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Editor’s note: As part of our special coverage of America’s 250th birthday, RealClearPolitics is excerpting some of the most evocative oratory in our nation’s history. These addresses will appear throughout the year, not in chronological order, but, rather on the anniversary of the date they were delivered – or close to it.

Our initial entry is President Reagan’s speech 40 years ago this evening – on Jan. 28, 1986 – in response to the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.

Prelude: It was bitterly cold in Washington for Reagan’s scheduled State of the Union address. But it wasn't the weather that intervened. Instead, the annual event was postponed by a tragedy that unfolded on national television and left adults explaining to children why a beloved public school teacher would never set foot in a classroom again.

Americans had become so complacent about the dangers of space travel that when Congressman Bill Nelson spent six days orbiting the earth in the shuttle two weeks earlier, few people outside his state of Florida even noticed. But Challenger’s voyage on this date, the 25th launch in the program, was a whole different story.

Among the crew was Sharon Christa McAuliffe, a beloved high school social studies teacher from Concord, N.H., whose mantra to her students was: “Reach for the stars.” Unaffected and likeable, Christa McAuliffe had beaten out 11,000 other applicants to become the first schoolteacher in space. The 1985 ceremony to announce the winner – all 10 finalists were present – was broadcast live from the White House, with Vice President George H.W. Bush announcing the winner.

“She was just so excited,” her mother, Grace Corrigan, recalled later. “She was thrilled to be going on the trip of a lifetime.”

In an interview with journalist Annie Groer, her mother added: “She made everybody feel kind of good about themselves. She made the schoolchildren learn as much as they could and she taught them how important they were. That was what she was striving to do.”

Instead, America’s children, along with their parents and loved ones, learned a more painful lesson. “It was a televised event that involved the entire country,” recalled Sally Karioth, a nursing professor at Florida State University who specializes in grief counseling.

“We had this cute little curly-headed teacher in that blue astronaut outfit, and we had dragged in every kid in America to write her letters before the launch, so it was like Christmas Eve,” she added. “Then it........

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