JFK Moon Speech

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced before a special joint session of Congress the dramatic and ambitious goal of sending an American safely to the Moon before the end of the decade. A number of political factors affected Kennedy's decision and the timing of it. In general, Kennedy felt great pressure to have the United States "catch up to and overtake" the Soviet Union in the "space race." Four years after the Sputnik shock of 1957, the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had become the first human in space on April 12, 1961, greatly embarrassing the U.S. While Alan Shepard became the first American in space on May 5, he only flew on a short suborbital flight instead of orbiting the Earth, as Gagarin had done. In addition, the Bay of Pigs fiasco in mid-April put unquantifiable pressure on Kennedy. He wanted to announce a program that the U.S. had a strong chance at achieving before the Soviet Union. After consulting with Vice President Johnson, NASA Administrator James Webb, and other officials, he concluded that landing an American on the Moon would be a very challenging technological feat, but an area of space exploration in which the U.S. actually had a potential lead. Thus the cold war is the primary contextual lens through which many historians now view Kennedy's speech.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• jfk
• kennedy
• moon
• apollo

[newcurioshop]

Like any generation, there were heroes and villains. What I would say, is that was a period of great vision, of looking ahead at the great things we could do.

[newcurioshop]

So it was, so it was.

[DarthSensitive]

3:03

[dranfu]

Can you imagine Kennedy giving this speech to a room of Tea Party politicians? Oh how the country has changed.

[720069mf]

@WhenPigsflew I watched that speech as a kid and many others. Iwas 15 years old in 1968. The day we landed on the moon was my 16th Birthday day- I was one happy teen esp. considering all the events prior; and the vietnam war was very heavy on everybodys' mind. It was scary, fascinating ,crazy all in one. If Kennedy had made that speech in front of the Tea Party today- they would have booed. Please encourage your friends to study this era in US- world history .

[Patriotman1990]

@dranfu I don't get it?

[SinatraFan1989]

Surely one of the greatest speeches ever.

[WhenPigsflew]

I'm only 25, so I wasn't alive for the events of the 60's, but I fervently wish I had been. Everything I've seen and read leads me to believe it was probably the single most important decade in the last century and a half to the American identity, and defines what we *want* to be, what we fervently hope we could be again. It may be a rose colored view of history, but it seems that there was an entire generation of heroes, and I was born afterward.

[theeasybeats]

this was 50 years ago today

[MikezillaDeTartarus]

good sound quality, nice.