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Ronald Reagan Challenger Speech Analysis

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Although Ronald Reagan’s speech about the Challenger explosion was given during a time of great sorrow, the speech was successful for being a way to unite the country as one to deal with the loss as a whole, and to bear the weight of such a horrific tragedy together. With the Challenger disaster being the first one of the space program to have deaths in flight, the United States was completely shocked by the misfortune of the shuttle. Ronald Reagan’s speech on the disaster was a way to have the nation not blame the space program for the deaths of the astronauts, but a way to have the nation face the disaster with strength and push through the event with more courage than before and to continue exploration into space. Ronald Reagan begins his speech by addressing the nation and stating how he is exempting the State of the Union …show more content…

Reagan even goes to compare the Challenger Seven to the explorer Sir Francis Drake. Reagan states that on the day three hundred ninety years ago, Sir Francis Drake died aboard a ship doing what he was best at. Reagan also even goes to say how a historian once said, “He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it” and that the Challenger Seven were just like Sir Francis Drake and how their dedication to what they were best at was complete now. All of this is an attempt by Reagan to once again rationalize the deaths of the seven so that they are not mourned as much as they are honored for their sacrifice. He also is saying all of this so that it is seen that the Challenger Seven died doing that they were best at, not with something they were not willing to do even with the risk of death present. All of these statements by Reagan were working coherently to bring the nation together, to mourn the loss, but also to honor the seven who were brave enough to do what no other human was willing to

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