America 250: Reagan, Kennedy and the Values That Built a Nation

1 - > Matt Kirchner: For securing the American dream for the next 2 - > generation of STEM and workforce talent. The American Dream, the 3 - > core to the mission of this podcast. In this episode, and on 4 - > the eve of America 250 we go deep on America and on the 5 - > values that sew the fabric of our nation today and always. 6 - > This is not a political episode.

7 - > In fact, part of the message here is that, regardless of your 8 - > political views, regardless of which, if any, political party 9 - > your beliefs are most aligned to, that we, as Americans, are 10 - > tied together by a shared history, and I pray a shared 11 - > future of common values that make us more alike than we are 12 - > different today, and for the last 250 years. This year we 13 - > celebrate the 250 years since the signing of the Declaration 14 - > of Independence, officially the semi-quintennial, but I admit 15 - > that I like America 250 a lot better.

I have distinct memories 16 - > of the bicentennial, july 4 of 1976 which marked 200 years 17 - > since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. I 18 - > was seven years old, and it seems like we celebrated that 19 - > bicentennial for the entire year. We had a huge celebration 20 - > at my grade school, Wauwatosis McKinley Grade School, that 21 - > year, and I remember my first-grade teacher, mrs. 22 - > Kozowski, and the rest of us, my entire class in the whole 23 - > school, dressed in period clothing from 1776 for that huge 24 - > celebration.

The Fourth of July parade that year in my hometown 25 - > of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, sitting where we sat every year in front 26 - > of Ray's liquor store took on added significance that year. 27 - > The fireworks in Glendale's Clutch Park that we attended 28 - > every single year with my church friends lasted a little longer. 29 - > The red, white, green, and blue embers shot a little higher, and 30 - > the grand finale was even more grand than usual for me. This 31 - > 250 years hits just a little bit different, maybe because it's 32 - > only a 50 year increment instead of a full century, maybe because 33 - > everything seemed bigger when you were little, one might say 34 - > we're just more divided as an American people today than we 35 - > were 50 years ago.

Perhaps they weren't alive in 1976 or their 36 - > memories are selective. In 76 the country was emerging from 37 - > the controversies of the Vietnam War and of Watergate. The 38 - > economy was fragile, inflation running nearly 6% It was a 39 - > presidential election year, and the election between Gerald Ford 40 - > and Jimmy Carter was extremely close. Much like today, we were 41 - > an electorate divided, but despite our divisions, our 42 - > bicentennial celebration brought about reason and cause for unity 43 - > and an understanding that divided as we were, we still 44 - > shared something uniquely in common.

We were Americans. The 45 - > bicentennial reminded us that we were a people with a shared set 46 - > of values, whose common ground ran deeper than our differences. 47 - > Will America 250 do the same for this generation? We can hope so.

48 - > This week on The TechEd Podcast, we contemplate those shared 49 - > values that make us Americans: our courage and convictions, our 50 - > faith and our freedom, our spirit and our sacrifice, our 51 - > penchant for righteousness and our preference for peace, and we 52 - > reflect on these through the lens of the two greatest 53 - > speeches ever delivered, one in 1962 by Democrat President John 54 - > Fitzgerald Kennedy, and another in 1984 by Republican Ronald 55 - > Wilson Reagan.

We're going to play them both for you in this 56 - > episode of the podcast and do so chronologically, not by the date 57 - > of the speech, but by the era of American history, which they 58 - > reference. Thus, we start with Reagan's speech, which looks 59 - > back on D-Day, the code name for June 6, 1944 when the United 60 - > States and allied forces executed the largest amphibious 61 - > invasion in human history on the cliffs of Normandy France during 62 - > World War Two, an unimaginable effort that marked the beginning 63 - > of the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany.

To the 64 - > day, 40 years after D-Day, President Ronald Reagan stood at 65 - > the edge of the cliffs of Pointe de Hoc in Normandy, France, the 66 - > location of the Allied D-Day invasion, where 225 US Army 67 - > Rangers attempted the 100 foot cliffs. 50 of the 4414 Allied 68 - > troops who lost. 69 - > Their lives on D-Day did so at Pointe de Hoc, 50 of the 225 I 70 - > hope to one day visit the memorial there, but in the 71 - > meantime, the best I can do to put this location's history into 72 - > perspective is to tell you that my dad, who was seven years old 73 - > on D-Day, and who almost never tears up, once told me that when 74 - > he visited this sacred location and looked out over the English 75 - > Channel and dwelt on what happened there, all he could do 76 - > was cry.

