Kennedy's rhetorical strategy in the 1962 Rice Stadium moon speech

John F. Kennedy Moon Speech - Rice Stadium, rhetorical analysis of John F. Kennedy's September 12, 1962, Moon Speech - Rice Stadium, Houston, Texas

There is a strong connection between John F. Kennedy, the 35th American President, and the space race occurring throughout the Cold War. Kennedy largely believed that having the upper hand in the space race was a matter of national interest. From his perspective, this was an idea that would emphasize the country's position in the international environment through the message that it expressed. The President's September 12, 1962, Moon Speech at the Rice Stadium in Houston, Texas, enabled listeners to gain a more complex understanding of what the space race entailed and of the U.S.' position with regard to the topic. The speech was intended to have listeners involved in making the U.S. "the world's leading space-faring nation." (John F. Kennedy Moon Speech - Rice Stadium) This particular speech displays Kennedy's perspective with regard to the space race and the fact that the orator appealed to pathos through having the audience acknowledge that it was essential for it to get actively involved in the space race because of the U.S.' competitiveness and to logos by explaining the logical reasons why people in general need to concentrate on the landing on the moon as being an important step in humanity's progress.

There are a series of motivations that an individual can associate with the act of going to the moon. Ranging from improving the way that the social order understands the universe to the simple idea of succeeding in doing something that poses a lot of problems, reaching the moon was basically an act that raised society's self-esteem and enabled Americans to perceive themselves as a community that was particularly proficient in building impressive technological devices. "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too." (John F. Kennedy Moon Speech - Rice Stadium)

Kennedy's speech produced much controversy through the way that it addressed the problem of the space race. The American President was determined to provide individuals in Houston with the chance to look at matters from his perspective -- this meant that they needed to acknowledge their position and the fact that it was essential for them to support the mission.

One of the most surprising things about Kennedy is that he initially had a different understanding of U.S.-Soviet relations in the context of space exploration. "His first instinct on coming to the White House had been to seek cooperation in space with the Soviet Union, not competition." (Logsdon) This makes it difficult to think about his speech from a perspective involving U.S.-Soviet relations at the time. It is safe to say that his decision to emphasize the competition between the two world powers was partly owed to the fact that he was well-acquainted with the public's antipathy toward the Soviets.

Kennedy establishes personal credibility by addressing the idea of emphasizing his role as a President and through making it possible for listeners to realize the strong connection between their personal goals and the goals of the country in general. In order to seem knowledgeable, he concentrated on actually having people consider the things they have a limited understanding of rather than the things that they are well-acquainted with. The President addressed this idea by claiming that in spite of how society had experienced particularly impressive technological advancement, "the vast stretches of the unknown and the unanswered and the unfinished still far outstrip our collective comprehension." (John F. Kennedy Moon Speech - Rice Stadium)

One can easily observe a series of enthymemes throughout the speech, as Kennedy focused on reason as the most effective tool he could use with the purpose of influencing his listeners to support his type of thinking (Frame 57). By combining this form of argument with ethos and with pathos in particular, the President was determined to produce a speech that would have a strong persuasive effect. Logos was also a concept that he considered, but he put lesser emphasize on it as a result of addressing the slightly less logical reasons why it was important for people to reach the moon. By bringing on the case of George Mallory, an individual who climbed Mount Everest just 'because it is there', Kennedy wanted people to realize that humanity as a whole needed to want to break boundaries just in order to feel better about itself. In addition to the scientific aspect of the benefits of going on the moon, such a journey would present numerous other benefits -- one of the most important of them being related to simply having Americans think about themselves as the first explorers to reach the Moon.

Even with the fact that it is somewhat difficult to identify logos in Kennedy's speech, upon further analysis one can discover a form of syllogistic logic. The speech practically underlines the idea that it would be in the U.S.' best interest to reach the moon, as this would entail a level of discovery that would benefit the people in Houston, the American public, and the world as a whole. Kennedy introduced a process of deductive form in the psychological understanding of listeners (Frame 58). One can address his speech by taking particular ideas and considering them apart from the rest of the arguments. These respective parts can be used with the purpose of understanding the President's exact chain of thoughts.

The very way in which Kennedy describes a journey to the moon demonstrates the degree to which he understood the future. He did not want to give people false hope with regard to their limitations, but he was determined to have them gain a more complex understanding of how it was possible for them to experience significant progress as a consequence of having strength of will. The rocket itself, as he described it, would be "made of new metal alloys, some of which have not yet been invented, capable of standing heat and stress several times more than have ever been experienced." (John F. Kennedy Moon Speech - Rice Stadium) This further supports the idea that the President was unhesitant about emphasizing humanity's limited knowledge about what a mission on the moon would involve. However, it also signals that he was convinced that the U.S. had the resources to perform such a mission and that determination was one of the most important things it needed -- as it was practically more important than building a ship with materials that had not been discovered yet.

Even with the impressive nature of Kennedy's speech, many were not as enthusiastic as he was with regard to the idea of reaching the moon. Americans had barely been able to send a person in space by that time, with Alan Shepard Jr. flying for fifteen minutes and reaching the altitude of 117 miles. Kennedy's statement thus made it difficult for NASA engineers to share his optimism. Conditions were even more critical as a consequence of the President's decision to even set a deadline concerning a moon landing. His use of ethos throughout the speech is downright inspiring, considering that he put the basis for a mission that seemed impossible for the people in charge of organizing it (Higgins 24).

