Apollo 11 Rhetorical Analysis

If Apollo 11 had failed, if two of our nation's greatest heroes were left stranded on the Moon with only hours of oxygen, the President would have been asked to give a speech. This speech was written, but fortunately, was never required to be shared. In this never given speech, William Safire (President Nixon’s head speech-writer) puts into words a remarkably effective sentiment that truly serves what would have been its intended purpose, to comfort the American People, and reassure them that this is not the end of Apollo. Safire brilliantly uses rhetoric to further his argument, utilizing primarily pathos supplemented by logos. Safire knew that Nixon would have gone into this speech with a strongly established ethos, President of the United

States and leader of the free world. Other than that, Safire does not make a concerted effort to establish ethos in the course of this brief speech. This speech is chock full of appeals to pathos. In the very first sentence, Safire writes, “Fate has ordained that the men who went to the Moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.” This opening sentence sets the mood for the piece, using a comforting tone and telling the listener/reader that it is okay, the men who were lost are at peace. He writes that these astronauts understood the risk, yet went anyways because of what it meant to mankind. He continues on this path of thought, going on to say what they ‘meant’ to the people they inspired, and how there is now another world out there that will forever be touched by mankind. Safire supplements this all with appeals to logos, alluding back to ancient history and how heroes were always seen in the stars, and (if this actually happened) they would actually be out there. He says that this is not the end of Apollo, “Others will follow,” the missions would continue. Using predominantly appeals to Pathos supplemented by one or two small appeals to logos, William Safire creates a speech that, should it have been needed, would have reassured the nation in the event Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were stranded on the surface of the Moon.