The space shuttle disaster of the Challenger is, to this day, still one of biggest

tragedies to ever hit America. It was a space exploration shuttle with seven citizens
aboard. Seventy-three seconds after take off it tragically exploded, leaving all seven
passengers deceased. Ronald Reagan, while President in office, had the unfortunate task
of addressing the country of the event. Though it was not an easy task to complete, he
handled it with a sense of pride in his nation, allowing the rest of the country to follow
with him. Ironically, this address was given the night that the State of the Union address
was to be held on January 28, 1986. Ronald Reagan was known for his ability to deliver
a great speech, as he was comfortable in doing so. Even with this comfort, he was still
upset by the task at hand. At the time that this tragedy occurred, every one was that able
to watch the space shuttle lift into space did. This resulted in many people seeing the
explosion, including school kids watching from their classrooms.
Reagan was able to pull our nation together the very night of this unfortunate
event by having a brilliant speech prepared. He was able to appeal to his audience and
leave them with a sense of relief and pride by using appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos.
The fact that he was the president at the time he delivered the speech gave him more
credibility than anything else could have. Most people believe that if what they are
hearing is coming directly from the presidents mouth, it must hold value. He had top
knowledge of the even that happened because he was the president. Also, starting off his
speech with Id planned to speak to you tonight to report on the State of the Union
appealed to ethos. If he was worthy enough to address the State of the Union, he is
worthy enough to believe. At one point in his speech he mentioned Nancy and I. Most
people are used to hearing Mrs. Reagan be referred to as the First Lady. When he used

her name, it made him feel as if he were a real person, not just the president, which
gave him credibility. And lastly while on the topic of ethos, he was knowledgeable of
what was going on in world space news at the time. When he stated, We dont keep
secrets and cover them up, he was referring to Russia at the time and how they were
covering tragedy their space program had faced. This showed that he was up to date with
this topic.
President Reagan appealed to logos many times throughout this speech. As I
previously stated, he was knowledgeable on Russias space exploration at the time, as
well as NASAs explorations. He also made a historical reference to Sir Francis Drake
with a quote from the explorer three hundred and ninety years prior. Possibly the most
notable logos appeal was when he mentioned each of the seven victims by name. This
showed that he researched and was able to know them one by one, rather than as a group.
Most importantly, with this speech, was Reagans ability to appeal to the nation
through pathos. There were multiple lines that he used that played on the listeners
emotion. Once again, when he used the line Nancy and I. This showed that he was
including the two of them with the nation as a whole. He was not referring to them as the
president and the first lady, but rather as real people like the rest of those who were
mourning. He used lines such as we know we share this pain with all of the people of
our country, we mourn their loss as a nation together, and they served all of us. All
of these specific lines show that, at the time, everyone was one. Everyone was mourning
the same. Everyone would pull through this together. He was able to give the listeners a
sense of pride in each other. He made note of the courage it took for the crew, so that
everyone would remember that they were brave, even in their death. And once again, by

using the names of each of the victims separately, he was most likely able to make those
that knew the victims feel as if he truly cared about their loved one.
This is one of the most important speeches that I have ever heard. Though I was
not alive when this tragedy struck, I still feel the pain of those who witnessed it. I believe
that it was more than important for President Reagan to address the country at the time
this happened, to let them know that everything would be okay in the end. Without
hearing this speech I may have never understood the true significance of the pain that
viewers felt around this country when this disaster struck.
This speech should be remembered for eternity. I thank that it is on the internet
so that I will be able to show it to my children, and my childrens children. It shows that
even though our country has many rough spots, it still knows how to pull together in the
end. And that even though the president is looked at with fame in our country, they are
still real people and the still suffer the same pains that the rest of us do.