Jfk Space Speech Summary

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35th president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, in his speech, ‘Address at Rice University on the Nation’s Space Program’, he argues why the United States should be the first to venture into space while at a tour at Rice University. Kennedy’s purpose is to address why it is important to go to space and to be the first country to do so. He adopts a direct tone in order to convey the necessity of venturing to space to the American people, and he achieves this tone through the use of anaphora, epiploce, and multiple appeals to ethos. Kennedy starts his speech by making an introduction and moves into his main point by addressing how the country is ready to venture into space. After this, he states “This is a breathtaking pace, and such a pace cannot help but create new ills as it dispels old, new ignorance, new problems, new dangers. Surely the opening vistas of space promise high costs and hardships, as well as high reward. (6)” to reveal while space has its set …show more content…

He does this by stating “ The Mariner spacecraft-- The Mariner spacecraft now on its way to Venus is the most intricate instrument in the history of space science. The accuracy of that shot is comparable to firing a missile from Cape Canaveral and dropping it in this stadium between the 40-yard lines. Transit satellites are helping our ships at sea to steer a safer course. Tiros satellites have given us unprecedented warnings of hurricanes and storms and will do the same for forest fires and icebergs. (16)”. Kennedy further appeals to ethos by stating “ This year's space budget is three times what it was in January 1961, and it is greater than the space budget of the previous eight years combined (21).” Now, this appeal to ethos shows how knowledgeable Kennedy is on the topic of space travel, technologies, and cost. The audience is supposed to feel they can trust Kennedy dues to him being so