Ethos In Ronald Reagan's Speech

Precious Oledimma
Mrs. Grillo
10H:2
14 April 2023
Reagan’s Rhetorically Effective Speech
Fun fact about Ronald Reagan, his acting resume was pretty long! Could be why he never fails to make fabulous and effective speeches that please his audiences. The speech that will be analyzed is Ronald Reagean showing himself at the Annual Convention of the National Association of Evangelicals. His audience are the Florida congressional delegation along with Senator Hawkins, andReverend Clergy. Throughout the majority of this speech, you can notice the multiple emotional aspects being put together to make a sentimental speech. Reagan uses very effective pathos, and some of ethos, which pulls everything together as a product of the content of his speech.

He uses the small ethos to motivate the audience to combat the evil things of the world. Furthermore, he relates to the audience and connects with them, then pushes them into what he thinks they should do. Reagan also uses a bit of bandwagon in his speech, which, in addition, helps give the “push” that some of the audience might need. An example of bandwagon within the speech would be this: “There is sin and evil in the world, and we’re enjoined by Scripture and the Lord Jesus to oppose it with all our might. Our nation, too, has a legacy of evil with which it must deal. The glory of this land has been its capacity for transcending the moral evils of our past. For example, the long struggle minority citizens for equal rights, once a source of disunity and civil war is now a point of pride for all Americans. We must never go back.” (Reagan). This would be considered bandwagon in Reagan’s speech as he mentioned how evil keeps moving from the past to our present, surpassing great lengths of evil. Specifically speaking, it is how evil is just being passed on from one generation to the next and how eager people are to pick up on it without seeing anything wrong with what they do. Author Micheal Lerner had said that evil is defined as the inability to see humanity in others, basically being the cause of different forms of hatred such as racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia. This adds onto the bandwagon, because when one powerful person or few powerful people start to hate, they can easily bring others to certain groups as well. Earlier, it was mentioned that the use of ethos was present in this speech. He used ethos to empower and motivate his audience into conquering the evil that the Earth contains. An example of what I just explained would be this: “I know you’ve been horrified, as have I, by the resurgence of some hate groups preaching bigotry and prejudice. Use the