John F. Kennedy at Rice University, September 12, 1962

One of the most famous space speeches in history ... President John F. Kennedy visited Rice University on September 12, 1962 as part of a tour of U.S. space installations. He visited Houston after Huntsville and Cape Canaveral.
It should also be noted that this was during the campaign for mid-term elections. Kennedy was not up for re-election, but Houston congressman Albert Thomas was. Thomas chaired the House Appropriations Committee that oversaw NASA spending. His re-election was not in doubt, but he had powerful influence over NASA's budget, and played an important role in locating the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. (Today it's known as the Johnson Space Center.)
The best book on the subject is "John F. Kennedy and the Race to the Moon," by John M. Logsdon ISBN 978-0-230-11010-6. You can find it on Amazon.com and at other book outlets.
The video is courtesy NASA and in the public domain.
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[@audio_poetry]

One of the most historic moment, speech!

[@woodykelleher9253]

Smack those hands!! Did he show that much enthusiasm for Marilyn??

[@SpaceKSCBlog]

Newt Gingrich tried that in the GOP primary earlier this year in Florida and got ridiculed. The Moon program was a one-time confluence of historic events that won't happen again. The government wasn't running trillion-dollar annual deficits in 1962. Most of Congress doesn't care about space other than keeping the pork coming to their districts. That's why commercial crew/cargo is so vital to save space exploration.