It was here that Reagan delivered his speech, his back 77 - > to the English Channel, the top of the cliffs, and the Pointe de 78 - > Hoc monument behind him, and before him 62 surviving veterans 79 - > of the Second Ranger Battalion, who had scaled the cliffs 40 80 - > years before. Reagan delivered a speech that every American needs 81 - > to listen to at least once. I do at least once each year, it's 82 - > about 13 minutes long, and we are going to play the whole 83 - > speech for you, because well, that's the only way to truly 84 - > appreciate it.

As you listen, focus in on the words, phrases, 85 - > and points that form the soul of our nation, a roll call of 86 - > honor, young men who were champions, those who took the 87 - > cliffs, knowing that what they were doing was right, that their 88 - > country was worth dying for, that democracy is the most 89 - > honorable form of government ever devised by man, and that 90 - > that too is worth dying for, faith, belief, loyalty, and love 91 - > filling the churches at 4am rebuilding Europe following the 92 - > war, and that we are a nation that must always be prepared for 93 - > peace.

Listen for these words and phrases. Ronald Wilson 94 - > Reagan, point to Hulk, June 6, 1984 the we're 95 - > Ronald Reagan: here to mark that day in history when the Allied 96 - > armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to 97 - > liberty. For four long years, much of Europe had been under a 98 - > terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen.

Jews cried out in 99 - > the camps. Millions cried out for liberation. Europe was 100 - > enslaved, and the world prayed for its rescue. Here in 101 - > Normandy, the rescue began.

Here the allies stood and fought 102 - > against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in 103 - > human history. We stand on a lonely wind-swept point on the 104 - > northern shore of France. The air is soft, but 40 years ago at 105 - > this moment the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, 106 - > and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar 107 - > of cannon. At dawn on the morning of the sixth of June, 108 - > 1944 225 Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to 109 - > the bottom of these cliffs.

110 - > Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the 111 - > invasion, to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out 112 - > the enemy guns. The Allies had been told that some of the 113 - > mightiest of these guns were here, and they would be trained 114 - > on the beaches to stop the Allied advance. The Rangers 115 - > looked up and saw the enemy soldiers the edge of the cliffs, 116 - > shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing 117 - > grenades, and the American Rangers began to climb.

They 118 - > shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to 119 - > pull themselves up. When one ranger fell, another would take 120 - > his place. When one rope was cut, a ranger would grab another 121 - > and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held 122 - > their footing.

Soon, one by one, the rangers pulled themselves 123 - > over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these 124 - > cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. 225 125 - > came here after two days of fighting. Only 90 could still 126 - > bear arms. Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the 127 - > ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs, 128 - > and before me are the men who put them there.

These are the 129 - > boys of Puente Hope. These are the men who took the cliffs. 130 - > These are the champions who helped free a continent, and 131 - > these are the heroes who helped end a war. Gentlemen, I look at 132 - > you, and I think of the words of Stephen Spender's poem.

You were 133 - > men who, in your quote lives, fought for life and lift left 134 - > the vivid air signed. With your honor, I think I know what you 135 - > may be thinking right now, thinking we were just part of a 136 - > bigger effort. Everyone was brave that day. Well, everyone 137 - > was.

You remember the story of Bill Millen of the 50-First 138 - > Highlanders. 40 years ago today, British troops were pinned down 139 - > near a bridge, waiting desperately for help. Suddenly 140 - > they heard the sound of bagpipes, and some thought they 141 - > were dreaming. Well, they weren't.

They looked up and saw 142 - > Bill Millen with his bagpipes, leading the reinforcements and 143 - > ignoring the smack of the bullets into the ground around 144 - > him. Lord Lovat was with him, Lord Lovett of Scotland, who 145 - > calmly announced when he got to the bridge, "Sorry, I'm a few 146 - > minutes late, as if he'd been delayed by a traffic jam. When, 147 - > in truth, he'd just come from the bloody fighting on Sword 148 - > Beach, which he and his men had just taken.

