Richard Regan and Jimmy Valvano’s are remembered for their unique contributions in society. One of these contributions are the speeches that each one delivered during his lifetime. This paper focuses on Richard Regan’s Challenger speech and Jimmy Valvano’s speech in 1993.

Richard Regan uses simple language to cater to all his audience considering that some of them are school children. He mainly uses short sentences that are objective and straight to the point. However, they are a few long sentences. Regan has made use of word classes such as adjective, verbs, and nouns to add significance to his message. For instance, the use of hunger in ‘They had a hunger to explore the universe’ makes the message more effective and compelling. Other terms that added relevance to the speech include ‘daring and brave” and ‘special grace ‘to describe the deceased. Use of repetition is also evident in Regan’s speech. The pronoun ‘we’ is repeated throughout the speech to show unison at a time of mourning.

Ronald Reagan establishes a sympathetic tone throughout his speech to perform the role of comforting and offering condolences to his audience. The tone is set right from the opening especially through the phrase ‘…today is a day of mourning and remembering’ that indicates remorse and sympathy. His selection of words such as tragedy, mourn and loss also contribute to the establishment of a sad tone. Another tone that comes out in Reagan’s speech is that of hope when uses the phrase ‘Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue’ to show that the United States will continue with its exploration of space despite the tragedy. Regan also establishes a comforting and reassuring tone when addressing each of his audience.

Regan targets five primary audiences whom he addresses at different times in his speech. These audiences are the families of the deceased, collective mourners, school children, The Soviet Union, and school children.

The main strategies that Richard Regan uses in his speech are to set it from other speeches are the establishment of a formal yet remorseful tone, using inclusive pronouns such as ‘we’ and employing diction that adds relevance to the message.

Jimmy Valvano’s speech uses a lively tone that is established in the use of jokes and compelling personal experiences, unlike Regan’s speech which uses as sad and empathetic tone. Another contrast between the two speeches is that Regan uses a formal tone throughout the speech. Valvano’s use of numerous jokes makes his speech less formal.

Valvano uses a blend of long and short sentences in his speech delivery while Regan mainly uses short objective sentences. Both Regan and Valvano’s speech employ the use of personal pronouns. However, Regan uses ‘We’ while Valvano’s uses ‘I.’ The use of language in the two speeches also differs in that Regan uses diction with the intention of comforting while Valvano used diction to persuade. Additionally, Valvano’s uses styles such as questions in his speech which are missing from Regan’s speech.

Valvano’s speech targets a general audience while Regan’s speech targets specific audiences who are families of the deceased, collective mourners, school children, The Soviet Union, and school children.  Valvano aims any person who can contribute to cancer research.

It is impressive how Valvano’s managed to deliver a compelling and persuasive speech using a happy tone considering that he had cancer. He manages to eliminate the desperate tone that characterizes many speeches that aim to raise contributions. Regan speech is also interesting in that it performs multiple roles of comforting, reassuring, praising and even criticizing in a few words.

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