“Great Communicator“ Reagan shares top spot with FDR and JFK
Released: June 8, 2004
The late president Ronald Reagan’s reputation as the “Great Communicator” was fortified by the 2000 publication of “The 100 Greatest American Speeches of the 20th Century,” in which Reagan has six entries. That number ties Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy for the most inclusions on the vaunted list.
That list was compiled by 136 communication scholars across America, including Richard Haven, a University of Wisconsin-Whitewater professor and expert on American political speeches. Haven said there’s no denying Reagan’s gift for public speech.
“Given his background in acting and broadcasting, Reagan was a very comfortable communicator with live audiences and over TV,” Haven noted. “He had a disarming style, a genuineness, like he was speaking truth directly to you. He was always in good humor and was a good joke teller. By his second term, Reagan became like a grandfather figure to many.”
Haven noted that “The Challenger” speech, which Reagan prepared within hours after the tragic shuttle accident, appears as #8 on the list. The president addressed his words to school children, many of whom had witnessed the accident on television, and led the whole nation in grieving. Haven described Reagan’s “Evil Empire” speech, delivered in 1983 regarding the Cold War, as “powerful and aggressive.”
Reagan’s communication style showed similarities to Franklin Roosevelt, whom he admired. Haven said both felt comfortable talking to the “common man” and both men’s words helped the country deal with crises.
“As time goes on, I believe Ronald Reagan will be seen as a great president for several reasons, one being because he was a ‘great communicator.’ As Americans we tend to admire a president who can speak so eloquently,” observed Haven who uses a number of Reagan’s speeches as examples in his communication classes.
- Jane Provorse ,provorsj@uww.edu
