Kennedy's Moon Speech & The Mob at the Gates (with a bit of Benevolent Community)

I got tired of listening to Pres. Obama speeches so I was going to do a Reagan one but couldn't find one that I liked so I went with another great speaker, Kennedy.

The speech does not completely stay in the mode of any of the parables and has different themes throughout.  However, multiple sections, some long, some short, delve into a couple of the parables. They being The Mob At The Gates and The Benevolent Community.

Around the 3:50 mark Kennedy touches on The Benevolent Community.  He talks implicitly about what the founding fathers and prior generations did to bring the country together and make it the best country in the world, from their sacrifices and hard work.   This portion also rings of patriotism and the fortitude of America and it's people.

I suggest you at least watch the first 9:18ish of this speech (famous quote of the speech is around the 8:30 mark) .  In this first half of the whole speech, Pres. Kennedy touches on a lot of moments of The Mob at the Gates mentality.  America is the beacon of light to the world and they must get to space first, to protect it from the militarism and evil of the Soviet Union (5:48).  He says that space will be governed by an [American] banner of freedom and  peace.  To Kennedy, America is that nearly divine goodness unto the world.  The hope the world needs to combat communism.

Within the Mob at the Gates parable (around the 7:00 minute mark) he delves into the fear portion of this parable.  He implies and then more overtly states that if America is not first and leader in the space community that those who beat us to it or have more mastery over it, will pursue less than wholesome directions and goals.  America will use it for science and helping the world, while warning that others will use it for global instability, war and conquest.  He is warning the American people what will happen if they do not commit to the ideals of America and being the leader in the space race.

The final portion of the first half of the speech, Kennedy once again moves into the Benevolent Community and speaks to the difficulty of doing things and why we choose to do these difficult things as opposed to choosing easier goals.  To me it is again an implication of rolling up the sleeves as friends and neighbors, doing things to build up the community and nation.  It is also playing on patriotism and trying to inspire the patriotism of the audience to agree with him.  It is very persuasive even years after the speech and ensuing accomplishment of the goal.

The second half of the speech was less inspiring and persuasive, It gets technical and starts to talk about all the specific technology.  He should have just ended with the first half of the speech, he had the audience.  However, I would like to point out to all who read this and watch the speech, to the 11:24 - 11:30 mark on how he pronounces the word "hurricanes".  Interesting.

Process premises that I noticed throughout the speech were; sense of roots as he recalls the founders and ancestors of the country; pride as he appeals to the audiences patriotism and want/need to be the leader of the space race; sense of power to be the leader and in control of space, able to do what they want and not playing catch up; he also touches on fear mostly implicitly.