Evil Empire. Analiza retoryczna przemówienia Ronalda Reagana z 8 marca 1983 roku
Evil Empire. Rhetorical Analysis of Ronald Reagan’s Speech of March 8th, 1983

Author(s): Rafał Kuś
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Cultural history, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Studies of Literature, Philology
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: rhetoric; United States of America; Ronald Reagan; Cold War; conservatism
Summary/Abstract: This paper offers a comprehensive analysis of the speech delivered by the U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 8th, 1983, during the 41st Annual Convention of the National Association of Evangelicals in Orlando (Florida). The oration was one of the most famous examples of the Republican’s radical Cold War rhetoric, depicting the conflict between the superpowers as a clash of fundamental values (the USSR was called the Evil Empire). Worth notifying in the discussed speech were: skilful adjustment of the employed rhetorical and linguistic means to the expectations and needs of the audience gathered in Orlando, precise and well-hought-out composition of the oration, and virtuoso delivery of the speech by Reagan. The speech was an element of escalation of the diplomatic and military pressure by the U.S. on the Soviet Union, which according to many commentators, contributed to the final victory of the Western world in the confrontation of hostile political camps.

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