Rhetorical Analysis Of Jfk Speech

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In 1962, the current president at the time, President John F. Kennedy delivered a speech to his citizens concerning the National Aeronautics and Space Administration program. Kennedy effectively utilized various rhetorical choices in an attempt to raise support for the program from the people at Rice University Stadium in Houston, Texas. For more folks to understand the importance of space travel for humans, Kennedy viewed humanity through a historical lens, provided examples of vital inventions, appealed to his audience's values, and used analogies.

Kennedy started off his speech by emphasizing how humans have gone from learning how to use the skins of animals as clothes to the beginning of Christianity to the creation of the printing press. Kennedy wanted to tell his citizens that we should all work together as a community to keep
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Kennedy explained how it was only recently that electric lights, telephones, automobiles, and airplanes became available. Humans are developing critical machines as years go by and our society is only going to keep improving technology-wise. By listing names of creations that have already been invented, his audience can understand how these scientific discoveries are extremely vital to our country and lend their support to the space program.

Kennedy additionally appealed to his audience's beliefs and values by stating that a man's purpose should be to use his knowledge and intelligence to contribute to our nation's growth. By stating that "If this capsule history of our progress teaches us anything, it is that man, in his quest for knowledge and progress, is determined and cannot be deterred", Kennedy reminded his people they should always be striving to move forward and improve our society; his audience was encouraged to contribute to new discoveries and inventions of mankind, which included space