JFK's speech about Space Travel at Rice University

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYb_mhiE-qU&feature=related

This speech is a motivation and persasive speech that President John F. Kennedy used in order to get people interested in space travel. This speech wa given at Rice University in 1962.

In this speech, JFK uses alot of hand gestures throughout the whole speech to give more of an emphasis on what he is trying to get across to the audience. He also uses alot of emphasis on words to show the passion that he has about his subject. I feel that the emphasis and hand gestures give the audience a better perspective of what the speech means to not just President Kennedy, but to the entire United States.

President Kennedy also used words that made himself feel closer to the audience than just there commander in chief. For example, he used words like us, our, and we to make it seem like space travel was benefiting everyone [0:01-0:45]. President also used some unique examples to get his point across to the audience. For example, he used comparisons of Rice University playing the University of Texas not because it was easy[3:00-3:08]; because it was hard. He was trying emphasis the fact that space travel was not going to be easy and that it would make the United States stronger in the end. President Kennedy also kept great great use of eye contact throughout the entire speech.

The only thing that President Kennedy could have done better was to not sway away from the microphones from time to time. He would tend to lean back and not talk directly into the microphone and its was hard to hear him from time to time. Otherwise, this speech was just another great speech by President John F. Kennedy.