Social movement

1054 Words3 Pages

Ronald Reagan made his farewell speech and remarks at the August 15, 1988 Republican National Convention held in New Orleans (Ronald Reagan, 1988). The target audience consisted of members of congress, national committee members, state delegates, district delegates, mayors, city council members, town council members and other committee members representing the Republican Party. The demographics of the audience affected his farewell speech. President Reagan spoke of the challenges faced by the Republican Party and the American people as the presidential term began such as inflation, high unemployment, interest rates, weak economy and a national defense (Ronald Reagan, 1988). Furthermore, Reagan communicated the party’s shared goal of saving the American legacy, changing negative perceptions of government, economic recovery, protection of human freedoms and passing the great legacy on to the next generation (Ronald Reagan, 1988). Reagan continue d by communication the missteps of the previous administration followed by affirmation from the party (Reagan, 1988).
The majority of the farewell speech was focused on communicating the shared wisdom and specific accomplishments of the Replication party such as effective change in policies resulting in tax reductions, creation of millions of new jobs and a strong American Armed Forces (Reagan, 1988). In addition, Reagan addressed the Republican audience as a persuader with the goal of identifying future goals and objectives of the party under the Bush administration such as addressing the budget deficit and increasing the number of Republican representatives in the house and senate (Ronald Reagan, 1988). Also, Reagan communicated the importance of the party’s dedication to unwaverin...

... middle of paper ...

...ive usage such as “racial” indicates uncertainty in what Reagan might have found to be oppositional (Larson, C.W., 2013, p. 156). In addition, Reagan stated “as a democratic people, we can take pride in the knowledge that we Americans recognized a grave injustice and took action to correct it” (Ronald Reagan, 1983). The word order at the beginning of Reagan’s statement used in the Martin Luther King Jr. speech; for example, “as a democratic people” provides the audience with the conditions of the statement needed to take action (Larson, C.W., 2013, p. 157). This is followed by an independent statement noted as the main point of this action statement (Larson, C.W., 2013, p. 157). Reagan used this technique to divert attention by making the main point secondary in the sentence structure creating a drama and suspense with the audience (Larson, C.W., 2013, p. 157).

Open Document