President John F Kennedy's Rhetorical Strategy - Rice University Speech

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President Kennedy’s Speech at Rice University 1962 Humans have always looked up towards the heavens for knowledge and answers, from the study of horoscopes to the discovery of a heliocentric system as opposed to that of a geocentric model. Man’s knowledge of Space has come a far way from Galileo’s major astronomical discovery with the telescope that the Moon’s surface is mountainous to the recent endeavor to the moon with Wernher Von Braun’s Saturn V rocket that took Neil Armstrong and his crew to the moon in 1969. All of these events took place in a very short span and President John F. Kennedy had exactly that to say in 1962 at Rice University. President Kennedy had successfully achieved his goal of getting the nation’s support while explaining to them why the United States of America should be taking action immediately. This was done with his effective use of the rhetorical appeals. The main audience of this speech was the students of Rice University. President Kennedy was trying to appeal to the desires of the students and the American people. The audience was aware that JFK was the President of the United States, but he used his introduction to establish his character, and why the people should listen to him. He talked about being invited as an honorary professor, and kept it all very short – just enough to introduce his audience to him, and move on to the meat of the speech. The President of the humble United States had started out by putting himself in the role of "professor" giving a short lecture to his students. That set the tone for the audience. It told them that he was going to teach them about an important topic. It told them to open their minds and pay attention as it also lent to his credibility as a speaker. JFK had spent much time outlining the advancement of technology and growth by listing significant inventions and discoveries. This showed the

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