On the morning of January 28, 1986, at 11:39 a.m., President Ronald Reagan sat in the Oval Office with his team of advisors putting the finishing touches on his State of the Union speech, which was slated to occur that evening (Cannon, “Challenger Disaster”). At this same moment in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the space shuttle Challenger began its launch. However, this spacecraft would never exit our atmosphere; 73 seconds after liftoff, it exploded, killing all seven passengers (“Challenger Disaster”). After learning of these events, Reagan and his advisors decided that a State of the Union with the country in this state would not be wise (Cannon). That night America did not need Reagan to give the facts and figures of the nation; America needed
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The most prominent of these was the use of antithesis. America was hurting, and they needed to be reassured that good could come out of this situation. As Reagan stated, “The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted, it belongs to the brave,” he challenged everyone to think about why the seven Americans astronauts who died that day had done what they had. Those seven people had their sights set on the stars, dreaming of the future and planning what could be done now to improve it. He also used an asyndeton to show the hopefulness that he had for the future. “We’ll 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.” By removing that one simple conjunction in the list of those who will enter space, he told the American people that the opportunities the future will bring were limitless. America will continue to do amazing things despite this tragic …show more content…
However, many people agree in saying that the speech that he ended up giving that day would become one of his most famous. In less than 700 words, he was able to give the American people a message of remembrance while also showing them the hope that still remained for the future (Cannon). Through his simple and straightforward delivery, he connected with the nation, showing them that even through tragedies like this, it would be possible to resume the continual process of making America great while also remembering the legacies of those seven Americans who “waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of
The most prominent of these was the use of antithesis. America was hurting, and they needed to be reassured that good could come out of this situation. As Reagan stated, “The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted, it belongs to the brave,” he challenged everyone to think about why the seven Americans astronauts who died that day had done what they had. Those seven people had their sights set on the stars, dreaming of the future and planning what could be done now to improve it. He also used an asyndeton to show the hopefulness that he had for the future. “We’ll 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.” By removing that one simple conjunction in the list of those who will enter space, he told the American people that the opportunities the future will bring were limitless. America will continue to do amazing things despite this tragic …show more content…
However, many people agree in saying that the speech that he ended up giving that day would become one of his most famous. In less than 700 words, he was able to give the American people a message of remembrance while also showing them the hope that still remained for the future (Cannon). Through his simple and straightforward delivery, he connected with the nation, showing them that even through tragedies like this, it would be possible to resume the continual process of making America great while also remembering the legacies of those seven Americans who “waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of