In 1957, amidst the Cold War, the Soviet Union launched the world’s first artificial satellite into space, Sputnik I, triggering the efforts of the United States to surpass the technological advances in spaceflight capability of its communist rivals. After Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space in April of 1961, the United States became more eager to reach supremacy in what came to be known as space race. However, for that to be achieved, more government funds would be required, which strongly depended on the consent and support of the American people. So, on the 12th of September of 1962, the 37th President of the United States, John F Kennedy, cleared any doubts of the commitment the United States had regarding space exploration with a speech aimed at restoring America’s confidence and convincing the American people to wholeheartedly support a manned mission to the Moon and back in that decade.
In order to reach into every American’s heart, the President’s speech had to be carefully sculpted so that it appealed to the population that this national effort was unprecedented for the development of technology and education. The speech was given at Rice University in Houston, Texas, where the new NASA Space Center was being built. To start off, the President addresses notable members in the audience and expresses
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He does that by condensing man’s recorded history in half a century, in which “if America’s new spacecraft succeeds in reaching Venus, we will have literally reached the stars before midnight tonight”. This allegory represents how fast things are happening, also showing the possibility that the stars will soon be reached if developments continue at the same pace. It further stimulates the curiosity of the public as to where the President is going with his speech by asserting that space exploration will happen in their