There was the 149 - > impossible valor of the Poles, who threw themselves between the 150 - > enemy and the rest of Europe as the invasion took hold, and the 151 - > unsurpassed courage of the Canadians, who had already seen 152 - > the horrors of war on this coast. They knew what awaited 153 - > them there, but they would not be deterred, and once they hit 154 - > Juno Beach, they never looked back. All of these men were part 155 - > of a roll call of honor with names that spoke of a pride as 156 - > bright as the colors they bore, the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, 157 - > Poland's 24th Lancers, the Royal Scots Fusiliers, the Screaming 158 - > Eagles, the Yeomen of England's armored divisions, the forces of 159 - > Free France, the Coast Guard's match box fleet, and you, the 160 - > American Rangers.

40 summers have passed since the battle 161 - > that you fought here. You were young the day you took these 162 - > cliffs. 163 - > Some of you were hardly more than boys with the deepest joys 164 - > of life before you, yet you risked everything here. Why, why 165 - > did you do it?

Well, what impelled you to put aside the 166 - > instinct for self preservation and risk your lives to take 167 - > these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met 168 - > here, we look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It 169 - > was faith and belief, it was loyalty and love. The men of 170 - > Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith 171 - > that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God 172 - > would grant them mercy on this beach head or on the next.

It 173 - > was the deep knowledge, and pray God we have not lost it. That 174 - > there is a profound moral difference between the use of 175 - > force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were 176 - > here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those 177 - > others did not doubt your cause, and you were right not to doubt. 178 - > You all knew that some things are worth dying for.

One's 179 - > country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, 180 - > because it's the most deeply honorable form of government 181 - > ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were 182 - > willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your 183 - > countries were behind you. The Americans who fought here that 184 - > morning knew word of the invasion was spreading through 185 - > the darkness back home.

They fought or felt in their hearts, 186 - > though they couldn't know, in fact, that in Georgia they were 187 - > filling the churches at 4am In Kansas they were kneeling on 188 - > their porches and praying, and in Philadelphia they were 189 - > ringing the Liberty Bell. 190 - > Something else helped the men of D-Day, their rock-hard belief 191 - > that Providence would have a great hand in the events that 192 - > would unfold here, that God was an ally in this great cause, and 193 - > so the night before the invasion, when Colonel Wolverton 194 - > asked his parachute troops to kneel with him in prayer, he 195 - > told them, do not bow your heads, but look up, so you can 196 - > see God and ask His blessing in what we are about to do.

Also, 197 - > that night, General Matthew Ridgway on his cot, listening in 198 - > the darkness for the promise God made to Joshua, I will not fail 199 - > thee, nor forsake thee. These are the things that impelled 200 - > them. These are the things that shaped the unity of the allies. 201 - > When the war was over, there were lives to be rebuilt and 202 - > governments to be returned to the people.

There were nations 203 - > to be reborn. Above all. There was a new peace to be assured. 204 - > These were huge and daunting tasks, but the allies summoned 205 - > strength from the faith, belief, loyalty, and love of those who 206 - > fell here.

They rebuilt a new Europe together. There was first 207 - > a great reconciliation among those who had been enemies, all 208 - > of whom had suffered so greatly, the United States did its part, 209 - > creating the Marshall Plan to help rebuild our allies and our 210 - > former enemies. The Marshall Plan led to the Atlantic 211 - > Alliance, a great alliance that serves to this day as our shield 212 - > for freedom, for prosperity, and for peace, in spite of our great 213 - > efforts and successes, not all that followed the end of the war 214 - > was happy or planned.

Some liberated countries were lost. 215 - > The great sadness of this loss echoes down to our own time in 216 - > the streets of Warsaw, Prague, and East Berlin. The Soviet 217 - > troops that came to the center of this continent did not leave 218 - > when peace came. They're still there, uninvited, unwanted, 219 - > unyielding, almost 40 years after the war.

Because of this, 220 - > allied forces still stand on this continent today. As 40 221 - > years ago, our armies are here for only one purpose, to protect 222 - > and defend democracy. The only territories we hold are 223 - > memorials like this one, and graveyards where our heroes 224 - > rest. We in America have learned bitter lessons from two world 225 - > wars.

It is better to be here, ready to protect the peace, than 226 - > to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only 227 - > after freedom is lost. 228 - > We've learned that isolationism never was and never will be an 229 - > acceptable response to tyrannical governments with 230 - > expansionist intent, but we try always to be prepared for peace, 231 - > prepared to deter aggression, prepared to negotiate the 232 - > reduction of arms, and yes, prepared to reach out again in 233 - > the spirit of reconciliation.

