Rhetorical Analysis Of Ronald Reagan's Speech 'Evil Empire'

Ronald Reagan’s address to the National Associations of Evangelicals (NAE) proved to be a speech that will forever be remembered and referenced because of its rhetoric. In a time of war, Reagan delivered a speech that impacted our nation and branded the term “evil empire” in the minds of Americans in reference to the Soviet Union. His deliberative “Evil Empire” speech strategically coaxed the audience by commending the religious power of America and advocating the unity of religion and politics. Reagan knew exactly what to say and how to say it in order to gain the support of his audience. Reagan was and still is known to be a “Great Communicator”. He seems to know exactly what to say to a particular audience in a way that is inoffensive and empowering. Before he said the first word of his speech, he was already a credible speaker to his audience of conservative religious citizens because he was also a conservative republican known for delivering great speeches. However, this speech enabled Reagan to gain the trust and attention of his audience. The entire speech is framed in religion which was his key to connecting with this audience of the most religious members of society. He begins by thanking the audience for their prayers for him and his wife and revealing himself to be a praying man. This was the first statement
that won ears in the audience. Stating that he believes in prayer was an excellent way to use ethos, pathos, and logos in one paragraph. This allowed the audience to see Reagan in a more personal light. He showed them that he too was a religious person and allowed them to feel as if he shared their same values. Reagan used issues and statistics that were not very credible, but the subject of them appealed to the audience. He first spoke of abortions and how there were clinics allowing underage children to receive abortions without the consent of parents. This was sure to strike the nerves of these highly religious conservatives. This has little to do with the Soviet Union, but this is a tactic that captures the attention of the audience. Abortion has always been a moral issue in America. The audience is surely in opposition to abortions and Reagan uses this issue to appeal to the emotions of his audience. He takes a further step in revealing that he has tried to get prayer back in schools which is probably the number one dream of his audience. He also notes a Washington survey that reported that “Americans were far more religious than the people of other nations”. No one knows what this survey was based upon or who even conducted the survey, but the results of the research “sounds good” and this helped Reagan win over his audience. Reagan defines the lines of “good” and “evil” and places America on the good side.
“There is sin and evil in the world, and we’re enjoined by Scripture and the Lord Jesus to oppose it with all our might,” states Reagan. The use of the words we and our unites Reagan and his audience. He quotes the Founding Fathers which show that America was built by men that were God-fearing. He also states that there are “a great many God-fearing, dedicated, noble men and women in public life”. These statements make strong appeals to the audience. Reagan uplifts the audience which heightens their emotions and makes them more receptive in supporting
him. Reagan finally got to his actual issue by the end of the speech. The entire first three pages of the speech were used to “butter-up” the audience and create a solid connection between them and the speaker. By the time Reagan begins to speak of the Soviet Union the audience is already on his side. He continually asks the audience to pray and quotes a scripture from Isaiah in the end of his speech. This speech heavily relied on pathos. Throughout the entire speech Reagan spoke of sensitive issues that were sure to demand the attention of the audience. He made the audience feel as if he felt the exact same way they did on every immoral issues that he presented. He used the audience’s religious background and played on their emotions by using biblical scriptures, quoting credible people, and proving himself to be a very religious man. From an analyst point of view, this speech has more fantasy than fact. He uses a lot of statistics that were not credible and aligns the speech in a way that he was sure to gain the support of his audience. The main issue was not presented until the end. However, Reagan produced a speech that was genius. Without having strong facts and statistics he won over his audience by telling them exactly what they wanted to hear: that America was “good” and all non-believers were evil.