After examining the speeches from past Presidents Ronald Reagan and Richard M. Nixon, and the current president, Barack Obama. You can see the resemblance and the differences in their point of views for the future of America. Comparing President Richard M. Nixon’s first inaugural speech, Reagan’s Speech at the Republican National Convention in 1988, and Obama’s “Remarks of President Barack Obama State of the Union Address”, you can see the ways they think alike from their own perspective. Though they are attempting to make America the perfect nation, their approach and ideas differ in many ways.
In President Richard M. Nixon’s excerpt from his first inaugural speech “Working Together For a Better Future”, President Richard M. Nixon depicts
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Another way in which he details how important ordinary American citizens are to this country is in paragraph four, where he mentions that America was put where it was to be found “by special people from every corner of the world who had that extra love for freedom that prompted them to leave their homeland and come to this land to make it a brilliant light beam of freedom to the world.” In this quote, Reagan is speaking about how every American chose to come here for freedom, and that they have shaped it into what it is now. He believes it is an almost perfect nation and it can be one that holds “decency, tolerance, generosity, honesty, courage, common sense, fairness, and piety.” This quote demonstrates everything Reagan wants and believes it can be, connecting the past to the …show more content…
While listing his accomplishments, such as passing a budget and making tax cuts permanent for working families, he lists the things he has not yet accomplished, and future ideas to perfect America. Obama states his hopes for “Fixing a broken immigration system. Protecting our kids from gun violence. Equal pay for equal work. Paid leave, and raising the minimum wage.” These are all things he will persevere through to make happen, even after his time as president is finished. While living in a time of change that’s reshaping the way we live, the way we work, our planet, our place in the world, it’s our duty to make change work for us, as the pace of change only continues to accelerate. The most significant questions Obama asks are “First, how do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy? How do we make technology work for us, and not against us -- especially when it comes to solving urgent challenges like climate change? How do we keep America safe and lead the world without becoming its officer? How can we make our politics reflect what’s best in us, and not what’s worst?“ But the only solution is Americans. In Obama’s perspective, the importance of being an active American will benefit our country. “Our collective futures depends on your willingness to uphold your
The power to grant pardons to federal offenses, the power to command the world’s strongest armed forces, and all the privileges of executive power are vested in one man: the President of the United States. The president’s role and influence among American citizens is highly criticized and often underappreciated due to the difficult decisions and sacrifices required in maintaining the greatest nation. However, an external presence, especially one that has led a nation before, is able to comprehend and recognize the multitude of accomplishments despite a handful of shortcomings. Thus Margaret Thatcher, a former British prime minister and close acquaintance to President Ronald Reagan, is able to accurately praise and enlighten the role of Reagan
On January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy gave his inaugural address to the public. His presidency has left an immense impact on the United States, which is shown through the three sources given. These sources, “ Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961”, “Inside Kennedy’s Inauguration, 50 Years On”, and the “Inauguration of John F. Kennedy”, are able to effectively convey the legacy of John F. Kennedy through diction and the audience’s mood.
In President Harry S. Truman 's State of the Union address of 1948, he calls the American people to action in order to improve the issues of their time. President Truman builds his argument by using a collective tone and syntax to build a sense of unification as well as using different organizational methods in order to appeal to the American public 's call to action. Throughout his speech, President Truman uses grandiose collective diction and repetitive syntax in order to further unify the nation and to ingrain the ideals of nationalism to further strengthen his argument. Truman 's unrelenting use of "us", "our", and "we" sets up a communal and collective tone throughout the passage.
