During his inaugural address in 1961, President John F. Kennedy first promoted his plan to expand the United State’s space exploration program. A few months later, in May of the same year, Kennedy formally announced his desire to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade to a special joint session of the United States (U.S.) Congress. Then in September, Kennedy continued his promotion of this slowly forming goal at Rice University in Houston, Texas, where he spoke to a mixed group of professors, state leaders, scientists, and students of all ages. The main purpose of Kennedy’s speech was to rally more support for the growing National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) program in Houston, as well as its rapidly expanding budget, …show more content…
He alludes to the discovery and founding of the U.S. and compares it to the exploration of space in the sense that, although some disapprove of further spending and exploration into space, “[the United States] was not built by those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them, [it] was conquered by those who moved forward--and so will space.” Kennedy continues to directly quote William Bradford, at the founding of the Plymouth Bay Colony, and his idea that with great action, come great difficulties, “and both must be enterprised and overcome with honorable courage.” Delivering his speech in Houston, Texas, Kennedy additionally refers to the exploration of the American frontier in the 19th century, in which Houston became a major city, and links it to his plan for Houston to now become “the furthest outpost on the new frontier of science and space.” By alluding to these successful American conquests, Kennedy reminds the public of the U.S.’s ability to achieve and allows them to see that these new goals, although seemingly distant, are feasible. Kennedy also uses a short series of rhetorical questions that he provides the simple, and yet complete answer for. Asking what was likely on the minds of many, Kennedy submits, “But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal?” Following with a simple response, Kennedy says, “We chose to go to the moon...not because [it is] easy, but because [it is] hard, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.” Kennedy, like a captain talking to his team before the championship game, gives no room for excuses and no room for hesitation. With these rhetorical questions, instead of letting the audience wonder why the U.S. has chosen to do what it has, Kennedy clearly lays out the determined motivation. Finally, Kennedy illustrates a metaphor for the new
In the 1960s the Cold War was at its peak, with both the USSR and America trying to spread their ideologies onto the rest of the world. The world was still uneasy due to the Korean War. In the public’s eyes, nuclear Armageddon was only a press of a button away. The Space Race was a welcome peaceful distraction for the world. The USSR and the United States were constantly trying to best each other in celestial exploration. In 1962, American President, John F Kennedy announced to America that by the end of the decade America would land a man on the moon. Kennedy carefully chose the audience and language of his speech to convince the public to support the Apollo Moon Program.
On September 12, 1962, John F Kennedy delivered a speech at Rice University relating to the Space Race with Russia. This speech took place prior to the moon landing video release. I picked this artifact to be the backbone of this rhetorical analysis because it is credible, relates to my groups subject throughout the CIS course, and provides a visual and written representation of a different perspective on the moon landing other than my groups’ opinion.
Kennedy had realized that the only way to overtake the Soviets after falling so far behind, would be by putting the first man on the moon. The US morale had taken a serious blow following Sputnik and the first cosmonaut in space, Yuri Gagarin. On September 12th, 1962, Kennedy delivered his famous speech, saying “We choose to go to the moon.” Kennedy knew that it was essential to gather support behind a manned mission to the moon from the American public. Although many argued that it would be easier, and more efficient to send an unmanned mission to the moon, it was more about the morale boost and the message a man on the moon would send to the
John Fitzgerald Kennedy delivered one of the most important American speeches after being sworn in as president on January 20, 1961. His inauguration speech was so influential that it seized the nation’s attention, and quotes from it are still clearly remembered by people today. It is considered one of the best speeches ever written and ever delivered. It presents a strong appeal to pathos, ethos, and logos and accomplishes what any speaker strives for – it speaks straight to the heart of the audience and inspires people.
Sambaluk, PhD, Micholas Michael. "John F. Kennedy and the Race to the Moon." Air & Space Power Journal 27.5 (2013): 156-58. Print.
...space, so he asked congress for 7 billion through 9 billion dollars over the next 5 years, for the space program. Within a year Gus Grissom and Alan Shepard became the first Americans in space. Although America wasn’t the first to space we had accomplished Kennedy’s goal.
