Tragedy in America January 28, 1986 was a day of excitement and anticipation for the United States Space Program. Thousands gathered around television sets and radios to listen and watch the take off of the space shuttle, “The Challenger.” The challenger took off with seven brave astronauts ready to explore space, but their journey was cut short when the Challenger exploded in mid air seventy-three seconds after take-off. The citizens of the United States were shocked by this tragedy and looked to their president for comfort and logic. President Ronald Reagan delivered his address later that evening to the nation regarding the tragedy. Reagan spoke to thousands of American citizens over television and radio to help ease the pain that …show more content…
Reagan clearly displayed his credibility through the establishment of ethos during his speech. Reagan exemplified his credibility from the beginning due to his profession. The President of the United States is a position of high honor, respect, and power in this country. His address is very credible because he was the first person to brief the nation on the events that had taken place. Reagan began by sharing some background information and stories regarding the nation’s space program which shows that he was very knowledgeable on the topic he was discussing. Reagan was also extremely invested in the space program; therefore he was capable of knowledgably speaking on behalf of the space station. At one particular point in his address, Reagan quoted a historian on the life of Sir Francis Drake saying, “He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it.” He related this to the death of the astronauts by stating that they loved what they did and died doing what they loved. This use of ethos showed a sense of sophistication and that he used his authority to appropriately address the public in a suitable manner. The president had to overcome a huge restraint while writing this speech and that was to find a way to appropriately address the nation and to help calm the nation. Reagan overcame this restraint by delivering a speech that was not only appropriate, but …show more content…
Reagan did precisely that in his address to the people after the destruction of the Challenger. The death of the seven astronauts had already brought abundance of negativity to the nation, so Reagan persevered to present more positive emotion. He was respectful and decided the day was intended for mourning and remembrance. He even mentioned how the event personally affected him and his wife Nancy, which shows that it touched him not only through the workplace but also personally. Reagan then went on to address the families saying that he could not bear the pain of this tragedy and those that were lost will always be remembered through the legacy that they left behind. A shift from negative emotion to positive emotion occurred soon after he addressed the families. The president looked toward positive emotions associated with patriotism to help end his speech. He used powerful statements such as, “We will continue our quest in space” and “Nothing ends here; our hopes and journeys continue.” Reagan assured the nation that it is acceptable to feel negative emotion, but stressed not to linger on the negativity. There would come a point in time where, as a nation, we would have to pick ourselves up and keep moving forward because we could not let failure define our country. Reagan’s use of positive and negative emotions was very powerful because it let the American
On January 28, 1986, Ronald Reagan, the President who takes on the grievances of America and establishes hope, in his inspiring speech entitled the “Speech on the Challenger Disaster,” is able to guide the United States to prosperity. He guides the United States. by emphasizing the courage and bravery of the Challenger crew, then he drives the focus to the good that NASA allows us to accomplish, and finally tells the people that the crew dies doing what they loved. Through Reagan's use of Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals, tone, and rhetorical devices, he is able to inspire hope in the people instead of the failure of NASA.
Also, I will discuss whether or not there are any logical fallacies that may have weakened his speech. President Roosevelt does a few specific things to be able to establish his credibility as a speaker. Since Roosevelt was the current president, the United States was inclined to listen to him and believe what he was saying. Being the president, the people knew that he was a credible source to receive information from. The president had also been appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1920.
Above all else, Reagan uses the speech to inspire
On January 28, 1986, a day that was supposed to be filled with excitement and exploration, suddenly turned into a day filled with tragedy and sadness. The space shuttle Challenger was supposed to carry a seven member crew into orbit with one unique member along for this particular mission. Christa McAuliffe was supposed to be the first teacher to go into space as a member of the Teacher in Space Project. Due to this occasion, the media coverage and the number of viewers of this mission was extensive, particularly in schools across the nation. The Challenger lifted off shortly after 11:30 A.M., but tragically only seventy three seconds after takeoff it exploded sending debris and the seven crew members back to earth and into the Atlantic Ocean. All seven crew members aboard were killed in the crash as America helplessly watched. A faulty O-ring in the right solid rocket booster was said to have been the cause of the crash. Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, was in office at the time of this tragic event. President Reagan was scheduled to deliver his State of the Union Address that same evening. His intentions were to mention the Challenger and the significance of that particular mission during his speech. This would not be the case following the events of that day.
Ronald Reagan was one of the most liked Presidents. When being elected for his second term, he won by a landslide—winning all the states minus Minnesota and Washington D.C. Reagan addresses the people of the United States of America. He wants the American people to reflect on his presidency, and as all presidents do in their farewell addresses, he wants to say goodbye to the nation that he's led for the past eight years. Ronald Reagan uses repetition, parallel structure, and allusion to reflect on his presidency and to say farewell to the American people.
Ronald Reagan was the 40th president of the United States of America during the Cold War era. On January 28th, 1986, he gave a speech to discuss the tragedy of the Challenger Space Shuttle, which exploded in atmosphere. The speech was delivered in the Oval Office during his State of the Union Address. He was attempting to inform and comfort America about the disaster. The author uses multiple rhetorical devices in his speech. The importance of these devices is to convey a goal of the author to persuade the reader to a certain perspective. A speaker uses these devices to give the speech more impact. Rhetorical and persuasive devices can make a speech more effective since the devices can use emotional and logical appeal. In this speech, Reagan does not use very many complicated devices, but he does use appeal, anaphora, repetition, and allusion.
