Preview

Ronald Reagan Just Say No Speech Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
882 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Ronald Reagan Just Say No Speech Analysis
On September 14, 1986, President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan delivered their “Just Say No” address to the nation. Reagan warned parents against drug dealers who were “plot[ting]...to steal our children’s lives.” This speech came after several years of President Reagan’s administration's War on Drugs that utilized the media and congressional and military action to reduce drug use. His administration created a “national crusade” that treated drug use as an attack on society that required a military reaction. Ronald Reagan’s crusade had the consequence of creating a climate for discriminatory congressional legislation and law enforcement.
Ronald Reagan and his administration manipulated the public's understanding of the drug problem
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Fbn Vs Anslinger
    • 285 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Fbn Vs Anslinger

    A year after the stock market crashed, 1930, and president Hoover is in office, America is in a state of existential crisis and people are looking for answers and distractions. The Treasury Department created the Federal Bureau of Narcotics under Harry J. Anslinger who directed the agency until 1962 “and molded America’s drug policy” (The United States War on Drugs). Anslinger who was also a prohibitionist, who believed progress could only be achieved by controlling each individual’s impulses and thought that if enough people were put in jail that America would rid itself of drugs. Nonetheless, with these same beliefs, Anslinger, used these to fight the war on drugs. Armed with a Depression snug budget, and an uphill battle Anslinger tried and failed to get state governments involved with the war effort.…

    • 285 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The New Jim Crow Michelle Alexander Summary
    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The New Jim Crow Michelle Alexander Summary

    Alexander describes America’s racial history in depth by covering slavery, the Civil War, reconstruction, and the Civil Rights Movement. The author also explains that The War on Drugs in the 1980s was not based on correct statistics about drug use, but rather to satisfy white people. During this time period, society was often harsher in criminal cases, especially with the media’s influence through…

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Did Ronald Reagan Combat Drug Use
    • 242 Words
    • 1 Page

    How Did Ronald Reagan Combat Drug Use

    Ronald Reagan made combating drug use one of his most important issues. He said that drug use was “one of the gravest problems facing America,” and “winning the war against drug abuse is one of the most important, the most urgent issues confronting us today. ”(2) During Reagan’s term, the Office of Director of National and International Drug Operations and Policy was formed by Congress to further combat the drug problem.(4) Two laws were passed in 1984, the Comprehensive Crime Act and the Narcotics Act of 1984.(4)…

    • 242 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Ronald Reagan's Performance In The Election Of 1980
    • 1552 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Ronald Reagan's Performance In The Election Of 1980

    In order to help children and teenagers from the drug epidemic, First Lady Nancy Reagan began funding the “Just Say No” campaign. She travelled across 33 states in order to discourage America’s youth from engaging in recreational drug use. In 1986, Reagan granted amnesty to approximately three million illegal immigrants who had entered the United States before January 1, 1982 by signing the Immigration Reform and Control Act. This act also made it illegal to knowingly hire illegal immigrants and required employers to attest to their employees’ immigration status. Without a doubt these two policies improved the lives of Americans…

    • 1552 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Ronald Reagan Informative Speech
    • 273 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Ronald Reagan Informative Speech

    Hello everyone, I am here representing Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was born on February 6, 1911 in Tampico, Illinois. When Reagan started school he went to Eureka High School, after graduating from Eureka High School he attended Eureka College. While he was at Eureka College he had majored in Economics and Sociology. While attending college he had worked as a sports announcer on several radio stations. After college he had moved to Hollywood in 1937 and from there he had became an actor and was in a few big movies. In the 1950’s Reagan started to get really involved with politics. In 1964 he had wrote a speech called “A Time for Choosing”, this speech supported Barry Goldwater presidential campaign and gave him national attention as a conservative…

    • 273 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Analysis Of Nancy Reagan's Argument Against Drugs
    • 1267 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Analysis Of Nancy Reagan's Argument Against Drugs

    In the 1980s and early ‘90s, Nancy Reagan proposed an anti-drugs campaign with the slogan Just Say No. Her solution to the drug problem was to teach children to say no to drugs, and rely on self-restraint to defeat temptation. Reagan believed children would be able to turn away from drugs if they had parents who raised them to be morally sound. Conservatives give priority to Moral Strength, and see those who use marijuana and drugs as morally weak and lacking self-control. A drug user, then, must change their personal values instead of relying on drug treatment centers or social change in order to quit their habit, Lakoff explains, “If the metaphor of Moral Strength has priority over other forms of explanation, then your poverty or your…

    • 1267 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The New Jim Crow Book Review
    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The New Jim Crow Book Review