In truth, there is no 234 - > reconciliation we would welcome more than a reconciliation with 235 - > the Soviet Union, so together we can listen, lessen the risks of 236 - > war now and forever. It's fitting to remember here the 237 - > great losses also suffered by the Russian people during World 238 - > War Two. 20 million perished, a terrible price that testifies to 239 - > all the world the necessity of ending war. I tell you from my 240 - > heart that we in the United States do not want war.

We want 241 - > to wipe from the face of the earth the terrible weapons that 242 - > man now has in his hands, and I tell you we are ready to seize 243 - > that beach head. We look for some sign from the Soviet Union 244 - > that they are willing to move forward, that they share our 245 - > desire and love for peace, and that they will give up the ways 246 - > of conquest. There must be a changing there that will allow 247 - > us to turn our hope into action. 248 - > We will pray forever that someday that changing will come, 249 - > but for now, particularly today, it is good and fitting to renew 250 - > our commitment to each other, to our freedom, and to the alliance 251 - > that protects it.

We're bound today by what bound us 40 years 252 - > ago, the same loyalties, traditions, and beliefs, we're 253 - > bound by reality. The strength of America's allies is vital to 254 - > the United States, and the American security guarantee is 255 - > essential to the continued freedom of Europe's democracies. 256 - > We were with you then, we're with you now. Your hopes are our 257 - > hopes, and your destiny is our destiny here in this place, 258 - > where the West held together.

259 - > Let us make a vow to our dead. 260 - > Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they 261 - > died for. Let our actions say to them the words for which Matthew 262 - > Ridgway listened: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. 263 - > Strengthened by their courage, heartened by their value, and 264 - > borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals 265 - > for which they lived and died.

266 - > Thank you very much. And God bless you all. what 267 - > Matt Kirchner: I love about the speech written by Peggy Noonan, 268 - > another American for whom I have tremendous admiration, is that 269 - > it doesn't just honor. Those who took the cliffs at Pointe du 270 - > Hoc, but does so in a way that is unapologetic and direct in 271 - > its celebration and defense of the values that I hold dear as 272 - > an American: courage, bravery, honor, a willingness to 273 - > sacrifice the price of freedom, our foundation of faith, and 274 - > forever striving to do what's right, avoiding the temptation 275 - > to unpack the whole speech.

I'll let Reagan's words and the 276 - > observations that I just shared speak for themselves. On to 277 - > Kennedy's speech. I've long been fascinated by the Kennedy 278 - > family. When I was a kid, my parents had a book on the 279 - > Kennedy assassination, and I was fascinated by that book, and 280 - > used to sit on the couch and study its pages for hours and 281 - > hours.

I visited the graves at Arlington, been to Hyannis Port, 282 - > stood near the grassy knoll in Dallas, the site of John F. 283 - > Kennedy's assassination, visited the book depository from where 284 - > the shots were fired that ended his life. Wealth, power, 285 - > storybook romance, sailing, Wayfarer sunglasses, Adirondack 286 - > chairs, intrigue, scandal, tragedy. These are what describe 287 - > the Kennedy family, and specific to JFK, courage and leadership 288 - > courage and leadership, which he displayed on september 12 1962 289 - > at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

He stepped to the podium. 290 - > Controversy swirled over the amount of money being put into 291 - > the Apollo space program, our nation's effort to put a human 292 - > on the moon and return them safely to earth. There were open 293 - > questions as to whether the project should even continue. By 294 - > Kennedy's own acknowledgement, the US was behind in the space 295 - > race.

The Soviet Union had just launched the first human into 296 - > space, and with this as the backdrop, Kennedy stood before 297 - > an audience of 40,000 people and delivered one of the two 298 - > greatest speeches ever, as we listen, focus not just on the 299 - > American values Kennedy celebrates, but on how closely 300 - > they resemble those in the Reagan speech. Note, what is 301 - > perhaps the greatest line delivered in any speech by any 302 - > speaker ever, words that have become a life mantra for me.

We 303 - > choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon and do 304 - > the other things, not because they are easy, but because they 305 - > are hard. In this speech, Kennedy speaks of honorable 306 - > actions, great difficulties, knowledge, progress, strength, a 307 - > decade of hope and fear, a country built not by those who 308 - > waited and rested, but by those who overcame with courage, 309 - > before a banner of freedom and peace, new hopes for knowledge 310 - > and peace, an act of faith and vision, paying the price that 311 - > needs to be paid, and the conviction that it will be done, 312 - > asking God's blessing.

