Ronald Reagan's Speech: Addressing The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster

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. In my opinion this helps comfort the families by informing them that we all stand with them One example of this is when Reagan says “But we feel the loss” in the fourth paragraph. Also Reagan strays away from the negative aspect of the disaster. The focus of staying positive provides a sense of purpose. Regan explains how the “seven” was full of courage and that they died doing what they

Reagan opens his tribute to the Challenger astronauts by recognizing that this accident delayed his State of the Union address and by showing the pain of him and his wife’s grief. He appeal to the emotions of the listeners by expressing that “today is a day for mourning and remembering” (Reagan, 1986), that he and his wife are “pained to the core” (Reagan, 1986), and that we all know that this accident is “truly a national loss” (Reagan, 1986). He brings us together in this sorrowful time in order to remember those who died because “We mourn seven heroes” (Reagan, 1986) and “We mourn their loss as a nation together” (Reagan, 1986). The President’s loss of emotions creates an assuring tone that

As well, figurative language in his speech showed the passion and bravery the astronauts had. “As they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of god’” (8). His use of personification justifies to all citizens that the journey that turned into a disaster was not their last. It was only the beginning for them. “In his life time the great frontier were the oceans” (7). The symbolism expresses the passion Drake had for traveling on the sea. Which expresses the message to the nation that the seven astronauts passion was to seek adventures like the one they were loss on. Reagan’s use of rhetorical tools creates an optimistic thought to the all citizens that the seven astronauts passion and bravery has just started their

His inclusion of analogies and emotional appeals, combined with his strong sense of authority, brings his arguments into focus and gives them a punch. His power in delivering this speech quite possibly kept America looking towards the stars and propelled them into the next age of space exploration. President Reagan’s speech serves as a touching conclusion to a tragic event. Despite the terrible catastrophe, Reagan’s four-minute speech provided closure on the one-minute tragedy whose impact will be felt for

On February 1, 2008, the Columbia Space Shuttle disintegrated while re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in the fatalities of all seven crew members. The families of these members, as well as all of America, were struck with anguish and heartbreak. With these feelings, the nation looked for a leader to guide them with understanding and authority. In his “The Space Shuttle Columbia Tragedy” speech to the nation, George W. Bush utilized diction and tone, organization, and rhetorical appeals in order to accomplish his purpose of soothing a mourning nation while anticipating the future.

Reagan begins his speech with a religious joke, though seemingly just an ice breaker, this is how Reagan beings his pathos and ethos appeal. The joke is based on the idea that there are few politicians that go to heaven, though not literally implied, Reagan makes the connection of himself with the politician that went to heaven. This subtle joke appeals to pathos and ethos, people think that he’s moral and belongs in heaven and also gives him the credibility of someone who has done good and belongs in heaven. This is also an endorsement of Christianity specifically, the largest and most prominent

In Ronald Reagan`s speech, ethos and logos are two rhetorical devices using either exquisite knowledge and integrity or logicality to persuade his audience of knocking the Wall of Berlin down. Throughout Reagan`s speech, ethos is a rhetorical device in which he uses to demonstrate and express his knowledge, and show integrity to those listening. Subsequently, this technique is what convinces the author of the continuous idea of knocking down the Wall of Berlin; overall, knocking down the wall would no longer separate Europe, and would spread the freedom between East and West Berlin. Ronald states, “President von Weizsacker has said, ‘The German question is open as long as the Brandenburg Gate is closed,’ Today I

The feeling of wariness for those in politics was not always existent; although only three presidents have faced impeachment charger, only one president has left office. Richard Nixon was the thirty seventh president of the United States, a man in the public eye for many years as both a U.S. representative and Senator (“Richard”), well educated and around sixty when he resigned from the position as president. On the evening of August 8, 1974, Nixon delivered his resignation speech over a public broadcast from his Oval Office to the people of the United States. The former president gave this speech to inform the nation of the upcoming changing president; he also voiced his hopes for the country in future affairs, especially the foreign policies

In his emotionally inspiring speech, “Shuttle Challenger Address,” Ronald Reagan expresses his deepest condolences to the people most affected by the Challenger accident. He advances his speech with a gentle yet strong willed facade in order to inspire the future generations of astronauts to not let this tragedy affect their future endeavors. Raegen then briefly puts his presidential status aside in order to further express the depth of his pain, not only at a presidential level, but as an American citizen concerned for the well being of his country. Raegen applies different types of rhetorical devices in order to emotionally appeal to the people most affected by the accident, while at the same time encourage the general public to not let this

Margaret Thatcher appeals to not only Americans but others who are grieving the loss of Reagan through the use of informal tone and Thatcher creates a sense of relief and praise for the deceased. Thatcher goes on to highlight Reagan’s accomplishments by applying shining diction; for example “cheerful and invigoration…”, “lightness of spirit”,

Although Ronald Reagan’s speech about the Challenger explosion was given during a time of great sorrow, the speech was successful for being a way to unite the country as one to deal with the loss as a whole, and to bear the weight of such a horrific tragedy together. With the Challenger disaster being the first one of the space program to have deaths in flight, the United States was completely shocked by the misfortune of the shuttle. Ronald Reagan’s speech on the disaster was a way to have the nation not blame the space program for the deaths of the astronauts, but a way to have the nation face the disaster with strength and push through the event with more courage than before and to continue exploration into space.

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.

Ronald Reagan’s speech was effective in its purpose of honoring and mourning those that were involved in the disaster and promoting NASA. He succeeded in this purpose by effectively using a supportive and optimistic tone, the use of ethos and pathos, and his use of pronouns to address and include the audience. If it wasn’t for his efforts, the country may not have dealt with the tragedy as well and NASA may not have received the continued support that it

There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue.” (Ronald Reagan pg 2). Reagan uses Anaphora by repeatedly saying “more” before saying a different group of people. By putting “more” before every different group of people he mentions, he creates equal importance between all of them and shows that many more different kinds of people will go into space. By having the “more” repeated, Reagan expresses also that, despite this tragedy, the quest into space will not

Thatcher begins the eulogy towards President Reagan by mentioning that not just the citizens of the United States has lost a great president but that the whole democratic world has lost a great and influential man. She uses many