President John F. Kennedy´s Man on the Moon Challenge

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In 1961, the United States of America was embroiled in the Cold War with the Soviet Union. This confrontation was taking place not only on land, sea and air, but in space as well. On May 25th, 1961 recently elected US President John F. Kennedy addressed a joint session of Congress, during which he outlined his now famous Man on the Moon challenge. It was through this ambitious dream that the creation of the National Aeronautical Space Administration (NASA) came about, which President Kennedy challenged to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Although he didn't live to see the achievement of his dreams, the United States successfully landed Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin on the moon on July 20, 1969 and brought them home safely1. It was President Kennedy's passionate beliefs that come through not only in his style of writing but in his delivery of the speech that drive home his point and get Congress, Industry and the American people to take up his call to arms. President Kennedy made this speech because of significant political pressure. Both his administration as well as the country as a whole had been subjected to a string of space related embarrassments by the Soviet Union. They were the first nation to launch a satellite into space (Sputnik-1, October 4, 1957), the first to put an animal into space (Sputnik-2 with the dog Laika aboard, November 3, 1957), the first to land a probe on the moon (Luna-2, September 12, 1959) and the first to place a man in orbit (Vostok-1 with Cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin aboard, April 12, 1961)1. President Kennedy knew national pride was on the line so he used the opportunity to push for the most ambitious (and expensive) project since the Panama Canal and th... ... middle of paper ... ...eople to make it happen. The now famous Man on the Moon speech was only part of President Kennedy's very first State of the Union speech. In fact, it was only one of nine points he covered that day. President Kennedy was strongly anti-communist and it was his strong belief that this country needed something really big in order to reassert our dominance over the Soviet Union, especially in an area they were presently well ahead of the US. His decision to call on not only members of Congress but on the people of the United States as a whole underscores his belief in the the good of the country as a whole. It is because of President Kennedy's character, vision and ability to choose his words carefully and deliver his message clearly and with great passion that Congress and the American people rallied behind their beloved President and fulfilled his dreams.

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