Showing compassion: Reagan's Challenger eulogy

Thirty-eight years ago this week, the Challenger space shuttle exploded shortly after blast-off, killing all seven astronauts on board.

That evening, President Ronald Reagan, who had been due to deliver his annual State of the Union speech, addressed the nation about the tragedy. The four-minute eulogy, drafted by his young speechwriter Peggy Noonan, is today remembered as one of the most powerful and moving speeches by an American president.

Here's a look at some of the rhetorical devices he deployed, each one of which may be of relevance to any of you planning a speech of compassion or solace.

Speak plainly

President Reagan’s speech itself is remarkable for its brevity and clarity. The words, and the sentences, are short and simple in structure. It’s almost Hemingway-esque.

What’s more, his delivery is sober and unrushed, punctuated by numerous short pauses. He takes the time to place a gentle stress on the most important words and ideas. As a result, he gives the impression of speaking directly to his audience, rather than reading from an elaborate written text.

If you listen to the recording below, you’ll notice how he modulates the opening sentences:

“Ladies and gentlemen, I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss.”

Address your audiences directly

The President explicitly names three groups of people that he is addressing within the nation at large: the families of the seven victims, all American schoolchildren (knowing that one of the astronauts was a schoolteacher), and the NASA employees.

It was a deft move: By calling out these groups, one by one, President Reagan in effect steps down from his lofty office and instead adopts the personable approachability which was a hallmark of “The Great Communicator” throughout his career, be it as an actors’ union leader, a television host for General Electric, or later as a politician.

Here’s how he spoke directly to the families:

“For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, ``Give me a challenge, and I'll meet it with joy.'' They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. ”

Make yourself part of the story

The notion that President Reagan was personally sharing the pain runs as a thread throughout his eulogy.

As anyone who reads my articles regularly knows, I attach great significance to the choice of pronouns in a speech. Here President Reagan uses “we” throughout, once referring to himself and his wife Nancy, but most often more inclusively, putting himself side-by-side with his audience.

Here’s one example of how he spoke in the name of all Americans:

“We've never lost an astronaut in flight; we've never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle... We mourn seven heroes…. We mourn their loss as a nation together.”

Look beyond the moment

Clearly the initial focus of the speech was on the events of that same morning. But notice how President Reagan – or more precisely, his speechwriter – pulls back to situate that tragedy in a broader context.

Using a timeline thus can be a very effective technique, not just for orators but indeed for anyone trying to make sense of an immediate situation. Showing what is against a backdrop of what was provides additional understanding of how we got here; showing what is against a backdrop of what will be provides the comforting reassurance that life will go on.

Here's how he looked forward in time to show that all is not lost.

“We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue.”??

A little poetry goes a long way

Some commentators of the Challenger speech wax lyrical about President Reagan’s concluding reference to the death exactly 390 years earlier of Sir Francis Drake (a man who “lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it”). Many also praise his closing quote from a poem by a Second World War fighter pilot who had “slipped the surly bonds of earth'' to “touch the face of God.''

It’s purely a matter of taste, but I am less flattering about those two concluding flourishes.

I find the reference to Sir Francis Drake something of a stretch because I suspect that few people among President Reagan’s 1986 audience knew much about the 16th century English explorer, or would have identified with him.

As for the poem by John Gillespie Magee, it’s certainly a well-crafted sonnet, written in 1941 to celebrate the joy of flying his Spitfire in the “high untrespassed sanctity of space”. To my ear, however, its self-consciously literary tone jars with the rest of the speech.

Ronald Reagan speaking like a History or English Lit. major just doesn’t ring true to me.

Charles Fleming,?29th January 2024? ?

You can read my other articles about public speaking and interview techniques on?my?Expression/Impression?website, available?here.?Please feel free to pass this article on to anyone?you think?might appreciate it.?

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