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Rhetorical Analysis Of Ronald Reagan's Speech

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Reagan’s Exhortation to Continue Exploration in the United States

On January 28th, 1596, a world renowned explorer by the name of Sir Francis Drake died while exploring the oceans. Similarly 390 years later to the day, seven NASA astronauts lost their lives shortly after their shuttle, Challenger, took off. Both Drake and the shuttle crew dedicated their lives to exploring the unknown all in the name of discovery. Some of Ronald Reagan’s rhetoric in this speech was influenced by tensions in the wake of The Cold War. This expedition was groundbreaking, and many school children and citizens watched the take-off and then explosion live. Reagan uses juxtaposition, allusion, and diction that connects the audience to the words being uttered, …show more content…
Reagan includes his own experiences with NASA in an attempt to gain credibility for both parties. He describes, “I’ve always had great faith in and respect for our space program, and what happened to day does nothing to diminish it. 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. That’s the way freedom is, and we wouldn’t change it for a minute.” In this quote, Reagan alludes to Russia and their sometimes questionable antics regarding their space program. By contrasting this tragedy at NASA and the Russian space program, Reagan is able to quietly bring home the point that our space program is still extremely successful. He still believes in the credibility of NASA, and urges the listeners (including NASA workers themselves) to remember how much NASA has accomplished. By outlining these accomplishments, he is able to show that this incident doesn’t take away these major achievements. Additionally when Reagan speaks directly to NASA workers he adds, “Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades”. In that moment, he gains credibility for NASA when they can not speak out in that way for themselves. The word “dedication” provokes a sense of a something that doesn’t give up, even in the face of a tragedy. These rhetorical strategies allow the general public to move forward with the space program, in an attempt to continue exploration. Reagan alludes to past successful work of NASA in order to stop others from from blaming NASA for the incident, in attempt to move forward from the accident. However, it is more difficult and painful for the families of the victims to move

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