because Reagan is from the U.S and he took time out of his way to help out another country to get there freedom
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
I feel that the substance and context of Reagan’s speech were eloquently put. Reagan states that "nothing ends here" the space shuttle program will continue. President Reagan came across with certainty, respect, gratitude and compassion. Reagan also appeared strong but comforting. Reagan only had a short period of time to prepare for the speech which to me only solidifies his
The president also spent a majority of both speeches talking about his view of government, specifically the relationship between the individual citizen and government and the responsibility of centralized government’s. In his “First Inaugural Address” President Reagan declared, “Our Government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed” (Reagan). 17 years prior in “A Time for Choosing” Ronald Reagan said essentially the same thing, “And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except that sovereign people is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man’s relation to man” (Reagan). Here, Reagan is affirming and then