Final answer:
Ronald Reagan's speech at Moscow State University likely aimed to persuade Soviet students about the American concept of freedom and to reassure an American audience of his administration's commitment to protecting such freedoms globally.
Step-by-step explanation:
Ronald Reagan's speech at Moscow State University aimed to persuade Soviet students about the concept of freedom as understood and valued in the American context. Reagan's depiction of freedom highlights it as a dynamic process of discussion, market innovation, self-expression, and the pursuit of dreams, free from monopolistic truth claims by any individual, authority, or government. The underlying message suggests that freedom encompasses not just the absence of restraint but also the responsibility of choice and action, and the protection of individual and collective rights. By invoking such an expansive and participatory notion of freedom, Reagan was likely suggesting that the Soviet students would benefit from such a system, in contrast to the more restrictive circumstances they might have been familiar with. Simultaneously, the speech also serves to show an American audience the values that underpinned the Reagan administration's domestic and foreign policies, reinforcing the idea that the protection of freedom should extend beyond America's borders.