ronald reagan rhetorical analysis essay

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Ronald Reagan’s Challenger Speech: Rhetorical Analysis

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Published: Feb 9, 2022

Words: 1551 | Pages: 3 | 8 min read

The essay analyzes Ronald Reagan's Challenger speech, which he delivered in response to the 1986 Challenger disaster, one of the most tragic events in American history. The disaster involved the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, resulting in the loss of all seven crew members, including Christa McAuliffe, a teacher set to be the first civilian in space. President Reagan's speech is examined as a powerful example of rhetorical strategy, using language to console and inspire the American people.

The essay underscores the context of the speech, highlighting how the Challenger disaster was broadcast across the nation, creating a crisis that demanded the president's immediate attention. Instead of delivering the scheduled State of the Union address, Reagan addressed the tragedy, seeking to help the nation recover from the loss, eulogize the astronauts, and instill hope in the American people.

The essay breaks down Reagan's speech by analyzing his delivery, the impactful diction he employs, and his appeals to pathos. It notes that Reagan's solemn tone and emotionally charged delivery effectively convey his grief and empathy. His powerful diction and quotes resonate with the audience, evoking strong emotions. Moreover, Reagan's appeals to pathos aim to unify the nation and assure them that, despite the setback, the space program would persist.

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1.5: Ronald Reagan's "Tear Down That Wall" speech

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• Page ID 187929

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Links to an external site. ; all unstructured text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

Links to an external site. ;

Here, you will find the Ronald Reagan's "Tear Down That Wall" speech

The essay is is a ..docx file. I have also included a copy of the original speech via YouTube. I recommend either saving to your drive for future use. Otherwise, you will not have the file to look at later. Either way, you should taking notes on the digital copy on your computer, or taking notes on the story on a separate piece of paper.

Author's Bio:

Ronald Wilson Reagan

Links to an external site. (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States

Links to an external site. (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California. A former Actor, Reagan used his acting skills in his speeches and campaigns. He was known as the "Great Orator." In foreign policy, Reagan sought to achieve “peace through strength.” During his two terms he increased defense spending 35 percent, but sought to improve relations with the Soviet Union.

Links to an external site. ; from WhiteHouse.Gov and WikiMedia

While going over the reading , keep these questions/ideas in mind:

• What are some themes/ messages that you see in the text?
• What does this speech make you feel/think of?
• What does the "tear down that wall" mean to you?
• Do you see examples of Ethos(credibility), Pathos(emotion), Logos(Logic), and Kairos (Rhetorical Situation)?
• Do you see examples of the rhetorical strategies from the Rhetorical Strategies PowerPoint?
• What are some ways this text is convincing?
• Can you begin to connect to the words in the text. What about these word choices, imagery, allusion, makes you feel a particular way? Explain.

Essay 1 Prompt

What does it mean.

How does the text use specific rhetorical strategies to deliver its intended theme/message?

TITLE/AUTHOR+THEME +STRATEGIES=Thesis

Requirements:

• Proper MLA Format
• 3-5 pages (Full pages)
• Works Cited Page

Ronald Reagan's Tear Down That Wall Speech.docx

Ronald Reagan's "Tear Down That Wall" Speech 00:08:05

The Great Communicator: The Political Rhetoric of Ronald Reagan (Part 1)

As he personally drafted his first inaugural address on a yellow legal pad, President-elect Ronald Reagan set as a primary goal restoring America to its former greatness. Reagan saw that America had lost faith in itself, as a result of the Carter years, the Watergate scandal and President Nixon’s forced resignation, and the loss of the Vietnam War and the ensuing communization of South Vietnam and Cambodia. As Reagan would later write in his autobiography, “the lost vision of our founding fathers” had to be recaptured.

To renew America’s self-confidence, his administration would undertake two urgently needed political reforms: one, to initiate a foreign policy of “Peace Through Strength” that would end the Cold War by winning it; and two, to jump start the American economy through significant deregulation, reduced federal spending, and across-the-board tax cuts. And he had an instrument in hand that would enable him to achieve these goals—the bully pulpit of the presidency.

Reagan would use inspiring oratory to help the people regain “that unique sense of destiny and optimism that had always made America different from any other country in the world.” But his rhetoric neither pandered nor set impossible utopian goals that lead to exhaustion or resentment. It was built on the intrinsic virtues of the American character which he had reflected on for years and had come to represent in the minds of a majority of the American people.

In his inaugural address, Reagan outlined the severe economic crisis that confronted the country and set forth a series of corrective actions: it is time, he said, “to reawaken this industrial giant, to get government back within its means, and to lighten our punitive tax burden.” (The highest marginal tax rate then stood at 70 percent.) Building his rhetoric upon American industriousness, Reagan sought to awaken a new spirit of patriotism.

