Ronald Reagan's Second Inaugural Rhetorical Analysis

Ronald Reagan’s Second Inaugural
Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States of America, tries to diminish the influence of the federal government in an individual’s life. By doing so, Ronald Reagan created a comparison between the year before (1985) to the year they were in at the time. (1986) Showing all of the positive outcomes in 1986 and the troubles during the year 1985. Reagan uses the appeal to logic to define all of the successful turnouts they’ve had and uses the appeal to emotion to focus more on how the government is too powerful; “taking away opportunities.” When Ronald created these rhetorical devices, it could convince citizens that “private values must be at the heart of public policies,” and that they don’t need

such a big government as long as they have “private values.” It helps prove his purpose when trying to diminish the influence of the federal government in order to start capitalism.
One of Reagan’s most effective methods when explaining his purpose was when he created a comparison between how time was in 1985 and how much has changed since 1986 by using juxtaposition. Reagan begins to illustrate all of the favorable accomplishments that appeared throughout the year to keep the crowd in a positive and in an inspired mood. He uses juxtaposition by comparing, “turning the greatest country on Earth into a land of broken dreams,” to “firm of heart and united in spirit.” He compares those two phrases because it indicates: though they’ve encountered tragedies throughout the past year: if they all work together, as a united country, they can fix all the catastrophes that had in 1985. Creating a comparison between the two justifies his point when saying that America has gotten better.
Despite the fact that Ronald was trying to construct phrases that discussed how “our union is stronger than a year ago,” and how we’re “rising America.” He shifts towards a more serious tone and describes how America was over a year ago: listing all of the catastrophes that had happened over the past year. He creates phrases that indicate the problem. “Locked factory gate,” “long gasoline lines,” “intolerable prices,” and having “interest rates.” When Ronald creates those phrases, he is demonstrating to the people of America that they could go back to being the way before unless they keep letting the government have all control and power over the country. Reagan acts as if he were alongside with the citizens; opposing against the government, saying they’re too big and too powerful.
In addition to this diction, Ronald Reagan additionally creates the appeal to logic to convey how America accomplished their objectives. Reagan analyzes how the government owes the citizens of America thanks for “37 straight months of economic growth,” ”modernized industries creating 9 million new jobs in 3 years,” ”interest rates cut in half,” ”inflation falling over from 12 percent in 1980 to under 4 today,” and “$74 billion in voluntary giving just last year alone." Constructing an appeal to logic had citizens think of the accomplishments America had achieved and it has them think that they have the power to make an impact for the better. Using the appeal to logic has citizens think: though the government were causing them trouble, they can fix the situation together and it clearly goes to show that the country has been improving without the help of the supposedly “powerful and united government.” It has them believe that they don’t need such a big government, but just private values to be the core of public policies. Reagan achieves using the appeal to logic by having citizens think that America is being improved by the hard work they’ve been putting in. Since they already think that they don’t need a government that “takes away opportunity” they make the people think that America would be better off with private values rather than a huge government.
Ronald Reagan when trying to convince Americans that they don’t need such a huge government, Ronald builds a way of saying that the “government is growing beyond our consent had become a lumbering giant,” and how they’re “slamming shut the gates of opportunity,” and “threatening to crush the very roots of our freedom.” This motive would enrage the people and would have an effective way to have them oppose against the government because it convinces them to agree with Ronald’s purpose.

Although Ronald acts as if he were on the citizens side, he handles his words carefully by having citizens believe he’s opposing against the government as well and disagrees with them taking away opportunities and freedom. The appeal to emotion would be a direct way of having the people of America go against the the rules that are set by the

government.
Reagan’s goal from the beginning was to start a capitalist country and have private profiteers basically run the country instead of having an unnecessary government.

Doing so, he had the citizens of America think of how the government is violating their rights and making them oppose against the government. He created rhetorical devices like: the appeal to logic, appeal to emotion, and juxtaposition. Giving the rhetorical technique to have people believe that the government has been taking away all of their rights has been an effective outcome because it was encouraging citizens to think that they’re better off with a smaller and less powerful government. The speech he constructed in all was an impactful speech to the people of America because the way he handles his words to have America think they’re making the country a better place, but slowly making the government become a capitalist

country.