Samuel Crompton says,”Space exploration served as another dramatic arena for Cold War competition.”(Crompton 56). The real reason that the United States joined the Space Race was to compete with the soviet union. JFK makes this very clear. The Soviets were ahead of us and this was unacceptable, being behind technologically was detrimental to morale.The Cold War wasn’t really a war at all. It was just an arms race, the space race was just an extension of the arms race. It was never really intended to have any scientific, technological, or strategic benefits. Dwight D. Eisenhower may have planned for the space program to focus on science, but when kennedy took the office he used NASA as a piece of propaganda. He never had any intention of using the space program for research. When Kennedy was first deciding whether or not to create a space program he sent a memo to his vice president Lyndon B. Johnson asking him to research a few things. None of JFK’s questions had anything to do with science or technology. They were all about the Soviet Union 's space program. The first questions was, “Do we have a chance of beating the Soviets by putting a laboratory in space, or by a trip around the moon, or by a rocket land on the moon, or by a rocket go to the moon and back with a man.”(Kennedy). JFK’s sole interest was beating the Soviets. He didn’t care about any other benefits. Everything else came second to beating the
John F. Kennedy chose to write this essay because he was attempting to show us the vision the he had for our world. Kennedy’s purpose of writing the “Inaugural Address” was to challenge us to change our way of thinking and become better not only for ourselves, but for our country so that we may function more efficiently. The major groups Kennedy addresses in his speech are the United States and the other nations who are enemies of the United States. Kennedy’s central point for the entire essay is that we as a nation need to defend our freedoms all around the world. In order to defend our freedoms we must stop fighting amongst each other and join together in unison. We have the ability to share all different types of ideas, cultures, and experiences.
JFK's inaugural address was very inspirational and these are just some important factors that I found to be interesting. His speech used strong words but they were very understandable. It would have been a joy to actually experience being there for this speech.
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
In September 1961, president John. F. Kennedy delivers one of his best inspirational speeches titled “We choose to go to the Moon”. This notorious speech was addressed at Rice University in Houston Texas to a very fortunate crowd of students. The significance of his timing is both vital and genius for at the time being the cold war between the United States of America and Russia had been in mid-hype, Russia leading in the space race. This brought doubt to the Americas power and authority thus giving his speech more influential drive. Kennedys fear of the Soviet Union landing on the moon first is because he did not want to see the accomplishment “governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of
While Nixon did allow Kennedy’s dream of a moon landing to become reality in 1969, he soon after put limits on the space program, which had more symbolic value than anything else. The space program was a new-liberal hallmark of the “we can do it all” philosophy of the reaching of new heights in a promising future that promised a “new frontier” (Lecture 25, November 19). Cutting back on this program was a supreme indication that no, we couldn’t “do it all”.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Space exploration by the United States has been going on since the early nineteen hundreds. The impacts of space exploration can vary from being the first country ever to land on the moon, to having satellites orbit our planet. Despite the achievements space exploration has given to this country, there are many issues—with money, extraterrestrial threats, and the lack of a reason for funding—at hand that should be addressed to make decisions about the future of space exploration in the United States.
On September 12, 1962 John Franklin Kennedy charged the nation to achieve what no other civilization had done before; he charged the United States to place a man on the moon. Kennedy delivered his man on the moon speech in a time of great peril for the United States. It appeared that the Soviet Union was rising faster than the United States was posed to take our place as the world’s super power. His moving speech in Rice Stadium inspired the nation and other nations, to take the challenge and travel to the moon. Kennnedy use of allusions, repetition, and rhetorical questions motivate and embolden his audience, and make a difference that would last forever.
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” It was July 20 1969, the day that reshaped our nation and gave us unparalleled dreams for the future. The impact of the day goes far beyond our pride and nationalism; that day would change space exploration and technology forever. Just like a shooting star, that day would give us a glimpse of hope. A chance to see an event so breathtaking and defying, it would be man’s greatest accomplishment in the 20th century. As millions of people watched from their TV sets, a rush of euphoria came over the nation as Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the surface of the moon. It was the first time in the history of mankind that we would step on the surface of another celestial body. John F. Kennedy dared us to dream, he inspired the nation to reach for the moon, to set ourselves apart from the rest of the world. The Space Race was symbolic of many things. Our future as the technically dominate nation was secured in place; just as secure as Old Glory would be, when she was driven down into the soil of the moon. We not only reached the moon, we conquered it as a nation; united.