Rhetorical Analysis Of We Choose To Go To The Moon

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The 1960’s, a time of both peace and war at the same time. With the U.S. government constantly trying to flaunt their tech off to the Soviets and the Soviets boasting about their astounding success with Sputnik there was one crowning challenge that would irrevocably determine which country was truly superior. In 1969, a speech entitled “We Choose to Go to The Moon” was orated by John F. Kennedy in Houston Texas. This prodigious speech expertly inserts numerous amounts of Foreshadowing to help the audience understand his vision of what America could be as well as his uniformly crucial use of Anaphora to help highlight previous milestones. He also conveys what he says with an adept understanding of body language showing in the form of constant …show more content…

Kennedy lectures that if we do not claim dominance over the stars now and show that space is a place of knowledge and peace rather than tyranny and war then the country that passes us up may not have the same intentions of peace. “can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war” (Kennedy). This is incredibly revealing because Kennedy’s speech may be part of the reason why space has not been used for war. The next image Kennedy incorporates into the speech is the considerable rewards and opportunities that are first come first serve. While this is still a true statement concerning the limitless opportunities and rewards Kennedy does not consider the infinite vast area that space occupies which denounces his argument of first come first serve considering the infinite number of resources. Kennedy’s use of Foreshadowing does an inconceivable job of swaying the people towards his way of thinking and creating a feeling of yearning and even restlessness for …show more content…

During most of his speech he is seen gripping his podium with his left hand and making minor amounts of movement with his right. However, when he begins to address the concerns of peace and especially when he is taking shots at the Soviet Union the movement of both of his hands increase substantially. This is especially revealing because he needs to keep the audience's attention before they zone out. With this hand movements being one of the few things he does in order to keep the audience's attention it is very important for Kennedy to use this technique only when absolutely necessary. From the response of the Audience and the media following the speech I believe that it is safe to assume that Kenney’s technique had payed

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