The speech “A Time for Choosing” delivered by Ronald Reagan took place October 27, 1964 speaks to the subject and topic of welfare along with many other issues and areas. “A Time for Choosing” was correspondingly recognized by means of “The Speech”. The speech was given on for Republican candidate Barry Goldwater during the 1964 United States presidential election campaigned by means of Ronald Reagan.
The speech launched Reagan into a coast-to-coast spotlight. Speaking on behalf of Goldwater, Reagan put more importance on his trust and certainty in the importance of smaller, more centralized government. The speech raised $1 million for Goldwater’s crusade, and is thought to be the thing that launched Reagan’s political career (Cannon, Schweizer). Even in this day and age, “A Time for Choosing” is understood to be one of the utmost effective speeches ever delivered on behalf of a candidate. Farther down the road, Reagan was nicknamed the “Great Communicator” in an acknowledgement of his effective rhetoric. This is a very persuasive speech that held such profound influence with its audience because of the rhetorical concepts that were used.
The principal purpose of this analysis is to detect some of the rhetorical devices of Ronald Reagan in his October 27, 1964 “A Time for Choosing” speech. To realize this goal the it is essential for the critics to first have a strong viewpoint of the speaker, his audiences(s), and the social/political setting going on at that time. With an understanding of the interconnected characteristics of the situations, as well as the rhetoric’s used by the speaker, it ought to be conceivable to formulate conclusions connecting to the accomplishments or disappointments of Reagan’s political rhetoric in his 1964 address. This speech was very persuasive due to the rhetorical concepts of metaphor, eavesdropping audience, logos, ethos, and pathos.
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Reagan’s October 27, 1964 speech delivered at Los Angeles, California argued that there was a strong desire for there to be more government intervention in welfare. In this claim, Reagan used the metaphor of a soup kitchen to support his point: “Those who would trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state have told us they have a utopian solution of peace without victory” (Eidenmuller). A metaphor is a “figure of speech in which two dissimilar things are said to be similar, offering a new perspective on a known issue” (Palczewski). In this quote Reagan is using the metaphor of the welfare state to a soup kitchen to represent the struggle of having no simple solution to poverty and welfare.
Reagan also uses the metaphor of the life of a man to a long climb. He says, “We’re at war with the most dangerous enemy that has ever faced mankind in his long climb from the swamp to the stars, and it’s been said if we lose that war, and in so doing lose this way of freedom of ours, history will record with the greatest astonishment that those who had the most to lose did the least to prevent its happening” (Eidenmuller). In this quote Reagan is using the metaphor of the life of a man to a long climb to represent the American involvement in the Vietnam war.
As a campaign promoter, Reagan’s speech is generally intended to convince the American majority to vote for Barry Goldwater. However, he also targets a more specific audience using the eavesdropping audience. At the very start of his speech Reagan makes the declaration, “I have spent most of my life as a Democrat. I recently have seen fit to follow another course” (Eidenmuller). The eavesdropping audience is the “audience whom the rhetor desires to hear the message despite explicitly targeting the message at a different group” (Palczewski).
This declaration serves to target Democrats in several ways. One method the aforementioned sees to this is through seeming to point toward the fact that he has learned from his errors and now differentiates the Democratic Party as the lesser of the two existing options. This positions Democrats in his arena of fire by criticizing them without having to confront them. One more way the statement points to his intended audience is by implanting a kind of honest characteristic in his language, resulting in an appeal to Democrats.
By means of saying that he has transformed his political philosophies provokes interest and projects a sense of harshness concerning the adverse circumstances formed by Democratic Party leaders of that period. He also practices the rhetorical concept of eavesdropping when he talks about welfare. He says, “So they’re going to solve all the problems of human misery through government and government planning. Well, now, if government planning and welfare had the answer — and they’ve had almost 30 years of it — shouldn’t we expect government to read the score to us once in a while?” (Eidenmuller). In this quote Reagan is desiring for the government to hear the message of what he is saying that they keep on saying that they are going to make things better but then that they have had a long time to do so and nothing has materialized from it, although he is still speaking to the Republican party. In both quotes Reagan is using subtle messages to reach other audiences.
Reagan practices numerous tools to lead his audience. To create a solid foundation and provide a basis for his argument Reagan uses the first and most basic of these tools in the form of logos. He uses the appeal so much that most of the entire speech presents an argument based in logic. Logos is that which relies on “argument itself, by showing or seeming to show something” (Palczewski). Reagan practices logos to reason for economic conservatism. Reagan uses logos, to enlighten Americans of the prejudices and inequalities brought to the attention by the present government. Reagan can successfully communicate to the American voters that the nation is in terrible economic and financial standings. By means of this, the argument increases its quality of reliability. Regardless of how well the speech is given, logical points made are hard to ignore and forget.
The audience turn out to be enchanted to the reasoning behind the speaker’s persuading words and this has been done with using sentiment or character. Reagan uses this very effectively when he generates dread and anxiety in his audience. He sees to this by clearly reiterating the bad financial circumstances of the country. Today, 37 cents out of every dollar earned in this country is the tax collector’s share, and yet our government continues to spend 17 million dollars a day more than the government takes in. We haven’t balanced our budget 28 out of the last 34 years. We’ve raised our debt limit three times in the last twelve months, and now our national debt is one and a half times bigger than all the combined debts of all the nations of the world. We have 15 billion dollars in gold in our treasury; we don’t own an ounce.
