Prepare to discuss the text you selected by reading it independently. Record your thoughts about the passage in the following chart. You may need to conduct additional research to support your understanding of certain elements of the argument, particularly the situation and audience. ANSWER:

What is the rhetorical situation and how does it influence the argument?
SPAMIT (situation, purpose, audience, message, individual, tone)

Situation: a speech given in front of university students in 1962, before anyone had gone to space/landed on the moon
Purpose: to explain why the United States needs to go to the moon
Audience: students at Rice University who are probably studying space/engineering or who are interested in space exploration; future inventors and innovators interested in space exploration; university staff who are involved in research related to space exploration or who may be able to contribute to Kennedy’s goal to go to the moon; other members of the community who are interested in or may be able to support Kennedy’s goal of space travel/going to the moon
Message: America must go to the moon to maintain peace and to gain knowledge.
Individual: president of the United States
Tone: inspirational

What is the author’s claim?

Americans will lead the way in space exploration to maintain the ideals of freedom and peace.

What evidence and examples does the author use to support the claim?

“we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest”
“new rights to be won. . . . and used for the progress of all people”
“There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet.”
“its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again”
“that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills”
“that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win”

How does the author use rhetorical strategies to develop the argument?

Kennedy uses parallel structure, repetition, and figurative language in the following sentences:

“We mean to be a part of it—we mean to lead it.”
“We set sail on this new sea. . . .” (This quote is a metaphor to compare space exploration to pilgrims who sailed in unfamiliar waters to go to America.)
“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.”
“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things. . . .”
He uses these strategies to emphasize that even though exploring the new and unfamiliar territory of space is risky (“hazards are hostile”), it is necessary to go to space (the moon) to promote cooperation and maintain freedom and peace throughout the world.

What key idea(s) does the author imply?

By stating, “We have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest,” Kennedy implies that other countries’ governments could use their presence in space to oppress people or start a conflict.

What key idea(s) does the author explicitly state?

Kennedy explicitly states why we should go to space by saying, “Because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people.”