This is John F. Kennedy at Rice 313 - > University on September 12, 1962 314 - > John F. Kennedy: President Titzer, mr. Vice President, 315 - > Governor, Congressman Thomas, Senator Wiley, and Congressman 316 - > Miller, mr.

Webb, mr. Bell, scientists, distinguished 317 - > guests, ladies and gentlemen, I appreciate your President having 318 - > made me an honorary visiting professor, and I will assure you 319 - > that my first lecture will be very brief. I am delighted to be 320 - > here, and I'm particularly delighted to be here on this 321 - > occasion. We meet at a college noted for knowledge, in a city 322 - > noted for progress, in a state noted for strength, and we stand 323 - > in need of all three, for we meet in an hour of change and 324 - > challenge, in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both 325 - > knowledge and ignorance.

The greater our knowledge increases, 326 - > the greater our ignorance unfolds. Despite the striking 327 - > fact that most of the scientists that the world has ever known 328 - > are alive and working today, despite the fact that this 329 - > nation's own scientific manpower is doubling every 12 years in a 330 - > rate of growth more than three times that of our population as 331 - > a whole, despite that the vast stretches of the unknown and the 332 - > unanswered and the unfinished still far outstrip our 333 - > collective comprehension.

No man can fully grasp how far and how 334 - > fast we have come. Now, but condense, if you will, the 335 - > 50,000 years of man's recorded history in a time span of but a 336 - > half a century. Stated in these terms, we know very little about 337 - > the first 40 years, except at the end of them, advanced men 338 - > had learned to use the skins of animals to cover them. Then, 339 - > about 10 years ago, under this standard, man emerged from his 340 - > caves to construct other kinds of shelter.

Only five years ago, 341 - > man learned to write and use a cot with wheels. Christianity 342 - > began less than two years ago. 343 - > The printing press came this year, and then less than two 344 - > months ago, during this whole 50 year span of human history, the 345 - > steam engine provided a new source of power. Newton explored 346 - > the meaning of gravity.

Last month, electric lights and 347 - > telephones and automobiles and airplanes became available. Only 348 - > last week did we develop penicillin and television and 349 - > nuclear power, and now if America's new spacecraft 350 - > succeeds in reaching Venus. We will have literally reached the 351 - > stars before midnight tonight. 352 - > This is a breathtaking pace, and such a pace cannot help but 353 - > create new ills as it dispels old new ignorance, new problems, 354 - > new dangers, surely the opening vistas of space promise high 355 - > costs and hardships, as well as high reward.

So it is not 356 - > surprising that some would have us stay where we are a little 357 - > longer to rest, to wait, but this city of Houston, this state 358 - > of Texas, this country of the United States was not built by 359 - > those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them. This 360 - > country was conquered by those who move forward, and so will 361 - > space. William Bradford, speaking in 1630 of the founding 362 - > of the Plymouth Bay Colony, said that all great and honorable 363 - > actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and both 364 - > must be enterprised and overcome with answerable courage.

If this 365 - > capsule history of our progress teaches us anything, it is that 366 - > man, in his quest for knowledge and progress, is determined and 367 - > cannot be deterred. The exploration of space will go 368 - > ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great 369 - > adventures of all time. And no nation, which expects to be the 370 - > leader of other nations, can expect to stay behind in this 371 - > race for space. Those who came before us made certain that this 372 - > country rode the first waves of the industrial revolution, the 373 - > first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear 374 - > power, and this generation does not intend to founder in the 375 - > backwash of the coming age of space.

We mean to be a part of 376 - > it. We mean to lead it for the eyes of the world. Now look into 377 - > space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have 378 - > vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of 379 - > conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed 380 - > that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass 381 - > destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and 382 - > understanding.

Yet the vows of this nation can only be 383 - > fulfilled if we in this nation are first, and therefore we 384 - > intend to be first. 385 - > In short, our leadership in science and industry, our hopes 386 - > for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as well 387 - > as others, all require us to make this effort to solve. These 388 - > mysteries to solve them for the good of all men, and to become 389 - > the world's leading space-faring nation. We set sail on this new 390 - > sea, because there is new knowledge to be gained and new 391 - > rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress 392 - > of all people, for space science, like nuclear science, 393 - > and all technology has no conscience of its own.

Whether 394 - > it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only 395 - > if the United States occupies a position of preeminence, can we 396 - > help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or 397 - > a new terrifying theater of war? 398 - > I do not say that we should or will go unprotected against the 399 - > hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotected against 400 - > the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be 401 - > explored and mastered without feeding the fires of war, 402 - > without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending 403 - > his writ around this globe of ours, there is no strife, no 404 - > prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet.

