What Is The Precis Of President Kennedy's Ethos Pathos Logos

In the quotation, President Kennedy utilizes logos or logic to craft a poignant rebuttal against the argument which downplayed the significance of going to the moon. In essence, the President’s argument is that if going to the moon is unimportant, unnecessary, or improvident, then all other great American accomplishments are, in themselves, also wastes of “time and tears”. For instance, Kennedy asserts that by the logic of “wasteful accomplishments”, previous achievements, like, flying over the Atlantic, at the time, “35 years ago”, were also ludicrous American feats without magnitude. Ultimately, this “if, then logic” is a clear utilization of Logos, as it reasons in a concise way through concrete evidence. Moreover, the evidence of history, e.g., great American accomplishments, is used to

logically justify an argument and refute another; the latter, an argument which seems to have no backing to its claim. Additionally, since logos is considered to be straightforward and primarily focuses on “common sense reasoning”, facts, and information; the president’s outright statement of factual history, as a direct justification for the significance of going to the moon, concludes that logos is undoubtedly present in this clause.
In this passage, President Kennedy is appealing to the black and white of human conscience; the inherent knowledge of good and evil.

Pleading to American conscience, or ethics, the president argues that if the United States is the conqueror of space, it will be “a sea of peace”, whereas if space is conquered by the Soviet Union its destiny lies in becoming “a new terrifying theater of war.” Essentially and historically, this speech is a response to the “Space Race” of the Cold War, and eminently outlines the two roles of these warring countries during this time of American history: the roles of hero and villain. Evidently, Kennedy depicts the U.S. as the, good, heroic nation bound to the “ethics codes” of the Constitution, whereas the Soviet Union is portrayed as a lawless nation, the villain; an unprincipled nation without allegiance to moral or ethical code. Moreover, this point is evinced concisely in the President’s astute choice of words, proclaiming that the fate of space conquest for “good or ill”, is delineated by the choice of the United States to occupy “a position of pre-eminence.” Clearly, an ethical appeal, or ethos, is made in this

passage.
In this paragraph, Kennedy tugs at the human emotions of pride and perseverance. Powerfully, the president relates a great emotional appeal to American ego stating that, “We”, meaning Americans, “choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard”; evidently stoking the emotional flames of pride and persistence within the hearts of Americans. Moreover, Kennedy has chosen to utilize a passionate tone of pride and perseverance, essentially igniting the unifying fervor of patriotism and strength within Americans to “stand their ground” during the Cold War, to help aid in the great fight for knowledge and power, to explore the stars, to conquest the vast and unknown chasms of darkness in the universe, and ultimately believe the challenge to be “one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”