Foreign dollar claims are 27.3 billion dollars. And we’ve just had announced that the dollar of 1939 will now purchase 45 cents in its total value (Eidenmuller). Reagan gives his audience an argument that his audience will be able to understand about the economic reality of our nation’s economic policy via a mix of data, information, and reasoning. By using information that the public can understand and statistics, the audience can undoubtedly recognize that our country’s economic standing cannot continue to operate the way that it has been operating. He correspondingly practices this when he discusses the amount of government spending towards welfare.
He says, “Welfare spending [is] 10 times greater than in the dark depths of the Depression. We’re spending 45 billion dollars on welfare” (Eidenmuller). He uses logos as reasoned discourse making it a part of his argument. Giving the exact numbers and data of welfare expenditure Reagan is creating logos for the audience. He practices logos by making a claim and then supporting that claim with fact. Reagan’s attentiveness on the topics gives both a rational and intelligent impression to the public. By making the logical argument that the nation is at an all-time low, he almost forces a sense of urgency upon his audience. Subsequently creating this sense of urgency, Reagan can then use other strategies to sell his resolve to make conditions better.
An effective device Reagan uses to sell his capability is his application of ethos. One of the foremost goals of his speech is to embody a well-thought-of person to appeal to his audience. With direct description, spiritual and ethical references, or an understandable attitude thrown over an ethical statement, Reagan practices this through the duration of his speech and he practices it well.
Ethos is that which is “in the character of the speaker” (Palczewski). A chief goal of his speech is to show respectable character. A major theme in this speech shows a concern for the general direction of the nation in terms of foreign affairs. Reagan assesses freedom and defense by associating the freedom of the United States with “the ant heap of totalitarianism” (Eidenmuller). He does this to paint his Democratic opponents in a technique that promotes an inclination of weakness. This is as if to say that if chosen to be President, his adversaries would likely be expected to pacify than to resort to violence if there were an intruding threat.
During his explanation of these possibilities, Reagan uses a reasonable tone of speech to criticize and attribute all the undesirable characteristics he explains to his opponent. This also situations itself to say that he would on no account fall back to such weakness, which at the same time portrays himself as an individual of superior character. Another thing to consider is that he is trying to build all of this up for another individual. Since he is talking for Barry Goldwater, his speech is given for both of them to be viewed in this light. He shows us of this superior character when he says, “I’ve never known a man in my life I believed so incapable of doing a dishonest or dishonorable thing” (Eidenmuller). This declaration gives us insight to that of Goldwater’s attractiveness as an individual, but then at the same time shows us the similarities and resemblances to himself.
When he says, “They say we offer simple answers to complex problems. Well, perhaps there is a simple answer — not an easy answer — but simple: If you and I have the courage to tell our elected officials that we want our national policy based on what we know in our hearts is morally right” (Eidenmuller) he is also practicing ethos. In this quote he practices ethos as it is constructed through performance or symbolic action. He is speaking directly to the audience’s character to see if they will talk to their members of Congress. His character can have both a positive and negative influence due to ethos.
Another rhetorical concept that Reagan practices is pathos. He does this the minute he makes reference to the current situation happening in Vietnam. He said, “As for the peace that we would preserve, I wonder who among us would like to approach the wife or mother whose husband or son has died in South Vietnam and ask them if they think this is a peace that should be maintained indefinitely. Do they mean peace, or do they mean we just want to be left in peace?” (Eidenmuller). Reagan practices this story of the bereavement of the mother in addition to the wife to lead the audience in the direction of re-counting the danger and menace of communalism in the direction of the existence of freedom.
Pathos is that which leads the audience “to feel emotion” (Palczewski). He goes on to state, “there can be no real peace while one American is dying some place in the world for the rest of us” (Eidenmuller). Reagan effectively uses pathos when he uses an emotional story and inspires his audience to challenge communism and adopt a foreign policy that is more globalized. He also uses pathos when he says, “We’ll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we’ll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness” (Eidenmuller).
Pathos is human feelings, he uses this as he discusses the future prosperity for the forthcoming age groups. He also uses pathos when he says, “Those who would trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state have told us they have a utopian solution of peace without victory” (Eidenmuller). The audience will react strongly to the emotional story for the reason that they can sympathetically and compassionately connect. They feel empathy to what these military families are having to go through. Reagan’s practice of pathos has a very compelling effect on his audience. This helps his audience to understand that he has the same concerns about foreign policy as average Americans and makes him more relatable and approachable to the average American.
In conclusion, due to the rhetorical concepts of metaphor, eavesdropping audience, logos, pathos, and ethos as they were used in the speech it was very persuasive and Reagan makes a great argument with this speech. He applies several sound appeals to the audience and does so in a skilled manner. By means of reeling his addressees and listeners in by means of an unpretentious common-sense disagreement, and then in addition promoting Barry Goldwater by means of a solution in a common-sense manner, he makes it seem as if he is the obvious choice. Reagan’s ability to use different rhetorical appeals to speak to his audience made this a very good speech. Reagan was situated to be able to use his rhetorical appeals to persuade the audience that the government needed to change to better reflect the freedoms and ideals our country was built upon.
Where there was a problem he provided a solution, where there was a question he gave answer. “A Time for Choosing” or “The Speech” will remain powerful and memorable for many years to come. Reagan makes a great argument with this speech. “Argument is reasoned discourse that seeks to persuade by presenting support for a position” (Palczewski). Although Lyndon B. Johnson ended up being president that year, Ronald Reagan’s “A Time for Choosing” helped out the Goldwater campaign tremendously and is an excellent example of argumentative rhetoric. Using the persuasive text and rhetorical devices he achieved the point he was trying to get across to the people. The reason his speech was known for such greatness was because of the clever way he inserted the devices of metaphor, eavesdropping audience, logos, pathos, and ethos into his speech.
