In the speech “In Event of Moon Disaster” William Safire,
In the speech “In Event of Moon Disaster” William Safire,
The context of this speech is that on January 18, 1986 the Challenger Shuttle exploded seventy-three seconds into flight. Aboard this aircraft was Christina McAuliffe, the first teacher in Space, who served as an inspiration for school kids nationwide. The speaker of this speech is Ronald Reagan, the President at the time, and his audience is the citizens of the United States. During his speech, Reagan creates a sense of unity and also expresses his feelings of grief. The purpose of each is to convince the Nation that he is a fellow American and to show the value he holds for human life. In order to achieve the impression that Reagan is a fellow American he takes on the persona of a sensitive family man who feels for the loss of his country.…
6. The “Checkers speech” showed the awesome power of television, (foreshadowed by FDR w/ radio), since Nixon had pleaded on national TV, and even later, “Ike,” as Eisenhower was called, agreed to go into studio and answer some brief “questions,” which were later spliced in and edited to make it look like Eisenhower had answered…
January 1 – Richard Milhous Nixon is sworn into office as the 37th President of The United States at the U.S. Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. In his inaugural address, he stated that “The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker. This honor now beckons America.”…
From the beginning of time, as seen in all political campaigns, the fight to win over the American public is mainly shown through these persuasive political speeches. In this particular speech, Nixon uses the art of rhetoric to persuade, manipulate, and gain the trust of his audience. By using the empowerment of the new medium of television, he uses this political tool to manipulate. He bares his heart out through his words, and gives himself credibility by portraying himself as an honest,…
Furthermore, as the situation got worse and the spirits of the American people were getting low the enthusiasm of the President also got low as well. When things began not to go Hoover’s way it seems that he retracted so much. In times when the country is in crisis we as citizens often look to our current president for guidance and support through the dark times. In the case of Hoover it was not as it seems “in these dark hours, the nation looked to the president for guidance comfort, and good cheer, but looked in vain”…
The purpose of Richard Nixon’s famous “Checkers” Speech is to inform Americans as to why he used $18,000 from a group of his supporters and to persuade them of the truth. He also aims to reveal the flaws in the standing government. The audience of the speech is American citizens who were of voting age at the time and who owned a television. or radio with which to watch or listen to the public address. The genre is a political speech. Richard Nixon’s stance is expressing his story and his reasoning behind it. The media and design is a public announcement made on television and streamed over the radio. Nixon begins his speech by addressing and connecting to the audience saying “My Fellow Americans”. He comes before his audience wanting to truthfully address the situation in which both his honesty and integrity have been questioned. He says that using the money from his supporters was not morally wrong but he regrets doing it. He then states that he did not use the money for personal reasons but to pay for political and campaign expenses. He states that he has proof that he did not use the money for personal reasons in the form of an independent audit. Nixon then gives the audience a brief background of his financial history of relying on himself for the state of his finances. He says the only gift he was given that he kept was a dog name Checkers who was given to him by someone who read that he and his family were trying to get a dog. Nixon begins to close his speech by saying that he is addressing the people of America to gain their confidence as a fellow American. He is not asking for their support in running for Vice President, he is simply asking for them to hear his side of the story. He then begins to talk about the flaws in the current executive officers and how the country is in great danger of becoming corrupt with communism. He then says that President Truman played a great deal in getting the country into this mess and that the best person to get them…
In this speech Reagan had the responsibility to remind everyone that although this was terrible we as a country had to go on with our lives and people would still be sent to space regardless. He expresses this idea by saying, “We’ve grown used to wonders in this century. It’s hard to dazzle us. But for twenty-five years the United States space program has been doing just that.”. The logical aspect of this speech is difficult to address because people don’t want to hear this when they are in a time or mourning. However, in this speech, Reagan approached it in an interesting way. He did it with a sense of hope and reassurance which, assumingly, eased some of the…
Each of these four texts uses essential rhetorical techniques in order to effectively get across each purpose, these purposes being quite different in each text. The Times article is very analytical, while the speech by Safire focuses most heavily on the emotional side of the moon landing in the hypothetical context of the text. Rand’s article paints the launch in an extremely positive and figurative light, while the Hemlock cartoon criticizes the attention that the mission receives given the many crises going on in the world at that time.…
