Michael Andersen Mr. Bolton Public Speaking CIHS 4 April, 2023 Great Speech Analysis: Tear Down This Wall, Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan, in his persuasive speech, “Tear Down This Wall” (1987) challenges Soviet authority to tear down the Berlin Wall and allow West and East Germany to reunite. Reagan supports his statement by using apostrophe, anadiplosis and anaphora. Reagan's purpose was to prod communist authority in East Germany. Reagan addresses those who were watching television in Europe, North America and especially those that attended his speech live at the Berlin Wall. Ronald Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois on February 6, 1911.
Especially, the nuclear freeze campaign which staunchly opposed Reagan’s belief of the necessity for nuclear weapons. Ultimately, the speech and other efforts achieved its intended goal of pushing back the nuclear freeze campaign which eventually died off in the 1980s. The speech was very powerful would have convinced me of Reagan’s belief that the United States needed to continue its modernization of nuclear weapons. The tyrannical Soviet Union had no plans of stopping its nuclear weapons programs. Therefore, for the United States to do so would have put America danger of being unequipped to deal with the threat of nuclear war and would give the enemy an upper hand.
This boundary was built in 1961 and fell in 1990, after a decree was put into place by the East Germans to open the wall in 1989. Ronald Reagan’s speech “Tear Down this Wall” was one of the events that lead to the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War era. This speech took place on the edge of the berlin Wall on the seven hundred fiftieth anniversary of Berlin and was directed towards anyone who was listening and affected by the separation the wall caused. The speech given by Ronald Reagan on June 12, 1987 is memorable because of the use of logos and pathos throughout the entire speech. Ronald Reagan began this famous speech by welcoming each and every person who was watching it either on television or in the crowd.
He wanted to, in his own words, demonstrate to the people that he cared for them and so did Goldwater. It was important for Reagan to bring up the important issues the U.S were going through and giving two solutions, however, one was the solution of Goldwater and the other of Lyndon B. Johnson. Before giving his most famous speech, Reagan correctly outlined two possible paths for the U.S. (A Time for Choosing- Really) One of the paths was for government to have more control, meanwhile the other path was for the states to have more
The first rhetorical skill that Reagan uses is ethos. In the very first sentence he implies his status and authority by stating, “I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans.” By showing us his power as President of the United States (the
Richard Nixon uses the appeals of logos in his speech that seem logical but all they do is mask the face of reality. In his speech Nixon states, “To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. But as president, I must put the interest of America first.” The harsh reality is, Nixon would’ve been impeached, so he decided to resign so he could exit his presidency and still have some pride left. Nixon also said, “I would’ve preferred to carry through to the finish…
Knowing President Reagan’s past is something that is not spoken and written of enough. In the Writing the Life of Ronald Reagan: An Impossible Mission? it helps to bring light to his past and why he was able to use these forms of rhetoric to speak to the harsh realities of the Berlin Wall and its impact on many people around the world. It is important to note that President Reagan “published two (ghostwritten) autobiographies. The first one was published in 1965, just before he entered politics in California; it is entitled Where’s the Rest of Me?”
“There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.” The many examples of logos, ethos and pathos in Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Pearl Harbor address to the Nation” speech was very successful in urging America to declare war on Japan. The purpose of this speech was to persuade Congress to declare war. It was targeted at Congress, as well as to be broadcasted throughout the country. The people of America trusted Roosevelt.
Being personal is a good way to unify people. In this speech President Regan uses a rhetorical canon; which is style, effectively. President Reagan personalizes his speech by talking directly to the families of the fallen heroes. Personalizing the speech was a good choice because it is a more effective way of talking about the situation rather than just talking about the incident an informing what happened. Also his choice of using the words “us” and “we” triggers unity among the nation.
On January 20, 1981, Ronald Reagan gave his “First Inaugural Address” with the United States listening; some people were able to experience firsthand Ronald Reagan’s passion and views for our country, in Front of the Capitol Building, while others tuned in to listen on the momentous occasion. Ronald Reagan sets the stage for his presidency using logos through logical sentences that are meant to bring the audience a better perspective on his point of view. Diction was a key factor in showing Ronald Reagan’s strong sense of nationalism; he chose powerful, hopeful words and phrases that were intended to unify the people. He shows syntax through anaphora, repetition, and parallelism. By using these rhetorical devices, he states key phrases more than once to create an urgency and therefore grab listener’s attention.
Multiple presidents throughout history have presented their Inaugural speeches, but not all have been as influential as a speech presented with complete thought and various rhetorical devices. An inaugural speech or inaugural address is the first speech made by a President at a ceremony; this ceremony is called an Inauguration. In Ronald Reagan's inaugural speech, which was held on January 20th of 1981, he presents many Rhetorical Devices in which engage both to the audience's emotions and provide information throughout his whole speech. Ronald Reagan used many rhetorical devices and got his point across to the people which made his inaugural address nothing short of excellent. The first Rhetorical Device Ronald Reagan used in his Inaugural speech was the use of Pathos.
The speech conducted by former President Ronald Reagan titled “Evil Empire” was to address the National Association of Evangelicals. The speeches main topic is to focus on the evil that is among us. Former President Reagan conducted this speech at the time Congress was debating on a resolution for nuclear freeze. The speech’s main point is to inform and give hope to Christians to make sure America stays a free and great country.
All in all, Reagan uses logos which he logically explained to tell why the wall should be brought down; it is due to the hope of spreading freedom by knocking down the Wall of Berlin, which ultimately defends his thesis. Conclusively, Ronald Reagan uses two rhetorical devices, ethos and logos in his speech to persuade
The rhetorical elements, logos and pathos, included in Ronald Reagan’s speech, “ Tear Down This Wall” assist Reagan and his words to convince Gorbachev, along with the people of Berlin, that the wall between eastern and western Berlin must be dismantled. Logos is an appeal to logic, or a way of persuading an audience by reason. Reagan provides details of how other countries have reached a state of freedom, at the same time have maintained a strong financial background. In “Tear Down This Wall” logos is used to show that countries who are not separated by a wall are thriving economically. For example, Reagan explained, “in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history.”
There’s only an up or down: man’s old --old aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism.” This shows his ethics and the passion he has when he presents his speech. Reagan stated,”Today, 37 cents out of every dollar earned in the country is the tax collector’s share,” He also included,”We’ve raised our debt limit three times in the last twelve months, and now our national debt is one and a half times bigger than all the combined debts of all the nations of the world.” Reagan shows us that he knows about the numbers and logistics of our nation which is logos. Since he knows specific numbers, more people will listen to what he is trying to
