A horrific event occurred on the morning of January 28 in 1986. NASA’s space shuttle, The Orbiter Challenger, took flight, and broke down nearly 73 seconds afterwards Seven crew members that consisted of, five NASA astronauts and two Payload Specialists (one being a school teacher), were victims of this incident, It was broadcasted on national television, and watched by nearly all of America; including school children. This incident is known as the “Space Shuttle Challenger Disasteri” It was a disaster that unified the nation On that same day, an address to the nation was made by president Ronald W, Reagan. He was born on February 6‘“,1911 in Tampico, Illinois Reagan served as governor in California and was an actor before he became president, Also, he was nicknamed “The Great Communicator” because he could reach across party lines and have people listen to them; he was a great speech giver, Sadly, President Ronald Reagan died on June 5, 2004.
The disintegration of the space shuttle challenger placed a crucial moment in Reagan’s presidency, That night, Reagan delivered a speech that was written by Peggy Noonan, She is an American author of several books on politics, religion and culture, as well as a weekly columnist for the wall streetjournal. The speech had an emotional, veneration, and solemn tone. During the Speech, President Ronald Reagan effectively addresses the challenger explosion, He honors those who died, explains the effect that it had on children watching, and also offers hope that the united states will continue exploring despite the situation Through his use of rhetoric, he was able to comfort, honor, and inspire the viewers.
Reagans speech was crafted to speak to the nation as a whole His target audience was Americans: men, women, and children of all ages. He speaks about the mourning that was being shared by many people. He reflects on how the nations mood of mourning is a general condition by explaining that he and the first lady “share the pain with all of the people of our countryr”. The target audience is also split into individual portions of the nation. By the president stating, “your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades, and we know of your anguish; we share it,” this refers to the NASA workers. Reagan states, “I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen,“ this allows the president to reach out to the school children who were affected during the viewing of the launch on live television President Reagan address the nation using ethos during a time of high emotion and sadness He uses it in a very interesting way Instead of referring to experts or important people to convince the audience of his point, he uses the nation as a whole to convince the audience.
He allows them to understand that there will still be people going to space no matter the tragedy “We will continue our quest in space, There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews, and yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journey continue,” This quote is the most important message of all; it reassured the listener that though it was a sad moment, people are still going to be willing to put their lives on the line for an important cause. It let America know that they should not give up when times get rough. Amphora, a rhetorical device of repetition was used in this line of the speech as well. By adding “more” before each word, an equal importance of all is created, and it shows that there will be many more people going into space in the futures President Ronald Reagan presented himself as an outsider and an educator during his speech.
To portray an image of an outsider, Reagan states that he wishes he could talk and comfort all the people at NASA who were impacted by the tragedy. Even though he already knows that he cannot be a part of the situation physically, he wants the audience to know that he wishes he could be there as a comfort in the loss of the seven astronauts Also, he portrays an educator by representing the nation, he informs the public about the tragic loss that they had just faced, Reagan states in his speech, “aerospace research is not kept from the public, and therefore this tragedy cannot be either.” Even though it is very sad, Reagan felt as though he should be the one to address the situation Pathos, the appeal to emotion, is one of the most obvious rhetorical appeals in this tragedy because everyone is already sad The depths of emotion are already felt by everyone.
So, pathos actually could have been the hardest for President Reagan to address, because he wasn’t able to bring up the emotions of his audience; he had to figure out a way to harness them. He had to help other people make sense of how they felt as well as himself. Ronald uses pathos in his speech by taking the incident into his own personal feelings. He lets the public know that even as President, someone of high power, he is still affected by the incident, To do this, he acknowledges the trauma and celebrates the sacrifice. “But we feel the loss, and we are thinking about you so very much, Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit, that says give me a challenge and I’ll meet it with joyt” — this line of Reagans speech reminded the audience that the astronauts were brave and special, without dragging out the point, It also lets them know that Reagan is emotionally effected by the incident.
A rhetoric device of alliteration is also used; it consoles the nation by acknowledging the love, passion, and spirits of the seven astronauts. Reagan uses logos in his speech to appeal to logic During a time of great grief, it is hard to remember what really is happening. Alot of what’s really reality, seems unreal. In this case, Reagan has the unfortunate responsibility of having to remind people that these astronauts were doing theirjob, and while this does not diminish their sacrifice, it acknowledges that they were prepared to make its Reagan uses logos by referring to the crew members involved in the horrific event, He refers to them as “pioneers” and calls space a “frontierr” “Even during a hard time, it should be remembered that the crew members knew the risks, and it was their job. Their sacrifice is important, and to honor them, the exploration of space must be continued, “ President Ronald Reagans response to the challenger disaster was very heart-felt and effective.
His job as president was to help the country heal, In order to fulfill this, he used pathos to appeal to emotion, ethos to appeal to authority, and logos to appeal to logic. In his speech, Reagan used ethos more than pathos and logos, It would make more sense to use the appeal of ethos, than to use a logical or ethical appeal when informing an audience of a tragedy. Reagan was able to construct a national message of reflective mourning while speaking to specific portions of the population at the same time America’s reaction to the horrific event was of shock and devastation Reagan’s speech was along the lines of remembering those who died, He had a deductive speech. He began by mentioning the event that occurred earlier that day, and then broadened it by giving their names.
He also gave the families of the victims his condolences. After his speech, people mourned the loss of the seven astronauts. The purpose of the speech was to give honor to the men and women who lost their lives in the challenger disaster, and to offer hope to those who will continue exploring in space. He wanted to offer condolences to the families of the victims, reassure that there would be a future of exploring space, and allow the audience to keep in mind that it was theirjob and the victims were willing to accept the consequences they would face. The organization of the speech was stating the problem and then ending with a solution, Reagan addressed the tragedy that the country had just experienced, and he gave solutions to the mourning.
He suggested that the country should come together as a whole, and share the time of grief. Reagans claim was supported by him saying, “We’ll continue our quest in space” And also when he says, “Nothing ends here; our hopes and ourjourneys continue,” He makes connections between Sir Francis Drake and the astronauts, to show that they were dedicated to their commitment even though it led to their death, and that it was not in vain He explained that it was just a rise towards future space travel. He shows empathy throughout his speech with everyone that was affected by this tragedy. Reagan was able to effectively get his main message across.
President Ronald Reagan gave his speech the night of the incident. He was preparing to give a speech that addressed the State of the Union, but postponed it to the following week. There couldn‘t have been a better time to give his speech than a time where the feelings of the Americans were still of deep devastation, His words were distressed, additionally rousing, promising that this grim occasion would not be the remainder of America‘s exploration in space — but instead an excruciating “part of the procedure” of extending mankind‘s viewpoints. This discourse is imperative to our history not on the grounds that it was an individual disaster for each American, but since it shows our determination. As Americans, we are not to surrender in difficult times; we keep going forward and continue to grow in new discoveries.