“How Much Power Does the President Really Have?”, a radio segment aired in 2012, Douglas Brinkley describes his feelings when asked about presidential power: “Without Kennedy believing that this [The Moon Landing] was going to be the big thing for our…
Former President of the United States, Gerald R. Ford gave a speech pardoning his predecessor, former President Richard Nixon, of all offenses against the United States that he may have committed during his presidency. The announcement was made live on September 8, 1974. The speech was written to persuade the country to agree with the pardoning of Nixon and forgive him for the crimes he had committed against his country. Ford states that “Theirs (Nixon’s Family) is an American tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must.” President Ford argued that the pardoning of Richard Nixon isn’t only for Nixon and his family’s fate but for the country’s well-being. Throughout Ford’s speech he makes evident the use of Logos, Ethos and Pathos appeals. He uses the appeals evenly, convincing his audience while still being well-supported and reasonable.…
Bryan Zygmont, Assistant Professor of Art History, delivers an intriguing and comical lecture while explaining how the obstacles of language, culture, and differences he faced when granted a Fulbright Scholarship to teach in Poland for six months helped him grow overall. Zygmont began the discussion with his own school picture and defined himself as a “space nerd”. He owned space patches, space books, and was “all in” with his obsession. He listed off many controversial events that have happened throughout the years, but Zygmont believed the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger that killed all seven astronauts aboard tops the charts. All this leads to the inspirational quote made by John F. Kennedy, “We choose to go to the moon and…
In the Second text ¨In event of moon disaster¨ William Safire uses President Nixon's speech as the event for the document. President Nixon address his speech to the US citizens, worldwide. The purpose for Nixon's speech was to address the Neil and Edwin on the moon successful trip. The moon landing was a major deal in the US during that time. Ethos Nixon acknowledging and honoring Neil and Edwin of how brave they were to Land on the moon.This was an…
At some point in our youth, every child has entertained the idea of walking the surface of a planet only graced by the footsteps of a handful of select individuals. Jack Swigert, Fred Haise, and Jim Lovell train for this moment in the NASA program, but alas Apollo 13 is the first aborted Apollo mission. There are scarcely words that can describe the disappointment of these three men, but at the time, that was only a minor adversity during their space mission. The malfunctions of the lunar module Aquarius not only surprise Houston, but it leads the crew to experience many close encounters with death. In Apollo 13, director Ron Howard shows that in times of desperation, people must contribute their resourcefulness in a team effort in order to prevail over adversity. In other words, the cooperation of determined individuals can overcome many obstacles. These instances are witnessed onboard the Aquarius and within the NASA command center as both land and space crews work cohesively to conquer doubt and bring the 3 astronauts back to Earth. Many times during the mission, the 3 astronauts are unable to navigate through space and NASA headquarters reacts by assembling a team of able-bodied scientists and engineers to devise a solution. In addition, Lovell, Swigert and Haise struggle with further mishaps and quarrels in space, so gradually, they adjust to life on board the lunar module and work together to stabilize conditions and learn to prioritize their survival over their differences. Finally, despite being decommissioned from Apollo 13, Ken Mattingly more than willingly joins the NASA team in working out a re-entry path and plan for the astronauts. The abilities of all these individuals to dedicate themselves towards a worthy cause are what brought three great men…
In Bill Clinton’s inaugural address in 1993, Clinton presents his purpose explicitly. Within Clinton’s address, historical figures such as George Washington along with Thomas Jefferson are presented as a rhetorical appeal to demonstrate the significant for change. Indeed, Clinton also embraced historical events as examples of allusion to indicate the need for change.…
On the great list of Cold War what-ifs, the near-miss of the Bay of Pigs is surely number one. But for all the space nerds out there, this one ranks pretty high: What if Aldrin and Armstrong never made it back? This was, of course, a distinct possibility, and one that the Nixon administration prepared for. While we were told during this last presidential election that Mitt Romney failed to write a concession speech, William Safire, speechwriter for Richard Nixon, did write a speech in the event that Apollo 11 couldn’t make the return trip. The speech, entitled IN EVENT OF MOON DISASTER, is a something of a terse and poignant masterpiece. Below is an excerpt of Safire’s brief, hypothetical address:…