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Speech analysis

John F. Kennedy: the Decision to go the Moon, 1961

JFK
Great moments require great speeches. The simplicity of Kennedy’s rhetoric preserves a sense of wonder at going beyond human capabilities, at this great event for science and technology.

We choose to go to the moon. 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.

What makes this a great speech?

  • Simple sentence structures: “We choose to go to the moon” = Subject + Verb + Complement. The grammatical simplicity of the sentence allows an audience to reflect on important concepts, i.e. choice. Repetition emphasises this.
  • Kennedy uses demonstrative (or pointing) pronouns e.g. “this decade”, “that goal” to create a sense of urgency; to convey how close to success the US is.