Along with these exhortations, Reagan identified the federal government as the primary cause of the crisis. He had long studied the proper role of government. He knew what most Americans wanted from their government through his many conversations with them in the 1950s as an emissary for General Electric and then as a two-term governor of California. He was the first president since Calvin Coolidge to use blunt anti-government rhetoric. “In this crisis,” he said, “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Reagan’s rhetoric was built on his understanding of unique American virtues, like industriousness that had become enervated by four years of Carter’s regulations, taxes and intrusions.

He rejected the oft-expressed liberal notion that “society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule,” or that government by an elite group was superior to “government for, by, and of the people.” With impeccable logic, he asked: “If no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?” He reassured the people he had no intention of doing away with government but rather “to make it work—work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back.” Here was no radical libertarian with a copy of Atlas Shrugged on his desk but a traditional conservative guided by The Federalist. Reagan was a 20th century federalist, echoing Madison’s call for a balance between the powers of the federal and state governments. He tapped into the American spirit of independence, which he knew needed bolstering through presidential rhetoric.

Peace Through Strength

In the realm of foreign policy, Reagan promised to strengthen ties with those who shared a commitment to freedom but to remain ready to act against “the enemies of freedom” in order to preserve national security. He paraphrased the traditional U.S. policy of “peace through strength,” saying, “We will maintain sufficient strength to prevail if need be, knowing that if we do so we have the best chance of never having to use that strength.” His words echoed the ancient Latin dictum: “Si vis pacem para bellum” (“If you want peace, prepare for war.”) Reagan rejected the idea of a Vietnam syndrome that paralyzed the will of the American people. He understood that Americans think of themselves as bold and strong; he insisted that the moral malaise from the Carter years was only temporary.

As he approached the end of his address the president referred to the giants “on whose shoulders we stand”—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln—as well as the servicemen buried in Arlington Cemetery who had sacrificed everything to preserve our freedom. Reagan personalized their sacrifice by reading from the diary of a young soldier Martin Treptow, who had fought and died in World War I. My pledge, wrote Treptow, is that “I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone.” Reagan sought to connect Americans with the courage and sacrifice of past generations.

The president ended his inaugural address as he began it by appealing to the faith of the American people. While the present crisis does not require the same magnitude of sacrifice as that of Treptow, he said, it does require “our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds, to believe that together with God’s help we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.” Americans were, he believed, connected to one another through a noble history of past and future sacrifice and their participation in great deeds.

“And after all,” he said, “why shouldn’t we believe that? We are Americans.” In his first major presidential address, Reagan was what he had been throughout his public life: optimistic, confident, faith-filled, inspiring. He eschewed the extraneous adjective, the worn-out metaphor. He employed simple direct language.

The Farewell Address

Eight years later, in his January 1989 farewell address to the American people, President Ronald Reagan displayed his sure command of political rhetoric by denying and thereby correcting the simplistic notion that he was just a Great Communicator: “I never thought it was my style or the words I used that made a difference,” he said, “It was the content.” Reagan was not swayed by polls or focus groups, understanding that the most effective political rhetoric was based on lasting ideas not transitory trends. That is, Reagan observed: “I wasn’t a great communicator, but I communicated great things,” gathered from “our experience, our wisdom, and our belief in principles that have guided us for two centuries.” On an occasion when most politicians would have boasted about themselves, Reagan chose humility.

Ronald Reagan was a superb orator, one of the greatest in American politics at ease with a formal address to the U.S. Congress or the British Parliament, a “fireside chat” with the American people from the Oval Office, or a blunt challenge to a foreign power. The process of becoming an orator had begun many years before.

The Hollywood Years

Reagan readily admitted that he honed his rhetorical abilities during his years in Hollywood. In Speaking My Mind, a collection of his speeches that he personally selected, Reagan said that he had been elected—in part—because he was an actor who knew “how to give a good speech,” who “knows two important things—to be honest in what he’s doing and to be in touch with the audience. That’s not bad advice for a politician either.” He emphasized that it was not just “my rhetoric or delivery” that carried him into the White House but that his speeches contained “basic truths”—like the necessity of preserving individual freedom—that the average American instinctively recognized. “What I said simply made sense to the guy on the street,” he wrote.” Always, Reagan sought to speak to the mind not merely the impulses of the moment.

