Ronald Reagan A Time For Choosing Rhetorical Analysis

On October 27, 1964 Ronald Reagan delivered a speech that is considered to be timeless, and even thought to have set Reagan’s political career in motion. The speech was given during a very tense time in American history, when the United States was not only in the middle of the Cold War, but also at war in Vietnam. Reagan addresses this in the first minute of his speech but that is not what makes the “A Time for Choosing” speech compelling. The speech was so compelling because of Reagan’s use of rhetoric. More specifically, his use of ethos appealing to certain ideas, sometimes in a joking manner, to draw the audience in, and logos to solidify his points by making the audience think rationally about them.
Reagan gave his “A Time for Choosing”
Throughout the speech, Reagan uses facts to back up his ideas, and in this case, uses humor to keep the audience hooked. He took advantage of the idea that United States officials thought they could solve the high school dropout rate, by sending teenage students to specialized camps, in his speech. He starts by addressing where the students will be placed, and how this “youth feature” might seem like a good idea (Reagan), but immediately leads into his strategy of adding facts to strengthen his opposing point. Reagan informs his audience that it would cost $4,700 a year for one student’s room and board at one of these camp, but why send them to a camp when they could be sent to Harvard for only $2,700 a year (Reagan)? Continuing with his argument about the way the government was handling poverty, he informs the audience that approximately forty-five billion dollars a year is supposed to go towards reducing poverty. At first that amount of money might seem like a lot, but by “doing a little arithmetic,” it becomes apparent that with $45,000,000,000 poverty could be eliminated (Reagan). These facts exemplify to the audience that the government isn’t doing what it should with the money, and whoever is incharge, shouldn’t