Rhetorical Analysis Of Ronald Reagan's Challenger

Ronald Reagan’s speech addresses the awful incident that occurred with the launch of the space shuttle “Challenger.” Seven of the astronauts boarding the space shuttle, “Challenger,” were killed mid-flight. The U.S. has not experienced anything like this, space travel is still new. Reagan shows his great appreciation for the working class of the U.S. by cancelling his State of the Union to provide a powerful message. Reagan delivers a speech with hope and clarity for the future of space endeavors. His faith for the space program and NASA is strong and fails to diminish even after tragic event that occurred. Reagan remains calm and takes time out of his speech to address the children who may be confused that watched the shuttle launch live. While the nation was in shock from such …show more content…
He talks about this event as a first for the U.S. “Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we've never lost an astronaut in flight. We've never had a tragedy like this.” The importance of what happened is severely increased due to this being something that has never occurred. Reagan explains how much courage it took for the entire crew of Challenger and how devastated the poor families are from the loss. Reagan becomes human in this section. Reagan ensures the quest through space is not over. He says that there will be even more shuttles, and workers for NASA. His faith for NASA really shines here and gives the nation optimism for the future of space exploration. Reagan’s transparency with the whole situation is surprising. He believes that freedom is allowing space to be public and says he would never change it. Reagan’s confidence is overzealous for future discoveries, this allows the people of the U.S. to trust Reagan and the space program