The Challenger Speech: A Case Study - Part II

In the previous segment, you learnt how the Challenger Disaster was an unexpected event of failure and tragedy. You also saw how President Reagan delivered a strong, moving message of support and strength in the wake of the event.

Let’s now hear what David has to say regarding the speech given by President Ronald Reagan.

While the speechwriter, Peggy Noonan, went on to write more moving speeches and catchphrases for US presidents, she was not too well known when she penned the speech for the Challenger Disaster.

And in that single speech, she was able to cater to multiple audience constituencies, each of whom had their own set of expectations, emotions and feelings regarding the event. One of the major reasons why the speech is famous is because it hits all the right notes of each audience constituency.

Peggy Noonan was right in figuring out who the audience is, what they are looking for and what should be conveyed to them. In short, the speech was perfectly prepared in terms of the content that it had to cover.

And while the speech scored well on preparation and drafting, it was also delivered excellently by President Reagan. In the next video, David discusses how the president balanced the message for each constituency perfectly.

In a single speech of four minutes, the US president was able to express sympathy, hope, motivation, pride and even arrogance to each of his audience constituencies. While Peggy Noonan perfected the words of the speech, Ronald Reagan brilliantly delivered the speech with the right mix of emotions and sincerity.

The speech remains popular as one of the most effective speeches in history for its ability to reach out to a broad group of constituencies in a very short span of time.
 

Additional Learning

Please read this opinion on how the Challenger speech has the right mix of words and was delivered in exactly the way it was intended.