When hearing George Washington’s Farewell Address for the first time it is easy to understand it is well written and the substance is things he really felt is important. However once the time is spent relating his speech to todays times and problems the magnitude of his word is really understood. Almost 250 years later and 44 more presidents, George Washington’s thoughts still apply perfectly to the current state of the U.S. So much has change sense he gave this address but unity, Stoping the divide of political parties, morality, and avoiding entangling
In Obama’s “ A More Perfect Union” speech he uses rhetorical strategies. Obama is acknowledging the current state of America, the good and the bad and how we could all help to make it better. He uses repetition, allusion, and many more to convince the American people that if they want a better America for everyone to vote for
Reagan sets America on a higher level than any other country when he says, “Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on earth.” He then goes on to add, “We will again be the exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope for those who do not now have freedom.” These hopeful words such as freedom and dignity set America apart from the rest of the world. Ronald Reagan is tactfully creating a sense of nationalism and unification in his audience, giving them a sense of pride. People want to preserve and remake America in this way, because believing that we have more freedom and more opportunities than others, makes us
In his remarkable “Berlin Wall Speech”, Ronald Reagan persuasively applies arguments based on integrity to demonstrate his credibility as a winner of democracy, assertions based on rationale to justify his invocation, and pleas to emotion to strengthen his association to the ethics of Berliners and to liberty, in his ple on Gorbachev to demolish the “Berlin Wall”, advance harmony, and encourage freedom in Berlin. The inauguration of Ronald Reagan’s speech is typified by his appeals to the social and cultural principles of Berliners, their lasting impression of association to Americans, and their understanding of Reagan’s justification of equality, all of which are intended to acquire the audience’s belief. Reagan applies ethos in legislating his character as a speaker when he declares it is his “...duty to
Analyzing Challenger’s Address Delivered on January 28, 1986, Ronald Reagan’s speech addressing the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster was a plausible proof of the possibility to communicate various ideas during a tough situation effectively and efficiently. In a speech that lasted less than five minutes, Ronald Reagan managed to express his thoughts verbally and attempt to persuade his audience through an eulogy, a speech characterized by its epideictic occassion, that had been infused with a deliberative content that did not conflict with the core of the speech. Before one can analyze the details of Ronald Reagan’s speech, understanding the purpose behind the creation of the speech might be useful for understanding the context of the speech as a whole. Based on the speech how it relates to common speech purposes
On August 8th, 1974 at exactly 9:01 pm, Richard Nixon--former President-- gave a speech that would affect both United States history and the american people. Richard Nixon’s argument and claim lay within the textual aspects, in other words, his tone, attitude, and the strategic ways of presenting to his audience. In this historical speech, Richard Nixon broadcasted his character, past decisions, and future advice to the people of the United States in order to justify his resignation from the presidential office. The rhetorical stylistic tools were effective and instrumental in backing up the argument. Recognition of audience was important, because it will determine his attitude and tone, which was innocence.
President Dwight Eisenhower was a decorated war veteran in world war 2 before he became president of the United States. In January of 1953 president Eisenhower gave his first inaugural address to the citizens of the United States. Two foreign and two domestic policies will be analyzed in this paper. The policies were talked about in the inaugural address. This will show president Eisenhower's policy plans for his first four years in office.
Seventy three seconds into its flight, the space shuttle Challenger exploded, killing all seven passengers on board, including Christa McAuliffe, who was to be the first civilian in space. This was to be the Challenger’s tenth mission and, sadly, it turned out to be its final one as well. Following an investigation called for by President Reagan, it was determined that the crash was ultimately caused by two rubber O-Rings, designed to separate the rocket boosters, that failed due to cold temperatures on the morning of the launch (“Challenger Disaster”). In his address to the nation on January 28, 1968, President Reagan uses allusion, pathos, and tone to comfort the audience after the catastrophic events.
The 44th and first African American President, Barack Obama, in his Inaugural Address, promotes a call to action. Obama’s purpose is to express his gratitude for his opportunity to become president and discuss his plans for economic advancement. In order to reach the American people of the U.S., Obama adopts a serious and thought-provoking tone to urge them to support his plans for advancement. During this time of economic crisis, Obama clearly conveys to the American people through his use of metaphor, allusion, and anaphora, that it is time to take a stand and make a change in America.
“Your goal can be something simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book,” says the President. As a student, he wants them to commit to it and work at it despise the failures they may experience. Obama wants the failures to teach the students rather than define them. As the President of the United States, Barack Obama has also failed many times in his life in which he sees that led to his success. As a student myself, I set goals for myself such as sustaining a 3.5 GPA and staying focused as much as I can in the classroom.
Barack Obama’s win for President in 2009 was a historical moment for the United States. His inaugural speech was much anticipated, because this was going to set the tone for his presidency. His speech told the American people that improving the economy is one of his priorities, but there were also other areas he would like to improve like healthcare and the education system. This was a speech that was meant to persuade the American public to take action for them to rise as a nation again, and for them to put their trust into him. His message addressed a couple of specific points like his gratefulness to the American people, the different crises America is facing, how America will overcome these crises, replying to his cynics, addressing the world, and then he reminded America again to be brave like they’ve always been to overcome the hard times (5 Speechwriting Lessons from Obama's Inaugural Speech, (n.d.).
Rhetorical Analysis of Obama’s Victory Speech Barack Obama was re-elected as the president of the US on November 6, 2012 from Chicago, Illinois. This paper will throw light and analyse various elements Barrack Obama is using to portray his political ideology to audiences through his speech. I intend to focus on the rhetorical effects of the speech. By using various form of rhetorical tools such as Tautology or Anaphora, President Obama gives a speech which focuses on the idea of American life such as the American dream, American promise and the future.