Ronald Reagan's re‐formulation of the rhetoric of war: Analysis of the “zero option,” “evil empire,” and “star wars” addresses

Abstract

Since Hiroshima, “conventional wisdom” has held that science and technology will continue to create more and more powerful weapons, that an effective defense against them will never be developed, and that the only solution to this situation is deterrence through an assured retaliatory capability. The speeches analyzed in this essay, given by Ronald Reagan during his first administration, challenge each of these assumptions. Employing textual analysis, it is revealed how public discourse can achieve unities of national purpose while subverting the conventions that underlie deliberation even about such momentous matters as war in a nuclear age.