Topic: Kennedy “we choose to go to the moon speech” vs. Elon Musk’s car in space

Purpose: To compare and contrast the delivery of the messages JFK and Elon Musk were attempting to send.

Thesis Statement: Through the image of Starman and the “we choose to go to the moon speech”, Elon Musk and John F. Kennedy use kairos, ethos, and style to inspire America and the scientific community to respond to disparate exigences.

Introduction

Attention strategy: Something like “they say running away does not solve problems, but they never said rocketing off of the face of earth does not solve an exigence.”

Orienting material: Space race beginning, Sputnik, Gagarin, Shepherd (Kennedy)  Elon starts SpaceX, builds rockets, sends his car into space

Main Idea I: In both instances of these artifacts, the world stood with an exigence that could lead to catastrophic global events.  Both Elon and Kennedy stood up and offered solutions at these kairotic moments.

• Elon proposed that if this climate crisis could not be averted we would need a backup plan, that being Mars (logos).
• Kennedy wished to send people to the moon to keep space free from any government control as well as to show the power of the U.S. He wished to prove to the USSR that if they did anything militarily against us we were capable of protecting ourselves and in doing so he hoped the USSR would not attempt anything (logos).

Main Idea II: Both Elon and Kennedy create ethos through the artifacts.

• Elon’s solution to the exigence is for his company to send humans to Mars.  By launching the most powerful rocket ever, he built credibility (ethos). He also uses prior ethos.  He represents private industry in space exploration due to his company.
• JFK was a young, ambitious, and charismatic president of the United States and therefore had a lot of prior credibility.

Main Idea III: The style of the image and the speech added to the effectiveness.

• In the image, the focus seems to be on Earth, making humans the importance.  Publicity stunt that caused people to feel curious (pathos).
• Kennedy delivered the speech in a powerful manner and repeated key phrases.  This played on the pride of Americans, and supported the ideology that many Americans have “America is the greatest country in the world.  Pride=pathos.

Conclusion: touch on the effectiveness of the arguments made by Elon and Kennedy.

 

Civic Artifact Outline

 

Topic: “We choose to go to the moon” speech by President Kennedy

 

Purpose:  Analyze the speech and how it sends the main message of inspiration to its audience.

 

Thesis Statement:  President Kennedy relies on Kairos, style, and emotional appeals to inspire citizens and scientists alike to civically engage in the space race.

 

Introduction

Attention Strategy:  If I told you today that another country sent a satellite into orbit around earth, you probably would not react too much, but when the USSR launched Sputnik and later the first man into space, the U.S. felt horrified and defeated in the space race.

 

Orienting Material:  Sputnik 1957, Yuri Gagarin in space April 1961, Alan Shepard May 1961

 

Preview:  Kennedy uses Kairos, style, and emotional appeals to inspire the American people and scientists to support and engineer the journey into the unknown.

 

Body

Main Idea: President Kennedy chose the perfect time to deliver this speech (September 1961. (Kairos)

• The USSR had started out in the lead in the space race.
  • The audience was ready to hear the speech.
  • Audience worried about what the USSR advancements
• The U.S. was building momentum in the space race.
  • The audience will believe that it is possible
  • He was speaking at a university (Rice) where students can be inspired.

 

Kennedy uses style to establish ethos and pathos.

• Tone/ word choice
  • Powerful and confident reflects the great power of the U.S. and his own great power
  • Repeats we choose to go to the moon and “one” to emphasize his power and the power of the U.S. as a whole
• Uses his already established ethos
  • He has already gotten the U.S. out of difficult situations
  • He was a popular president

Use the pathos from style as a transition

Kennedy appeals to emotions by touching on the dangers and the triumphs of space exploration.

• pride
  • American ideology: we are the greatest country
  • Ideology: America can do anything
• Collective curiosity
  • A journey that will take us into the unknown
  • We all embark on this journey together as mankind

Conclusion

Summary Statement – Throughout his speech Kennedy inspires the nation using Kairos, style, and emotional appeals.

Concluding Remark – Just as JFK recommended, we should always seek to explore the unknown.

Reference Page(s)

https://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/ricetalk.htm

from 1:19-1:49

(I will probably not use this exact image, but I will use something representing Musk’s plans to colonize Mars.)