John F. Kennedy's speech seven years before the United States' first fammed voyage to the face of the moon galvanized Americans into truly believing in their quest.  The stakes were set high in Rice Stadium with tens of thousands gathered on September 12, 1962 for Kennedy's historic address. The speech, heard by millions of Americans, announced the troubles we might encounter and the rewards that we will reap on the journey.  Kennedy does well to convey his clear-cut message without losing the confidence and credence of the American people.  Everything Kennedy says has a reason in his carefully crafted speech, during a time when the USA could not afford to be ambiguous.  John F Kennedy's "We Choose to go to the Moon" speech uses historical, moral, and directly beneficial appeals to gain public support for one of the greatest feats in human history. 
The cold war was a political conflict between two countries that had the most power in the mid to late 20th century.  Americans, who preached freedom and limited political control, considered the soviets an oppressed state.  The two super powers were competing on every level, including a race for military superiority and space exploration. Kennedy appeals to these Americans in attendance at Rice University by playing on American apprehension of the Soviets.  He, in the most basic sense,  was trying to compel Americans to do all they can to prevent the "evil" Soviets from winning the race over the morally just Americans.

Kennedy starts off with a historic appeal by saying, "No man can fully grasp how far and how fast we have come, but condense, if you will, the 50,000 years of man s recorded history in a time span of but a half-century Stated in these terms, we know very little about the first 40 years, except at the end of them advanced man had learned to use the skins of animals to cover them. Then about 10 years ago, under this standard, man emerged from his caves to construct other kinds of shelter. Only five years ago man learned to write and use a cart with wheels. Christianity began less than two years ago."  He goes on to list notable efforts of humans such as the printing press and the electronic light bulb, as to place the potential moon landing within the pantheon of great milestones of human achievement.  Listing the more modern achievements displays how quickly humans are progressing in the new scientific age.  Kennedy speaking on the rapid progression of modern technologies allowed Americans to markedly anticipate the next big thing to challenge humans: space.  Humans knew a lot about the science behind earth, but were vastly ignorant towards the function and model of our final frontier.  Paramount tasks like the moon landing do not come around often, so why not complete it together as a unified nation?  Kennedy capitalizes in the speech by essentially offering the United States a spot in history as a nation that chose to blaze a trail for mankind.

The next appeal Kennedy brings up has to with morality and destiny. He states, "Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolutions, the first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space. We mean to be a part of it--we mean to lead it."  In this quote we see how Kennedy stresses the importance of being the first to the moon.  He wants to be a leader in space, as Americans have been at the forefront of all waves in this new scientific age.  A grandiose idea is necessary in this case in order to gain public support.  Americans have always felt entitled as a whole since Manifest Destiny, the 19th century widely held belief in the United States that American settlers were destined to expand throughout the continent gained traction in our once-fledgling country.  People simply believed that Americans were meant to be great, and in order to accomplish that Americans needed to lead in far-reaching taskrto be the first to the moon is also paying itself out in the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.  Both countries were on the verge of being capable of making the journey to the moon and wanted clear supremacy in spaceflight capability in order to gain a type of ideological superiority.  Kennedy only directly mentions the Soviet Union when he says, "Within these last 19 months at least 45 satellites have circled the earth. Some 40 of them were 'made in the United States of America' and they were far more sophisticated and supplied far more knowledge to the people of the world than those of the Soviet Union", but alludes to the rival country several times elsewhere in the speech.  By saying that the journey to the moon was a race, Kennedy transformed the already standing hatred of the Soviet Union into national pride and a desire to prove that the United States was the superior country.  Most Americans viewed the Soviets as undeserving of such a great feat, and therefore wanted to complete it by themselves.

Kennedy goes on to list the practical benefits of the mission to the moon by stating, "The growth of our science and education will be enriched by new knowledge of our universe and environment, by new techniques of learning and mapping and observation, by new tools and computers for industry, medicine, the home as well as the school. Technical institutions, such as Rice, will reap the harvest of these gains." He believes making the journey will advance America as a whole.  Rice University is mentioned to bring the crowd into the speech because he knows that they will cheer loudly if they are being called out directly.  He chose to announce the mission at Rice University because it is in Houston, the home of NASA.  Kennedy wants intelligent people, such as students at the university and employees at NASA employees to be the main recipients of his call to the Space Race.  New companies generated high-paying jobs for the skilled personnel that were in the surrounding areas, and Kennedy wants the professionals attending to know how the race will directly benefit them.  He knows that Americans from Houston and from all around the great nation will be more inclined to participate if they can see how they will prosper in the future.  "It may be done while some of you are still here at school at this college and university. It will be done during the term of office of some of the people who sit here on this platform. But it will be done. And it will be done before the end of this decade."  Here, Kennedy puts a time stamp in order to convince the people that this great endeavor will happen very soon.  It is up to the American whether he or she wants to join in or not.

Kennedy uses distinct perspectives in order to get the masses of the American public to back him on the mission to the moon.  He emphasizes the quests importance to human history with precise wording and thoughtful messages.  Morality and destiny are intangible signs of prosperity that great people of the past have strived for, and we now have the opportunity to reach them in our own way.  Space is the last great frontier that humans as a whole face.  John F. Kennedy's speech gave us a reason to greatly expand space exploration with his call of Americans to the moon.