    The Case for Decriminalizing Drugs, he takes a different approach to regarding the War on Drugs. While he feels that current drug policies have failed, his book focuses on the injustice of punitive drug laws and believes we should stop punishing people for using illicit drugs. “A law whose purpose is deterrence must always be backed by a demonstration that the law is just.” (ix) His book is presented in three chapters. Chapter one describes our present drug policies and laws and raises questions to answer whether these are just or unjust and offers his position of decriminalization as a more ethical approach to drug use. Chapter two reviews the most frequent arguments used in favor of punishing drug users and Husak believes that none of these are convincing enough to warrant enacting laws on a person’s behavior. Chapter three declares that punishing drug users is counterproductive and damaging to us…

    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Ronald Reagan Speech Analysis
    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Ronald Reagan Speech Analysis

    Speeches throughout history have inspired many to do good and bad. Political figures are expected to be some of the best speakers in the world and are expected to deliver speeches quite frequently. Some are better than others and some speeches are more inspiring than others, some speeches are a lot better than others, and some are just historical. Ronald Reagan was a popular president and he was considered a very good speaker. His Address to the Nation on Challenger is one of his better and well known speeches, the speech addressed the nation during a time of agony.…

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Cultural Conservative Beliefs
    • 361 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Cultural Conservative Beliefs

    Cultural conservatives have a great deal of faith in the "War on Drugs"; Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush, all used the expression often and were zealous generals in this "war." Carrying on this tradition in his campaign speeches, presidential candidate Bob Dole vowed to re-ignite the drug war, which had lapsed, he claimed, under Bill Clinton—whom he designated politically and culturally far to his left. More specifically, cultural conservatives have a great deal of faith in a principle we might refer to as absolute deterrence. That is, they do not believe simply that law enforcement is more likely to "contain" or keep a given activity in check or at a lower level than no enforcement at all; instead, they argue, that war can—absolutely—…

    • 361 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Ronald Reagan's Speech
    • 871 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Ronald Reagan's Speech

    The final ingredient to really understanding a speech is the audience. In President Ronald Reagan's speech, "Address to Students at Moscow State University," the audience seems pretty obvious (it's included in the title after all). But, we can really understand President Reagan's speech better if we take some time to understand the audience to whom he is speaking.…

    • 871 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Criminal Constructions Of Drug Users By Kevin Whiteacre
    • 1344 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Criminal Constructions Of Drug Users By Kevin Whiteacre

    When examining drug use in American society, it can be said that it is met with generally negative attitudes. American society has typically frowned upon drug use, creating negative narratives and stigmas against the use of drugs. They have also employed various tactics to convince people not to use drugs, including the concept of drug scares. Drug scares are employed by different entities within American society throughout history in order to dissuade individuals from engaging in drug use and uphold negative attitudes towards drugs and drug users. Before delving into historical continuities of negative drug use, it is imperative that one understand the concept of drug scares and how it…

    • 1344 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Drug War: Era Of Color Blindness
    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Drug War: Era Of Color Blindness

    Today’s society is known as the “Era of Color Blindness.” The war on drugs from the past to the future has not changed according to Michelle Alexander. The previous Jim Crowe law may be eradicated, but the law was brought back into effect by former president Ronald Reagan, known as the “War on Drugs.” The war on drugs that was put into effect by Ronald Reagan was targeted to lower class communities that had a violent crime rate. Focusing on the “Drug War” took light off a pressing issue known as racial caste in America by making harsher punishments for people who used or sold drugs. Even though the focus was in lower class communities it was also just as common in the middle to upper class communities. The “War on Drugs”…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Argumentative Essay On 13th
    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Argumentative Essay On 13th

    “In many ways, the so-called war on drugs was a war on communities of color, a war on black communities, a war on Latino communities.” This statement was made by Angela Davis who appeared in the documentary, 13th. Next to unfair jail sentences, the war on drugs was the next hot topic of the documentary. 13th recognizes that the Nixon administration began the cycle of criminalizing African-Americans struggling with drug addictions, rather than increasing availed resources for treatment and rehabilitation. 13th also recognizes the United States’ 40th president, Ronald Reagan, to be the cause of this…

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Richard Nixon's The War On Drugs
    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Richard Nixon's The War On Drugs

    The history associated with drug criminalization in America contains more political motivators than concerns for public health and safety. The biggest politically motivated aspect to drug deterrence comes from Richard Nixon’s s war on drugs in 1971 which has created a system that discriminates against minority groups and has had little effect on deterring drug use. The war on drugs has thus far been notoriously noted for discriminating against people of color by pumping drugs into their communities and then imposing severe criminal consequences for drug possession, use, or distribution. In fact, one of Nixon’s aides John Ehrlichmen stated that the war on drugs was intended for the following:…

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Ronald Reagan Speech
    • 1615 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Ronald Reagan Speech

    I want to add that I wish I talks could to every man and woman who works for NASA or who worked on this mission and tell them: "Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share…

    • 1615 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More

Related Topics