Ronald Reagan's Speech

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President Reagan (Last Names O-Z) ID: 16479 8/28/2012 In order to be a truly successful public leader, it is important to thoroughly understand how using a language can be used to manipulate people’s thoughts and emotions. Ever since ancient times, public speeches presented by leaders around the globe served the purpose of preaching their ideas, rallying existing supporters, and to gain new ones. Speeches have the ability to this because, if well-written and said, it can touch the hearts of many people—thereby allowing leaders to draw new supporters in by convincing non-believers to join in their cause. On top of that, good speeches can give followers the energy and courage to continue to work on towards a goal despite the many hardships they may encounter, as well as emitting a calming effect, which can help people get over the initial shock and dejection that follows an accident. For Ronald Reagan, one of the most famous and successful U.S presidents in the late 20th century, his speech was instrumental in calming the shock felt around the world following the accident of the space shuttle Challenger, and it was also crucial in spurring on the American space industry to the high level it is today. In order to calm people down, Reagan first reminds everyone that America has “never lost an astronaut in flight” and has “never had a tragedy like this” before, so it was definitely an accident. This also meant that the government had little experience in this area, and probably made mistakes in dealing with the accident. He proceeded to mention how all the astronauts “knew of the risks beforehand and were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly”, telling people that the astronauts were brave people, who valued the mission above their lives. He also gave reassurance to the American people that their leaders were feeling the “full impact
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