The Challenger Disaster Speech Analysis

On January 28, 1986 President Ronald Reagan delivered his speech on The Challenger Disaster; hours after the space shuttle The Challenger exploded while in take off. There were hundreds of spectators supporting this ‘First Teacher in Space’ program and thousands across the country glued to their T.V.s who witnessed this horrifying event. The mission was very unique allowing the first teacher to ever be allowed in space during a mission. She was aboard The Challenger as an observer in the NASA Teacher in Space Program. In his speech President Reagan remembered those astronauts that were lost the day of the disaster. He conducted his speech not only to mourn the death of The Challenger astronauts, but for the families and those who were impacted from this event. He especially called out to the children that Christa McAuliffe (the first teacher in space) taught, who were watching this event live (many in person) as the shuttle took off. As the President of the United States, Reagan needed to address the Country in order to comfort them and assure them nothing like this would ever happen again. His ‘Challenger Disaster’ speech is just one of the examples of how well Reagan could speak to the American public. Reagan was able to profoundly influence the nation's confidence in itself after this devastating event.

Reagan utilized his speaking abilities to explain the importance of the disaster and the policies his administration entailed. "Speaking directly to the American people as a "citizen-president, Reagan delivered his speech which conveyed his views of national security, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), economic policies, and the disaster itself, which consequently allowed him to be seen as a man of the public. His spee...

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Reagan's goal when he delivered this speech was not to save his own skin or to defend NASA. Reagan set out to reassure the nation that there existed a better, safer tomorrow, that as a whole the country could move past this event and ultimately learn from it. NASA’s procedures have been fixed since the disaster in 1986 including mandatory checks and rechecks to ensure nothing like the Challenger Disaster could ever happen again. Though NASA has failed to prevent more disasters like the Challenger from passing one thing is certain, Ronald Reagan the 40th president of the United States of America was able to turn the disaster into something much less negative. There of course were lasting effects on society, even today we are suffering. Fear of space missions is a major concern but the effects would have been much greater on the people without Reagan.