Editing Evil Empire speech (section)

== Interpretation ==
[[G. Thomas Goodnight]] characterized the "evil empire" speech, along with the "[[Zero Option]]" and "[[Strategic Defense Initiative|Star Wars]]" speeches, as part of the rhetorical side of the [[Cold War]] and reshaped public perceptions of nuclear warfare.<ref>{{Harvtxt|Goodnight|1986|pp=390–3891, 408–409}}.</ref> In the former, Reagan depicted [[nuclear warfare]] as an extension of an "age old struggle between good and evil".<ref>{{Harvtxt|Goodnight|1986|p=391}}.</ref> By characterizing the Soviet Union as an "evil empire" and therefore irrational and untrustworthy, the speech justified demurrals on peace proposals.<ref>{{Harvtxt|Goodnight|1986|p=403}}.</ref> Historian [[John Lewis Gaddis]] called the speech the "complet[ion of] a rhetorical offensive designed to expose what Reagan saw as the central error of détente: the idea that the Soviet Union had earned geopolitical, ideological, economic, and moral legitimacy" and argued that it "could not have been better calculated to feed the anxieties" afflicting Soviet leadership at the time.<ref>{{Harvtxt|Gaddis|2005|pp=224–225}}.</ref> According to literature professor Leerom Medovoi, on top of opposing the Soviet Union, the "Evil Empire" speech directed the [[Evangelicalism|Evangelical]] audience's attention to [[domestic policy]] and characterized [[Liberalism in the United States|American liberals]] as being additional enemies in a [[culture war]] that Reagan called "a test of moral will and faith".<ref>{{Harvtxt|Medovoi|2012|p=182}}.</ref>