In a person’s lifetime, many things can happen including death. In 1986 seven individuals, Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnic, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe, lost their lives doing what they loved most. The tragedy of the shuttle challenger brought much pain to the nation that day. Along with the pain comes grieving. The nation grieved the loss of these seven wonderful individuals and hoped to find peace and comfort for the days to come. As Ronald Reagan prepared to give the state of the union address, things changed for worse, he unexpectedly had to give a speech on a horrific event. Reagan was devastated at the loss of the seven men and women that were on that space shuttle challenger.
Franklin Roosevelt struck people 's emotions with his patriotic and nationalistic quotes. “With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph – so help us God.” This quote strikes at the hearts of Americans filling them with a sense of pride and determination. President Roosevelt makes it clear that no matter what other nations will do to the United States, the American people will be filled with resilience and rebound to make the nation as great and powerful as it ever was. When the President speaks about the attacks on Pearl Harbor, his tone creates a feeling of anger. The feeling of anger is created when he states that the Japanese launched this attack with no warning. The Empire of Japan had its ambassador and a colleague meeting with the Secretary of State to give them a message that they didn 't want to continue to negotiate with the United States. The message however showed no signs of the forthcoming attack on Pearl Harbor. The President also creates emotions in the audience by his use of tone and emphasis. His tone is stern yet caring showing that he believes in the American people. It also shows that while the United States was attacked, he has faith that the American troops, citizens, and government will rally behind him to terminate the
Ronald Reagan, first starts off with empathy and his condolences when he says” Today is a day of mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of our country. This is truly a national loss.” He is in pain for the families and knows how hard it will be to recover. As well to this he lists all seven “heroes” names in commemoration. Reagan also tries to make this tragedy more positive by explaining to the children who were watching that things sometimes happen and it’s a part of life and growth. He does not give doubt and resent towards the goal of exploring space but hope that they will continue on. Throughout the whole address, Reagan seems very sincere and dependable which makes his rhetoric more effective and persuasive. Next, President Reagan gives his respect to the NASA and also adds “We don’t hide our space program. We don’t keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public.” What he is trying to show to the people is the sense of freedom in America in regards to other countries. This alone is a way of differentiating great countries, when he says that victims had a special grace and spirt that says “Give me a challenge, and I’ll meet it with joy” is a way of comforting the families and the nation. Reagan’s way of handling and talking to the nations after this tragedy was nevertheless effective and well
He asks a question in his speech, “Can we solve the problems confronting us?” and then shortly after he answers, “Well, the answer is an unequivocal and emphatic, yes.” expressing the power of America by using great word choice. By using the words unequivocal and emphatic we see that Reagan is confident in America and his people. After stating the above, later on in his speech he says, “I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing.” showing us Americans must work hard. Ronald Reagan clearly does not think making America great will just happen, he believes that people must work hard to achieve greatness. Reagan also says, “With the idealism and fair play… we can have a strong and prosperous America…” allowing us to see that greatness is there we just have to work for it.
Ronald Reagan adeptly utilizes Ethos Pathos and Logos in his Brandenburg Gate address, he attempts to sway the audience of the importance of success of the marshal plan and western values as a whole, and convince the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open up the barrier which had divided West and East Berlin since 1961. Reagan begins his speech by addressing the people present and recognizing the “freedom” and “feeling of history” of the city of Berlin has. He makes his first reference to previous speakers by saying, “Twenty four years ago, President John F. Kennedy visited Berlin, and speaking to the people of this city and the world at the city hall. Well since then two other presidents have come, each in his turn to Berlin. And today, I, myself, make my second visit to your city,”( Reagan 361) His first usage of pathos is when he addresses the east berliners who were separated from the westerners by the Berlin wall and tells them, “I join your fellow countrymen in the West, in this
In his “Challenger Explosion” speech, Pres. Ronald Reagan comforts the nation in the aftermath of NASA’s Challenger Space Shuttle exploded shortly after takeoff killing all seven astronauts. In this speech, he used rhetorical devices, such as alliteration, allusion, anaphora, and euphemism to relay his feelings of sadness and grief.
He emphasizes the horror when he states, “I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost.” He tries to gain the confidence of the the American people by stating that other countries have been attacked, as well. He uses parallel structure and repetition to indicate that places other than the US were attacked. He repeats this framework to emphasize that many other places were attacked. He does this so that his audience can understand the greater impact of the event. FDR then concludes this section of his speech by stressing the fact that he knows what the Americans are feeling and the opinions that have been formed. Roosevelt implies that he knows their lives will change and that the people are concerned for their safety. He does this to make the listeners understand that they are not alone in their reaction to this attack and that everybody in America feels this
...ent would have presented an ineffective speech. This was not an easy task for me, because I am not a Reagan admirer; however I shed my listener bias to finally appreciate the Great Communicator in his element.
Life, it can be beautiful, happy, or sad. Life can be any emotion that you can think of. An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser, puts us through all these emotions in showing us the extremes in happiness, sadness, anger, and many other emotions to show us what real life is like. To do this most accurately, Dreiser bases his two-book story on a true-life tale about a man and what his rage did to his life.