SPE 103
Historical Speech Review: John F. Kennedy
“Man Will Be On the Moon” Teagan Lavery
SPE 103 Oral Communication
JFK Man Will Be On the
Moon
John F. Kennedy was the United States 35th President who delivered an inspiring, persuasive, and
efficacious speech. This speech called “Man Will Be on the Moon” was about bringing the American
people together to support NASA and space exploration. Said speech was 33 minutes of telling American
citizens that we could win the “space race” against the Soviet Union who seemed to be ahead of the
USA. September 12th, 1962 American people heard JFK deliver the iconic speech that engaged roughly
35,000 people in the crowd at Rice University Stadium. Still today his speech is remembered amongst
American people and is noted as one of the most brilliantly delivered speeches in the history of the
United States.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was able to convince American’s that man would reach the moon
before the Soviet’s by his formal and rhetoric speech. He stood in front of approximately 35,000 people
in his suit and addressed his audience with professionalism in his mannerisms and words. His words
consisted of metaphors, alliterations, and scientific facts coinciding with statistics and numbers. JFK
stated “In the last 24 hours we have seen facilities now being created for the greatest and most complex
exploration in man's history. We have felt the ground shake and the air shattered by the testing of a
Saturn C-1 booster rocket, many times as powerful as the Atlas which launched John Glenn, generating
power equivalent to 10,000 automobiles with their accelerators on the floor.” (Cook, 11:40) proving to
those listening that he was convinced we, as a country, had the ability to succeed and was portraying his
confidence with these words. He was able to engage the audience by presenting several rhetorical
questions that made the crowd ponder what he was introducing to them. He knew how to manipulate his
listeners. “Handwritten notes by Kennedy show that the “Why does Rice play Texas?” line was added
Historical Speech Review: John F. Kennedy
“Man Will Be On the Moon” Teagan Lavery
SPE 103 Oral Communication
JFK Man Will Be On the
Moon
John F. Kennedy was the United States 35th President who delivered an inspiring, persuasive, and
efficacious speech. This speech called “Man Will Be on the Moon” was about bringing the American
people together to support NASA and space exploration. Said speech was 33 minutes of telling American
citizens that we could win the “space race” against the Soviet Union who seemed to be ahead of the
USA. September 12th, 1962 American people heard JFK deliver the iconic speech that engaged roughly
35,000 people in the crowd at Rice University Stadium. Still today his speech is remembered amongst
American people and is noted as one of the most brilliantly delivered speeches in the history of the
United States.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was able to convince American’s that man would reach the moon
before the Soviet’s by his formal and rhetoric speech. He stood in front of approximately 35,000 people
in his suit and addressed his audience with professionalism in his mannerisms and words. His words
consisted of metaphors, alliterations, and scientific facts coinciding with statistics and numbers. JFK
stated “In the last 24 hours we have seen facilities now being created for the greatest and most complex
exploration in man's history. We have felt the ground shake and the air shattered by the testing of a
Saturn C-1 booster rocket, many times as powerful as the Atlas which launched John Glenn, generating
power equivalent to 10,000 automobiles with their accelerators on the floor.” (Cook, 11:40) proving to
those listening that he was convinced we, as a country, had the ability to succeed and was portraying his
confidence with these words. He was able to engage the audience by presenting several rhetorical
questions that made the crowd ponder what he was introducing to them. He knew how to manipulate his
listeners. “Handwritten notes by Kennedy show that the “Why does Rice play Texas?” line was added
