Rhetorical Analysis of Ronald Reagan's Challenger Speech President Ronald Reagan's speech on the challenger explosion is one of the most powerful speeches of its time. The nation was just struck with a national tragedy so instead of delivering the scheduled State of the Union President Reagan gave the challenger speech from his desk in the oval office. He does this to because it was perfect karios because this gave this speech even more importance then the State of the Union. The death of the 7 astronauts was very hard on the American citizens who looked up to them so President Reagan gave a speech worthy of those heroes who died in that fiery explosion of the coast of Florida. Although the challenger speech failed to go over why the explosion…show more content… Stating that we don't keep secrets gave every word President Reagan said a bigger sense of truth. Then he personifies freedom itself as open in order to rally Americans around the idea that the space program shares very many similar qualities to freedom. This links the space program and freedom to each other in the eyes of viewers so the challenger explosion starts to feel like an attack on freedom. This is a done using a tactic called rabble rousing to stir up emotion in the people in return making the speech have more of an impact on the people. President Reagan states that, “Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it.”(Reagan), to further rally Americans with his patriotic tone. The word choice is key to bringing the utmost respect to the challenger crew. The word dedication expresses that the astronauts aboard that shuttle were hard working individuals. When President Reagan chooses to say anguish he shows the deep level of cringing pain that this country is experiencing without theses astronauts. He then compares the death of a great explorer named Sir Drake to the death of the challenger astronauts. Stating this gives honor to the challenger astronauts because it puts them on the same level as a great explorer. So they will now be remembered throughout all time as great explorers just like Sir Drake is remembered to this