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Gutierrez, Danna

Strosnider

ERWC

10 January 2024

SPEP: Revised Essay

You may know John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States of America.

Many many years ago he gave a speech named “We choose to go to the moon,” he mentioned

subjects such as our budget, how other countries were already making advancements, and more.

In John F. Kennedy’s inspiring speech, “We Choose to Go to the Moon” he uses rhetorical

appeals to convince us that America should be the first country to land on the moon.

John F. Kennedy included logos in his speech, “We Choose to Go to the Moon,” by

mentioning how far the moon is, facts about the rocket, food and survival, temperature, and

much more. He tells us how far the moon is in exact measurements and the required size the

rocket needs to be to reach the moon, he explains, “my fellow citizens, that we shall send to the

moon, 240,000 miles away from the control station in Houston, a giant rocket more than 300 feet

tall…”(Kennedy 17). This shows that it would take a very long time to build the rocket

considering it needs to be 300 feet tall and on top of that make sure it can go 240,000 miles.

After that, you still need to stock it with food, oxygen, emergency supplies, space for the

passengers, and so much more. This means that it would be extremely hard and time-consuming

to meet all of the requirements to land on the moon. Kennedy’s goal here is to be the first to land
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on the moon before any competitors, but “re-entering the atmosphere at speeds over 25,000 miles

per hour, causing heat about half the temperature of the sun almost as hot as it is here today and

do all this, and do it right, and do it before this decade is over then we must be bold,” (Kennedy

17). In other words, Kennedy is acknowledging just how difficult it would be to be the first to

land on the moon, do it safely, and before the decade ends. This matters because it would take an

immense amount of work and money and we still had not even started yet while others were

already working on their blueprints and such. Also, we would have to make it back safely which

was also a big risk considering the deadly temperatures. As a result, John F. Kennedy mentions

some of the challenges we would face in building the rocket and making it safe and reliable to

transport people from Earth to the moon and back to Earth within a decade.

Kennedy also included pathos in his speech, he mentioned how it could be a force of

good or a force of ill and how this is a goal we must reach. Since we were in a race to being the

first country to land on the moon Kennedy mentioned, “Whether it will become a force for good

or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we

help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war,”

(Kennedy 7). This is important because there was the risk of the United States being attacked or

targeted. After all, we competed against other countries which could easily cause conflict. This

means that we had to be cautious and try our best not to make it a “theatre of war” so we would

not have to be battling over something inevitable. You might be wondering why we are so rushed

to land on the moon and here is how Kennedy explains it, “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
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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,” (Kennedy 9). In other words, we set a goal that needed to be

achieved to show that we are willing to accept challenges and follow through with them

successfully. To show just how skilled we are and to show our “energies.” This matters because

this is our way of showing others all the great things we are capable of accomplishing. Kennedy

showed pathos by telling us that there will be others who are mad at our accomplishments and

we need to try our best to avoid conflict. He also mentions that by landing on the moon we

would be able to show others that we can accept and conquer challenges.

America must be the first country to land on the moon. John F. Kennedy, a former

president of the United States wrote a speech about the challenges and great things that would

happen on our journey to landing on the moon. He used rhetorical appeals in his speech when he

stated the features required on the rocket, how fast we would have to be moving to get there, and

just how far the moon is. He also used rhetorical appeals when he mentioned that this could be a

force of good or ill and it all depends on the man. Kennedy had a great plan to achieve our goal

safely and without conflict.

Reflection

While revising this essay I changed a lot of my word choice and changed my sentence

structure a lot. I also changed a bit of punctuation and grammar, I took out some parts that were

too wordy and changed it. This improved my essay by helping it flow and get my point across

concisely. I now know better grammar and how to properly use punctuation, I can also identify

when I need to change something to better my essay.

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I have improved quite a bit as a writer, I now use more proper language and also know

how to get my point across clearly. I used to use wordy sentences and ramble a lot, I added

unnecessary words and also used a lot of improper language. I can identify when I have run-on

sentences which I was not able to do before. I can also properly integrate quotes and know how

to cite them correctly. I am most proud of how much more formal my work sounds now and it

flows easier, before it felt like everything dragged on which I believe I now fixed.