Rhetorical Analysis Of Jfk Speech

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In September of 1962, John F. Kennedy delivered a speech at Rice University of Houston, Texas, to which he was appealing for the support of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration program. In order to do so, he uses his persuasive reasoning as well as a logical argument with sentimental reasoning in order to convince the crowd to offer their support to the program. "Only last week did we develop penicillin and television and nuclear power, and now if America’s new spacecraft succeeds in reaching Venus, we will have literally reached the stars before midnight tonight", stated in paragraph 2. As Kennedy speaks about the different and most recent advancements in man, he uses statistics and logical reasoning to persuade the audience to give their support towards the program. By Kennedy mentioning the last bit of information about being able to reach the stars before midnight tonight, he's attempting to hopefully open the eyes of the crowd so they see how close they are to being able to reach the stars, then causing them to feel more supportive. Kennedy continues his speech with a hint of sentimental feeling, as if to get the audience engaged and feel as though he's just another ordinary person in the world, someone …show more content…

He finishes up the speech by targeting the gains the people would receive and how their support could benefit them in the future. By doing this, his aim is getting them to think that their support would not only benefit the program, but they would also receive some sort of incentive later in time for simply supporting the program now, allowing them to feel as if they’re not supporting something that only gives an advantage to the government, but an advantage to themselves as

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