Ronald Reagan's Eulogy: Former Prime Minister Thatcher

After Ronald Reagan’s death in 2004 many people mourned his loss. Not only did the American people feel the weight of his loss but so did people from around the world like former Prime Minister Thatcher. In her heartfelt eulogy, Thatcher addresses and honors many of Ronald Reagan’s accomplishments while he was still in office. In Thatcher's eulogy to the American people following Ronald Reagan’s death, former Prime Minister Thatcher is able to effectively honor the humble president by appealing to the audiences pathos, her ability to establish ethos, and diction.
With this in mind, Thatcher’s ability to quickly and effectively appeal to the audience pathos is one strategy she uses to convey her message. From the beginning of the eulogy, Thatcher uses first-person pronouns like “we” and “I”. These pronouns show the American people that she does not believe she is above them but believes she is their equal. Significantly, she uses the majority of these pronouns in her first sentence when she says, “We have lost

Throughout the entire eulogy, Thatcher switches from speaking using colloquialism to speaking didactically. For example, she speaks didactically when she says, “ Others saw only limits to growth. He transformed a stagnant economy into an engine of opportunity” (lines 33-34). In this quote, she is explaining how Reagan refused to let obstacles get in his way. Instead, it fueled him to come up with reforms to aid the American people because he felt morally obligated. Examples of colloquialisms in her eulogy would be the use of the word “Ronnie” and “ old man” to describe Reagan. When she uses colloquialism in her eulogy, it switches the mood of her speech from somber to lively because it was bound to get a laugh out of people in the audience. Overall, her control of diction demonstrates her ability to understand the purpose of her speech which is to remember Reagan in a good