Abstract

On September 12, 1962, president John F. Kennedy visited Rice University in Houston, Texas, and delivered what is commonly known as one of the most iconic speeches in American history. The speech, titled “Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort”, but more widely known as “We Choose to go to the Moon”, was an attempt to gain further support for the nation's efforts in the Space Race against the Soviet Union. In his speech, Kennedy uses various techniques in order to further boost the audience's understanding of the situation, as well as, crucially, inspiring them to lend their support to these efforts. The speech today is seen as a symbol of victory, given that since then, America has successfully landed the first astronauts on the Moon, but at the time the speech was given, it was difficult to gain public support while the nation was losing the Space Race. This paper is an examination on the rhetoric of the speech, and why it worked well.

https://youtu.be/XUVg8pipYTg

Date

Fall 2022

Keywords

JFK, John F Kennedy, Moon Landing, Rhetoric, Rice University, We Choose to go to the Moon

Citation Style

APA

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