I was thinking about both of those Presidents after I wrote what I wrote, and I agree with you, both were quite effective.
A quick story about Reagan. The moment I got hooked on politics was the summer of 1976. I remember sitting at home watching the Republican convention, I seem to remember that it was late July of '76, so I would've been nearly 14 at the time. After watching most of the convention, it was getting towards the end of the convention and there was little doubt that Ford was going to get the nomination. While there was little doubt, it wasn't yet official; and then Ronald Reagan spoke to the convention. I honestly can't remember the content of Reagan's speech, all I remember is that speech was the finest speech I'd ever witnessed. To this day, it remains the finest speech I've ever seen. By the end of Reagan speech, I remember thinking how obvious it was that the Republicans were going to nominate the wrong guy. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out how all these supposedly smart people couldn't see what I could see; that Reagan was a winner and that Ford was not going to win anything. If you ever want to see a great political speaker, watch those old tapes of Reagan from the '76 Republican convention.