Reagan learned to talk to that “guy” as a young radio broadcaster in Des Moines, Iowa, the heartland of America. He conceded that on his first day, he was nervous sitting in a small windowless room in front of a live microphone. After some stumbles and even awkward silences, it suddenly came to him. He knew many of the people listening. He wasn’t talking to faceless, unknown listeners but to guys in the local barber shop with whom he joked and talked sports and told stories. All alone in that booth, he relaxed and “started talking to the fellows in the barber shop the same way I did during our regular get-togethers.” He had discovered a basic rule of public speaking which he followed all his life: “Talk to your audience, not over their heads or through them. Don’t try to talk in a special language of broadcasting or even politics, just use normal everyday words.” And he learned personal control—he was rarely if ever upset or rattled. . He channeled the best in his audiences, especially their optimism and their patriotism. On the eve of his election as president, when a reporter asked Reagan what he thought other Americans saw in him, he replied: “Would you laugh if I told you that I think maybe, they see themselves and that I’m one of them?” He added revealingly, “I’ve never been able to detach myself or think that I, somehow, am apart from them.” He persuaded without pandering; he inspired rather than manipulated. .

Perhaps surprising those who warn against rhetorical repetition, Reagan said he was a “big believer” in stump speeches because that was the only way your message “will sink into the collective consciousness” of the people. “If you have something you believe in deeply,” he said, “it’s worth repeating time and again until you achieve it. You also get better at delivering it.”

In Speaking My Mind , Reagan explained that his November 1988 speech at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial most represented what he had tried to accomplish as president—to help “restore the spirit and faith of America.” In his talk, he read from a note that he and Nancy left at the Memorial wall in remembrance of those who fought for their country and its safety and “for the freedom of others with strength and courage.” We have faith, he said, “that, as He does all His sacred children, the Lord will bless you and keep you, the Lord will make His face to shine upon you and give you peace, now and forever more.” The words reflected Reagan’s personal faith and America’s Judeo-Christian heritage.

The Power of Words

Reagan believed and constantly demonstrated that words have the power to change the course of events. One of his most memorable addresses was his “evil empire” speech in March 1983 at the annual convention of the National Association of Evangelicals. Critics warned that “extreme” language about the Soviet Union would accentuate the Soviets’ paranoia and insecurity. Reagan was not concerned: “For too long our leaders were unable to describe the Soviet Union as it actually was. . . . The Soviet system over the years has purposely starved, murdered, and brutalized its own people. Millions were killed.” Is not a system that practiced such brutality “evil”? he asked. “Then why shouldn’t we say so?” He had always believed, he said, that it was important to define differences, “because there are choices and decisions to be made in life and history.” Reagan had faith that the American people would approve boldness in foreign policy—he paid scant attention to the devotees of conventional wisdom who always counseled compromise. He shrugged off the barbed criticism of the media that accused him of “sleepwalking through history” and dismissed SDI (the Strategic Defensive Initiative) as “Star Wars.” He drew courage from his convictions, and his understanding that the American public respected honesty and forthrightness.

A good speech, for Reagan, must be truthful. It must not pander, nor give in to fear or a selfish preservation of the status quo. It must take into account the audience’s mood, and guide their passions and imagination, while using the language of the common man. Most important of all, a great speech must be concerned with “great things,” with first principles such as liberty, justice, and equality that have shaped America.

Part 2 of this essay will be published Monday, December 22, 2014. Stay tuned!

Lee Edwards is Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought at the Heritage Foundation’s B. Kenneth Simon Center on Principles and Politics.

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Home > STUDENTS > THESES > 1929

Masters Theses

A rhetorical criticism and analysis of president ronald reagan's inaugural address: applying the burkeian dramatistic pentad approach.

Marzuki Jamil Baki bin Haji Mohamed Johar Bachik , Eastern Illinois University

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Semester of Degree Completion

Thesis director.

