Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort, commonly known by the sentence in the middle of the speech "We choose to go to the Moon", was a speech on September 12, 1962, by John F. Kennedy, the president of the United States. The aim was to bolster public support for his proposal to land a man on the Moon before the end of the decade and bring him safely back to Earth. In his speech, Kennedy characterized space as a new frontier, invoking the pioneer spirit that dominated American folklore. He infused the speech with a sense of urgency and destiny, and emphasized the freedom enjoyed by Americans to choose their destiny rather than have it chosen for them.

Source: Wikipedia