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We Choose To Go To The Moon Speech Analysis

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Our Journey to the Moon On September 12, 1962 President John F. Kennedy gave a speech in Houston, Texas at Rice Stadium. This 18 minute long speech was made to convince the people of the United States as to why we should go to the moon. The “We choose to go to the Moon” speech was written by both John F. Kennedy and his speech writer, Ted Sorensen (Press). The purpose behind this speech was to gain America’s support and to get everyone on board with the idea of space exploration. The reason for the embarkment of space exploration was due to the ongoing space race between the U.S. and the USSR. However, it could also be speculated that a small part for this speech was a result of Kennedy’s general curiosity mixed with his fascination of space. Kennedy wanted to …show more content…

In Kennedy’s speech, he claimed that the United States would reach the moon by the end of the decade. He used multiple metaphors throughout the speech, he even compared the idea of space exploration to that of climbing Mount Everest. One of his most famous lines from this speech is, “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard”. This quote from his speech is an example of the usage of Pathos, in the fact that it provokes an emotional response from his audience. Kennedy made sure to properly address his audience, he also maintained a professional attitude throughout the speech since it is a formal occasion. Kennedy also made sure to include the usage of “we” throughout the speech to make his audience feel as though he was talking with them, not at them. Kennedy really worked hard to instill the belief that as a nation, we can accomplish great things and that by working together, we can accomplish the goal of landing a man on the moon. However, the former president also made sure to

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September 12, 1962, John F. Kennedy delivered a speech at Rice University talking about how and why the United States will put the first man on the moon. JFK was determined to not allow the Soviets to go down in history as the pioneers of space exploration. JFK uses pathos and logos to help pursuade the American people the descision to go to the moon. Kennedy's word choices was to strengthen his pathos by appealing to the audience self identity as American people. He use words like "we" and "our" throughout his speech.

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The 35th president of the United States, John F Kennedy, gave his “Race to Space” speech at Rice University In Houston, Texas under great pressure to “catch up” to the Soviets and their space program. He delivered this speech to challenge America to take a leading position in the Space Race and to encourage them in their studies to make it possible. To start, President Kennedy’s “Race to Space” speech calls upon the country to preempt the exploration of space using pathos, irony, and metaphor. Kennedy uses pathos throughout his speech but most notably when he states, “than those of the Soviet Union”. At the time this speech was given, the United States and the Soviet Union had extreme tension coming out of the cold war and entering the space

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J.F Kennedy, the president of United States wanted to put the first Americans to the moon-America exploring the moon, so he directed his speech to the people of taxes and Rice University to promote his space exploration program that will help America to be the first country to explore the moon. He believes that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. Throughout J.F Kennedy's speech, the speaker makes effective use of evidence, reasoning, rhetorical elements, and rhetorical devices that together form his argument to gain people support for his space exploration program. J.F Kennedy was trying to prove his point of view by giving examples and using a lot of Rhetorical devices and appeals that would grab the reader's attention

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In his speech Kennedy uses different rhetorical devices to unify the citizens of both the United States and the world. Kennedy was giving this speech after winning by a very small margin of votes so he was trying to unite the people of the United States and show he was the correct choice for the president. This speech was given during the Cold War so he was trying to connect the people around the whole world and establish peace. Kennedy was able to unify the people and try to establish peace while at the same time making himself seem like a very competent leader. In his speech Kennedy tries to build his credibility as a personable leader by creating ethos.

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The use of ethos shows how credible and reliable Kennedy is as he utilizes his position and knowledge as president to reassure the nation that space exploration is possible. Kairos was also an effective strategy for Kennedy, since he knew of the accomplishments of the Soviet Union years prior, and in turn took advantage of the current state of America in the space race. JFK’s moon speech was very important because it was given at time where the American people were uncertain in their position as a national powerhouse, and Kennedy brought forth and set the expectations that needed to be met, especially when it came to the space race, in order to fulfill America’s legacy of being

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