Bush and Reagan on Shuttle Disasters

Dr. Cline of Rhetorica has a side-by-side display of President George W. Bush's address (02/01/2003) after the Columbia disaster and President Ronald Reagan's address (01/28/1986) after the Challenger disaster.

P.S. Peggy Noonan relates some of the genesis of Reagan's speech, from which one may gather that she had a hand in writing it:

.... The morning the Challenger blew up, President Reagan was meeting with a handful of network anchors, giving them a preview of his State of the Union address, which was to be given that night. The president got the news of the explosion and spoke of the tragedy with the anchors, who asked him questions. Their conversation was witnessed by a staffer in the National Security Council, who took notes. She ran them into the speechwriting office. The notes became the basis of the Challenger speech, which the president gave later that day....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 02/03/03 08:30:52 AM
Categorized as Literary & Ronald Reagan.