Rhetorical situation

Speaker

The speaker of the 1982 “Evil Empire” speech is Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States. At the time the speech was delivered, in June 1982, Reagan was in his second year in office. Throughout the speech, Reagan reinforces the idea that the United States is a key player in the fight for preserving democracy:

We in America now intend to take additional steps, as many of our allies have already done, toward realizing this same goal. The chairmen and other leaders of the national Republican and Democratic party organizations are initiating a study with the bipartisan American Political Foundation to determine how the United States can best contribute as a nation to the global campaign for democracy now gathering force.

Here, Reagan talks about the United States’ involvement in preserving democracy at several levels: “It...