Ronald Reagan Commencement Speech Analysis

On May 9, 1982, Ronald Regan, the fortieth president of the United States, gave a commencement speech to the graduating class from Eureka College. Eureka College is where Ronald Regan went to college. This is interesting because previous presidents like John F. Kennedy, Barak Obama, or Bill Clinton all went to ivy league colleges like Harvard or Yale. It is very inspiring that Regan was able to accomplish so much without a degree from a prestigious university. This commencement speech very interesting because instead of giving a speech giving advice to students, he gave a speech on foreign policy. He decided to do this because he thought that as these students enter the work force, they will be forced to make decisions on foreign policy because it …show more content…
He refers to a comprehensive comparison published by NATO, and how in his words, “During the past decade, the Soviet Union has built up its forces across the board. During the same period, the defense expenditures of the United States declined in real terms.”. One of the theories Regan had was the idea of peace through strength. This idea states that the United States should have an extremely large and powerful military to deter other nations from attacking the United States for the fear of being obliterated. This is the fundamental theory of the Realist philosophy, in regards to world politics, with their main slogan being “If you want peace prepare for war.”. However, unlike most realists, he believes there needs to be a limit to how massive the army can be. Because of this belief, he proposes an arms reduction of nuclear weapons. During the Cold War there was a massive buildup of nuclear weapons in the United States and the Soviet Union. Also, the Soviet Union began using chemical weapons on third world countries. As a result, Regan proposes that we negotiate with the Soviet Union to reduce the amount of weapons of mass destruction in the Soviet Union and the United