Floyd E. Merritt

It is no accident that Ronald Reagan rose to the pinnacle of power at a moment when there was a rising wave of intellectual pessimism. Numerous theories were being offered as to why the trajectory of the American experiment has passed its apogee. Reagan's greatest gift to his country has been his soaring sense of possibilities. To see where he got it, look at what he has seen in a long life. However, a great communicator will communicate complicated ideas, hard choices and bad news. Reagan has had little aptitude and less appetite for those tasks. But, then, communication is not really Reagan's forte. Rhetoric is. Rhetoric has been central to Reagan's presidency because Reagan has intended his statecraft to be soulcraft. Hi aim has been to restore the plain language of right and wrong, good and evil, for the purpose of enabling the people to make the most of freedom. For all his deplorable inattentiveness regarding many aspects of his office, he has been assiduous about nurturing a finer civic culture, as he understands it. Here, then, is the crowning paradox of Reagan's career. For all his disparagement of government, he has given it the highest possible purpose, the improvement of the soul of the nation. This paper investigates Ronald Reagan's First Inaugural Address by applying the Burkeian Dramatistic Pentad Approach. In the course of investigation, this paper utilizes the Burkeian Concept of Identification and dramatistic pentad. By employlng these methods, it is believed strongly that a thorough analysis of the rhetorical effort would provide the critic with a more comprehensive understanding of the real motives and motivations of the speaker. The Burkeian approach to rhetorical analysis leads the critic in a unique direction. Rather than asking oneself how the speaker attempted persuasion, the Burkeian critic asks how the pentad functioned in the pursuit for identification. Identification is the process by which the speaker binds himself with the audience "consubstantially", a super-identification of the audience with the actor or orator in which listeners suspend their sense of individuality and perceive the speaker as a projection of themselves as a group. Reagan (agent) sought to establish identification through various means (AGENCIES) such as rhetorical questions, statistics, and narratives. Beyond these verbal agencies, physical trappings aided in setting the proper atmosphere (scene) for speaker-audience identification. The speech (act) dealt with Reagan's desire to get the American public to support all his proposed plans. His goals (purposes) were to appeal to the American public, to promote social cohesion, and to reinforce audience commitment. He had relied upon many rhetorical strategies. He used first person plural pronouns, strong admonitions, personal, patriotic, and fear appeals. Reagan also employed echos and paraphrases by past famous presidents to produce a sense of realism as to the amount of time and effort needed to solve America's problems. Many uniting phrases, such as "all must share," "all of us together," are used. More importantly, he deployed the spirit of solidarity by siding with the people against the common enemy, the government. The Inaugural Address centered on the theme of the capacity of ordinary people performing extraordinary feats. Throughout his four hundred and forty four speeches delivered during his presidency, Reagan dependedfon positive populism - a set of appeals that emphasize the quiet strengths of the common people, and indirectly to the commonness of the leader (Reagan). Reagan traded on the notion, inherent to populist discourse, that when you compliment people a lot, they cannot help liking you for it. Reagan was simply a master of the populist anecdote. His ability to express the essence of ordinary life in endearing and reassuring images, and at the same time associating himself with them via his personal life history, contributed significantly to his avuncular ethos. The author is confident beyond a shadow of reasonable doubt that Ronald Wilson Reagan will go down in history as being placed in the front rank of the second echelon of American presidents. The first echelon includes those who were pulled to greatness by the gravity of great crises. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were yanked by the perilous flux of the founding era. Abraham Lincoln was drawn by disunion and the need to define the nation's meaning. Theodore Roosevelt was hauled by the pressing need to tame the energies of industrialism. Woodrow Wilson by America's entry into the vortex of world affairs, Franklin Roosevelt by the Depression and the dictators, and John F. Kennedy by his tactful handling of the Cuban affairs, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and the Civil Rights movement. Reagan is the last president for whom the Depression will have been a formative experience, the last president whose foremost model was the first modern president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Reagan, like Roosevelt, has been a great reassurer, a steadying captain who calmed the passengers and, to some extent, the unpredictable rough sea.

Recommended Citation

Johar Bachik, Marzuki Jamil Baki bin Haji Mohamed, "A Rhetorical Criticism and Analysis of President Ronald Reagan's Inaugural Address: Applying the Burkeian Dramatistic Pentad Approach" (1996). Masters Theses . 1929. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/1929

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Margaret Thatcher Eulogy Rhetorical Analysis

Former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Margret Thatcher, on June 11, 2004, emotionally conveyed her eulogy for President Ronald Reagan. Margaret speaks in a way of honoring him by telling the audience what a good president and great friend he was. Margret beautifully speaks to her audience using imagery as a way to reflect on the past, diction by using words that honor him, and finally, repetition to persuade what she was conveying. Margaret creates a mournful atmosphere in honor and respect for a great President, friend, and family member. 

The first rhetorical device used was Thatcher's imagery. She talks to the audience as if everyone was as close to him as she was. Thatcher sets scenes to demonstrate how diligently Reagan worked caring for everyone and the U.S. She sets a picture in everyone’s minds for them to imagine and see themselves as if Regan was right in front of them. 

The second rhetorical device Thatcher used was her diction. She talks in ways that help the audience picture him as the man that she saw. She uses words that exalt him and build his character. Her words are heartfelt showing these were true emotions and feelings that she had. Thatcher’s words play off her imagery helping the audience feel what she was feeling. Thatcher’s words building Reagan up, helped family and friends cherish past memories they had with him. 

The final rhetorical device Thatcher used was her repetition. She continually builds Reagan up making it known as honorable he was. Thatcher told memories of Reagan saying he never had a dull moment and how he always had the best interest in mind for the country. Her repetition brought light to his good character and morals and really gave Thatcher clarity on the loss of her good friend. Thatcher’s repetition told heartfelt stories and memories that she and his family will never forget, showing just how much he will be missed.

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