Ronald Reagan's Speech

In 1987, the President of the United States at the time was Ronald Reagan. Everyone has their differing opinions when it comes to judging the quality of the job a President has done. There are many factors that cause biased opinions. Some of these include your political party affiliation, your viewpoint on the social matters that were going on at the time, and your economic standing. Despite all these varying viewpoints, people can agree upon one thing when it comes to Ronald Reagan. That one thing is that in 1987, when turmoil due to post-war political issues split Germany into two sides, Reagan made a speech that is known as “The Speech at Brandenburg Gate” that altered the course of history. His exalted rhetoric was highly touted at the

Reagan’s ethos was created throughout his two terms but solidified in his second and final one. Reagan presents his ethos throughout his rhetoric by stating facts with authority and also in a way that made him credible to the audience. One of the parts in his speech is headlined with a cold and awakening fact directed at the Soviet Union. In a 1956 speech given by Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev, the statement “We will bury you,” was aimed at Western ambassadors who stood for freedom. In Reagan’s speech at the Brandenburg Gate, he specifically calls out the previously stated notion that the Soviets would essentially, “bury the free world.” Reagan profoundly proclaims this: “In the 1950s, Khrushchev predicted: "We will bury you." But in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history. In the Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness, declining standards of health, even want of the most basic kind--too little food. Even today, the Soviet Union still cannot feed itself. After these four decades, then, there stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor.” The great appeal this presented to the

The audience he was trying to directly get to was the people he understood were listening to it in the East. He also states, “I address my remarks to you just as surely as to those standing here before me.” To follow up with his statement of intended audience, Reagan says a powerful statement. A statement that is intended to the entirety of the audience. “For I join you, as I join your fellow countrymen in the West, in this firm, this unalterable belief: Es gibt nur ein Berlin.” The final sentence meaning “There is only one Berlin.” This is yet another instance in this rhetorical masterpiece that Reagan clearly states his objective of the speech, to unify