Monday, April 14, 2008

Evil Empire Speech

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1982reagan1.html

3 comments:

Abby Horton said...

Its funny how presidental speeches seem to be model off of each other's in the US. This speech is provoking a strong sense of nationalism and batteling type references using bloody this and evil that. US presidents always explain to the people how the task at hand is so important to protecting freedom. The quote that stood out most in my mind is "Must freedom wither in a quiet, deadening accommodation with totalitarian evil?" I enjoyed reading this speech.

Anonymous said...

This speech is a great example of what a speech should be. It's incredibly effective in that it is persuasive, and even a little bit misleading, as we now know in 2008. He poses the Soviets as horrible evil people and argues that the U.S. has done and will do nothing wrong--that the only violence we have participated in, we were "unwilling participants" for the sake of our own countries safety. Like Abby said, it resembles speeches in the past, and it's sure to resemble those of the future. It serves to unify the people, and confirm their beliefs that the U.S. is right and good and strong!

JBolognani said...

This speach really illustrates what a speech is. A speech is not necessarily about facts it is about persuasion. If you are trying to persuade someone to do something you will stretch the truth to fit your own ends.

very well done, congrats whoever actually wrote it