The concept of ethos is present in several occasions during the speech and one can get a better understanding of this respective idea by looking back at how Kennedy had experienced significant success in the past. This was not a person who provided society with a costly and risky mission, as this was a man who managed to get out successfully out of especially critical situations like the Cuban Missile Crisis. The public thus trusted him and believed that he was entitled to propose such a mission, regardless of the fact that it was daring and that the U.S. had both limited resources to complete it and a limited understanding of the factors it entailed. The Ethos appeal thus functioned perfectly in getting people to consider that they needed to act in agreement with their President's expectations.

The appeal to ethos was generally intended to have listeners feel that the country's funds and resources are in good hands. The fact that part of these funds and resources would be invested in spatial exploration was going to benefit the entire nation because of the numerous positive effects that landing on the moon would have on the U.S. While it would be exaggerated to claim that Kennedy had a complex understanding of what the space race would involve, the fact that he was especially knowledgeable when it came to the country's welfare and that he was committed to helping the American public compensated for this aspect. The President likely considered much more than the immediate effect that his words are going to have on listeners in Houston. He probably thought about the long-term effect of his speech and the fact that it would have been difficult to measure the degree to which he influenced the American public just by considering whether or not people present there on that day would support the space race.

Kennedy's speech was intended to have listeners consider that he was worthy of being believed. The fact that he actually had a limited understanding of the things he was talking about did not matter, as he attempted to use pathos with the purpose of compensating for instances when his speech lacked ethos or logos. He made it possible for the audience to perceive his decision to go to the moon as something that needed to be in the minds of everyone. Kennedy virtually influenced the public to identify with him both when considering their inability to complexly understand the technology behind a moon landing and when considering their determination to remove boundaries that they've set themselves.

One of the most important aspects of the speech was Kennedy's focus on introducing ideas related to peace. "There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again." (John F. Kennedy Moon Speech - Rice Stadium) In addition to providing listeners with the ability to understand why it would be important for them to conquer space, Kennedy also addresses the matter of peace as seen in a context involving spatial exploration. He emphasized how reaching the moon was one of many "obligations to ourselves as well as others." (John F. Kennedy Moon Speech - Rice Stadium)

When considering peace and the way that it is present in the speech, one might find Kennedy's position on the concept confusing. While he relates to space as a place where nations need to cooperate, he does not attempt to ignore the possibility of it being a place of conflict. He probably chose to make this reference with the purpose of reacquainting the audience with the seriousness of the Cold War and with how the space race was more than a race involving technology. The military aspect of the race had to be considered and by having the upper hand the U.S. would be more likely to succeed in a potential conflict. It is likely that Kennedy chose to discuss about peace alongside of space exploration because he knew that individuals in the future also needed to address the idea of peace in order to actually be able to thrive in all domains. As it was later proven, space exploration was much more easier than achieving peace, thus making it possible for someone to understand Kennedy's point.

Peace and cooperation were addressed in a way that appealed to logos, as Kennedy related to these topics as being attainable as long as humanity turned its attention away from fighting and focused on the progress that it could achieve by collaborating. The expenses and the risks associated with landing on the moon and with exploring space were far smaller than the expenses and risks associated with continuing to put across hostile attitudes.

Kennedy's ideology was based on solid facts, but it was mostly built upon his interest in having the U.S. lead the space race. Furthermore, his type of thinking was certainly impressive when considering his ability to extend humanity's knowledge and boundaries to the point where people in general would become unhesitant about getting actively involved in missions that once seemed impossible. "This is an admirable sentiment, not least for being one that is assumed to so much of what human being do and have always done anyway, namely, striven for big goals -- some of them horrible, it is true, but many of them wonderful; and the civilizations of the world are the result." (Grayling 168)

The American public, similar to Congress and the authorities in the country in general, was supportive toward American involvement in the space race. However, most people were inclined to put across hesitation when it came to the material aspect of the project. Kennedy adopted a particularly intriguing strategy with the purpose of addressing this issue, as he chose to say the project's cost immediately after relating to the amounts of money the government would invest into the city of Houston. This made listeners less hesitant about supporting such a project, taking into account that the mission would have obviously benefited them, regardless if the U.S. managed to land a man on the moon or not.

The American President's tendency to discuss money is a clear appeal to logos, as it is directed at having listeners almost feel ashamed if they had the slightest hesitation about supporting the project. Similar to how the U.S. spent significant amounts of money on building weapons and fighting wars, the fact that the space budget for 1961 was less than the sum that Americans paid for cigarettes and cigars on a yearly basis further influenced listeners to consider that not investing as much as possible in the space race would have been irresponsible. Listeners must have experienced strong emotions as they became more and more familiarized with the reality of the space race and the degree to which individuals in the U.S. blindly spent more money than was needed for spatial exploration on things that actually harmed them.

One of Kennedy's trademarks related to his tendency to strive for big goals -- objectives that many were likely to consider absurd and impossible. The speech he gave in Houston on September 12, 1961 actually demonstrates how he felt toward the space race and about the moon landing. His speech basically represented an open invitation for simple people and scientists to come together in doing everything in their power with the purpose of sending a man to the moon. Kennedy's inability to have a complex understanding of the mission actually acted as incentive for his listeners and for individuals from across the U.S. To think about the moon landing as a concept that they are directly related to. Kennedy did not just present people with information regarding the space race, as he presented them with information concerning themselves.