This speech by Ronald Reagan came about due to the explosion that occurred on the space shuttle the challenger killing famous astronauts. The blast event was witnessed by many people inclusive of school going children. Therefore, to handle the situation, the former president by then, Ronald Reagan responded to the situation by releasing his famous speech. The main aim of the speech was to comfort the witnesses of the awful ordeal. In the speech, he was extremely cautious and candid in delivering his primary focus of the speech.
In the speech, he delivered the message with a lot of empathy. For instance, when he said, “Nancy and I are pained by the core of the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger” he did not only show remorse for himself, but also he demonstrated how the tragedy affected his family as well. He did this in a bid to bring the drama on a personal basis. He also went ahead to bring the issue to the Americans as a whole. However, during this time he expressed himself as not only a leader but also a person who feels pain and has feelings. He delivered the speech in the manner that portrayed him as a brave person. He was also candid on trying to insinuate that the event that occurred was not as devastating as the people think it is.
In the speech, Ronald Reagan puts himself in the shoes of the families of the deceased and expresses his regrets and empathy to the seven families. This is seen when he says, “For the relatives of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do the full impact of this tragedy.” He also goes ahead to talk about how the astronauts died bravely and courageously. He also applauded their work by stating that they died doing what they loved most. However, he concluded the speech by stating that despite how difficult the tragedy may be, the Americans are pained by the loss, and they also regret the loss.