Speech analysis: John F. Kennedy “The decision to go to the moon” On September 12, 1962, the president of the United States JFK delivered a speech at Rice University in Houston, Texas regarding the special effort of the nation. He starts by addressing the president of the university and vocalizes his appreciation for the opportunity of having been conferred to speak before the public. He continues by emphasizing three qualities that are necessary in his time, characterized by different contrasts such as: change as opposed to challenge, hope as opposed to fear and finally knowledge against ignorance. The qualities of which he speaks are present according to President Kennedy in the faculty where they are gathered through knowledge, in the progress …show more content…
It speaks of those who, knowing everything mentioned above, will decide to stay stuck waiting, but there will be others, those who characterize the city, the state and the country that will make the difference and conquer the space. Note the crescendo that the speaker uses when starting with the city to end up in the country. To add more strength to his goal he talks about history and quotes William Bradford who said that all great and honorable actions are accompanied by difficulties and that both must be overcome with responsible courage. Kennedy returns then to his example of the summary history of humanity. Contrasting the nation against the entire humanity saying that as it is written in the history of the human being it will continue to seek greater knowledge and progress whether the American nation decides to participate or not. He makes mention then of the leadership at national level in the dependency of the important decision to dominate the space race that appears before it. Kennedy continues to reinforce his speech by speaking now about the dangers that would be unleashed for the country if it decided against space exploration. The dangers of ignorance and the disadvantage that this would imply in a warlike
John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address On Friday, January 20, 1961 John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as 35th President of the United States. In his Inaugural Address President Kennedy delivered a speech to unite and celebrate the peaceful transition of power that stands to this day as one of the most powerful addresses in modern history. Widely considered a call to action, President Kennedy challenged the American people to move beyond the precincts of the past to make a difference to move the world into an era of peace and prosperity. His promise to the other states on the world stage was no less spectacular when he swore “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship,
Lastly Kennedy states, “ My fellow citizens of the world; ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.” In this famous quote from Kennedy’s inaugural speech, he says that together, the people of America can do
J.F Kennedy, the president of United States wanted to put the first Americans to the moon-America exploring the moon, so he directed his speech to the people of taxes and Rice University to promote his space exploration program that will help America to be the first country to explore the moon. He believes that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. Throughout J.F Kennedy's speech, the speaker makes effective use of evidence, reasoning, rhetorical elements, and rhetorical devices that together form his argument to gain people support for his space exploration program. J.F Kennedy was trying to prove his point of view by giving examples and using a lot of Rhetorical devices and appeals that would grab the reader's attention
In his speech Kennedy uses different rhetorical devices to unify the citizens of both the United States and the world. Kennedy was giving this speech after winning by a very small margin of votes so he was trying to unite the people of the United States and show he was the correct choice for the president. This speech was given during the Cold War so he was trying to connect the people around the whole world and establish peace. Kennedy was able to unify the people and try to establish peace while at the same time making himself seem like a very competent leader. In his speech Kennedy tries to build his credibility as a personable leader by creating ethos.
John F. Kennedy was known for his charming, charismatic, and relatable personality which significantly attributed to him winning the presidency in 1960. These admirable characteristics of his were easily seen in his speeches as U.S. senator and as president, in which it was apparent he not only had the charm, but also incorporated his personal values into his administration as a public servent. One speech in particular which highlights this fact is his “City Upon a Hill” speech. John F. Kennedy’s “City Upon a Hill” speech was given on Jan. 9th 1961 as his final speech prior to being sworn in as president, which he delivered to the general court of Massachusetts. In this speech, Kennedy compared the impending challenges of his presidency to the troubles facing the first Puritan settlers of Massachusetts in the 1600's in John Winthrop’s original “city upon a hill” speech.
His diction is very inclusive; he commences his speech with several uses of the words ‘we’ and ‘our’, which makes way for inclusivity. JFK is blurring the distinction between citizen and superior governor by including the people in his proclamation. While describing the hardships and challenges that the country is facing, Kennedy mentions how imperative the occasion is on a global level; in the midst of the Cold War, he reminds his audience of the importance of uniting. Through the use of the lexical field of danger — words such as: ‘defiance’, ‘serious’, ‘risk’, and ‘sacrifice’ — he creates a feeling of tension and urgency, and engages his audience to the concern. To conclude his speech, the President mentions self-guilt on the part of the country on how they had not displayed the “sense of business responsibility” that they should have, a rhetorical strategy that approximates the audience to the government.
