Slipping the Surly Bonds: Reagan’s Challenger Address (Library of Presidential Rhetoric)

Product Description

Millions of Americans, including hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren, watched in horror as the Challenger shuttle capsule exploded on live television on January 28, 1986. Coupled with that awful image in Americans’ memory is the face of President Ronald Reagan addressing the public hours later with words that spoke to the nation’s shock and mourning. Focusing on the text of Reagan’s speech, author Mary Stuckey shows how President Reagan’s reputation as “the Great Communicator” adds significance to our understanding of his rhetoric on one of the most momentous occasions of his administration.

Review

“ . . . an instructive, reasoned, and compelling investigation of the origins, language, and meaning of this speech. It is a permanently useful work . . . written in a comprehensible, even scintillating style.”–Roger Launius, Chair, Division of Space History, National Air and Space Museum
— Roger Launius, Chair, Division of Space History, National Air and Space Museum

About the Author

Mary E. Stuckey, who holds a joint appointment in the political science and communication departments at Georgia State University, is a prolific author on the subject of the presidency and serves as book review editor of the journal Rhetoric and Public Affairs. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame.