Ronald Reagan's Oratory Skills

The following sample essay on “Ronald Reagan” focuses on the oratory skills of a famous politician who was the 40th President of the United States. The article analyzes the speech patterns that Reagan used in his speeches.

When Ronald Reagan, an actor, made his first political speech, he encouraged people to be more for something rather than against. To do this, he used 3 persuasive techniques to try and convince others. Ronald Reagan used ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade people to contribute to the Barry Goldwater campaign.

Reagan uses ethos in the speech a couple times in the speech. He uses it when he says I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only up or down. In the quote, hes removing the party symbols and essentially saying what’s right and wrong. Another example of ethos that he shows in the speech is when he says I am going to talk of controversial things.

I make no apology for this. This shows that he isnt afraid of speaking his mind. This method is persuasive because he shows that he is able to be trusted.

Reagan uses pathos quite a bit in his speech to make people feel. He uses words like You and I and We when addressing the audience, making them feel more included in his speech and messaging. An example of pathos that he uses could be when he says We are faced with the most evil enemy mankind has known in his long climb from the swamp to the stars.

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There can be no security anywhere in the free world if there is no fiscal and economic stability within the United States. This makes the audience feel nervousness because if they choose the other side, there maybe a worldwide collapse. This method is persuasive because it plays to the audiences base emotions, and emotions can be a big driving factor in big decisions.

Reagan uses logos in his speech to make his argument based on factual evidence and logic, giving it more believability. When Reagan says The Founding Fathers knew a government cant control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. He’s showing that he has done research on the founding fathers and their beliefs when founding the country, in support of his argument. Another example of this is when he says But the truth is that outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or economically as the private sector. Here he shows that he has studied how the government works and that it works the same as the private sector.

Now, you can see how Reagan used persuasive techniques to get people on his side of his argument. He uses the techniques to make people trust, feel, and think, which would convince people to join his side. If you thought that these methods didnt work, then explain how he would later become the 40th US President.