John F. Kennedy appeals to the audience by establishing himself as a respectable man, producing credibility. He demonstrates appreciation to “our soldiers and sailors” for protecting our freedoms and establishes a common ground that Kennedy and his audience are the Americans.
Mentioned previously, America was struggling with social inequalities. Kennedy referred to this by suggesting that “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich”. He emphasized that, to be a “free society”, all social classes must work to help each other in an effort to better themselves and their country. America, as referred to earlier, was falling apart; Its citizens falling into madness as a result of being dependent on a nation they thought would protect them. Kennedy addressed this problem with the aphorism, “Ask not what your country can do for you- ask what you can do for your country”.
The use of ethos shows how credible and reliable Kennedy is as he utilizes his position and knowledge as president to reassure the nation that space exploration is possible. Kairos was also an effective strategy for Kennedy, since he knew of the accomplishments of the Soviet Union years prior, and in turn took advantage of the current state of America in the space race. JFK’s moon speech was very important because it was given at time where the American people were uncertain in their position as a national powerhouse, and Kennedy brought forth and set the expectations that needed to be met, especially when it came to the space race, in order to fulfill America’s legacy of being
Oziel Rios S. Nambiar English 1302. SP3 12 February 2018 Kennedy Inaugural Address Rhetorical Analysis On Friday, January of 1961, John Fitzgerald Kennedy delivered a speech to the citizens of the United States of America and the world. Kennedy made a speech that he knew would be remembered for many years to come even after his presidential term.
Kennedy starts off by telling us how the world and freedom is in major danger, being close to a nuclear war, telling us that it has the power to end the human species (3). The next point made is that we should “... never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate” (Kennedy 15). This means that we should negotiate to make a means with that someone not because we have to negotiate to stay safe from that someone. Kennedy then says that the goal would to have the world work together to explore problems, have a common arm control and be equal in weaponry power, and work together to unlock new sciences (16-18).
On April 4, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was in Indianapolis for a campaign stop, when he received news that Martin Luther King was killed, causing Kennedy to write and deliver a speech regarding the assassination. This speech was succinct but not only was it about the assassination, it was also to tell the people there is still wisdom and hope in this time of turmoil. To reach this purpose, he first builds up his ethos, uses pathos to add mood and hope, and unifies the people. The combination of these elements makes it a very powerful and memorable speech. Robert F. Kennedy builds his credibility by relating his personal experience and knowledge of what the audience is feeling to the current events.
The speech accomplished what it was after because NASA got a man on the moon in 1969, but JFK never got to see the event. Even though he never saw the event, any speech can be compared to his “We Chose to go to the Moon” because every speech has a purpose and uses rhetorical components in some way that benefits the speaker. Pathos, ethos, and logos were used so that the audience gets the speaker what he/she wants. That was the same as what Kennedy did through his speech. At the end of the speech Kennedy again, talks about how people spent money on tobacco products instead of the space program.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Junior’s, speech at his inaugural address in 1961 is undeniably a masterpiece of the persuasive arts. Although the speech is short as such speeches go, and although its main persuasive device is pathos alone, the masterful skill with which Kennedy’s speech is written makes it one of the most moving and effective political speeches to date. Kennedy’s vivid use of diction and metaphor, as well as his extremely memorable syntax, are particularly strong and successful. Every intelligent debater, speech-writer, and generally argumentative person knows that there are three main techniques which can be used to manipulate an audience and engage them in the speaker’s topic and purpose: ethos, logos, and pathos.
President Kennedy’s moon speech at Rice University came at a time of high uncertainty regarding technology and the threat of war. Kennedy’s emotive speech aimed to lift and inspire those who feared the worst and to encourage the population to grow and achieve their greatest potential. The ‘moon speech’ will be analysed by uncovering key components of the speech that created a lasting impression on the authors of this report. It is important to firstly explore and identify the traits and attributes of leadership exhibited by President Kennedy in this speech. Additionally, a discussion amongst group members will be necessary to ascertain how and why this speech was inspiring, and whether this speech could be considered as the greatest speech