Ronald Reagan was the 40th President of the United States of America during the Cold War. On January 28, 1986, he gave a speech on the tragedy of the space shuttle Challenger, which exploded in the atmosphere. The speech was delivered in the Oval Office during his State of the Union address. He was trying to inform and comfort America about the disaster. The author uses several rhetorical devices in his speech. The importance of these devices is to convey the author's goal of persuading the reader to adopt a certain perspective. A speaker uses these devices to give more impact to his speech. Rhetorical and persuasive devices can make a speech more effective because they can use emotional and logical appeal. In this speech, Reagan does not use many complicated devices, but he uses appeal, anaphora, repetition and allusion. Ronald Reagan was born to parents Nelle and John Reagan in February 1911. He went to Eureka College where he studied economics and sociology. Before Reagan began his political career, he was a Hollywood actor. Starring in over 50 films, his n...