Its 405 - > hazards are hostile to us all. 406 - > Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its 407 - > opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come 408 - > again, but why some say the moon. Why choose this as our 409 - > goal? And they may well ask, why climb the highest mountain?

Why 410 - > 35 years ago fly the Atlantic? 411 - > Why does Rice play Texas? We choose to go to the moon. We 412 - > choose to go to the moon, we choose to go to the moon in this 413 - > decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but 414 - > because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize 415 - > and measure the best of our energies and skills, because 416 - > that challenge is one that we're willing to accept, one we are 417 - > unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others 418 - > too, it these reasons that I regard the decision last year to 419 - > shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the 420 - > most important decisions that will be made during my 421 - > incumbency in the office of the presidency.

In the last 24 hours 422 - > we have seen facilities now being created for the greatest 423 - > and most complex exploration in man's history. We have felt the 424 - > ground shake and the air shattered by the testing of a 425 - > Saturn c1 booster rocket, many times as powerful as the Atlas, 426 - > which launched John Glamor, generating power equivalents to 427 - > 10,000 automobiles with their accelerator on the floor. We 428 - > have seen the site where five F1 rocket engines, each one as 429 - > powerful as all eight engines of the Saturn combined, will be 430 - > clustered together to make the advanced Saturn missile 431 - > assembled in a new building to be built at Cape Canaveral, as 432 - > tall as a 48 story structure, as wide as a city block, and as 433 - > long as two lengths of this field.

Within these last 19 434 - > months, at least 45 satellites have circled the earth. Some 40 435 - > of them were made in the United States of America, and they were 436 - > far more sophisticated and supplied far more knowledge to 437 - > the people of the world than those of the Soviet Union. The 438 - > Mariner spacecraft the the Marinist spacecraft, now on its 439 - > way to Venus, is the most intricate instrument in the 440 - > history of space science. The accuracy of that shot is 441 - > comparable to firing a missile from Cape Canaveral and dropping 442 - > it in this stadium between the 40 yard lines.

Transit 443 - > satellites are helping our ships at sea to steer a safer course. 444 - > Tyrus satellites have given us unprecedented warnings of 445 - > hurricanes and storms, and will do the same for forest fires and 446 - > icebergs. We have had our. There he is, but so have others, even 447 - > if they do not admit them, and they may be less public, to be 448 - > sure, to be sure we are behind, and will be behind for some time 449 - > in manned flight, but we do not intend to stay behind, and in 450 - > this decade we shall make up and move ahead.

451 - > The growth of our science and education will be enriched by 452 - > new knowledge of our universe and environment, by new 453 - > techniques of learning and mapping and observation by new 454 - > tools and computers for industry, medicine, and the 455 - > home, as well as the school. 456 - > Technical institutions, such as Rice, will reap the harvest of 457 - > these gains. And finally, the space effort itself, while still 458 - > in its infancy, has already created a great number of new 459 - > companies and 10s and 1000s of new jobs.

Space and related 460 - > industries are generating new demands in investment and 461 - > skilled personnel, and this city and this state and this region 462 - > will share greatly in this growth, what was once the 463 - > furthest outpost on the old frontier of the West will be the 464 - > furthest outpost on the new frontier of science and space. 465 - > Houston, your city of Houston, with its manned spacecraft 466 - > center will become the heart of a large scientific and 467 - > engineering community during the next five years.

The National 468 - > Aeronautic and Space Administration expects to double 469 - > the number of scientists and engineers in this area to 470 - > increase its outlays for salaries and expenses to $60 471 - > million a year to invest some $200 million in plan and 472 - > laboratory facilities and to direct or contract for new space 473 - > efforts over $1 billion from this center in this city to be 474 - > sure all this costs us all a good deal of money, this year's 475 - > space budget is three times what it was in January 1961 and it is 476 - > greater than the space budget of the previous eight years 477 - > combined.

That budget now stands at $5,400,000,000 a year, a 478 - > staggering sum, though somewhat less than we pay for cigarettes 479 - > and cigars every year. Space expenditures, space expenditures 480 - > will soon rise some more, from 40 cents per person per week to 481 - > more than 50 cents a week for every man, woman, and child in 482 - > the United States. For we have given this program a high 483 - > national priority, even though I realize that this is in some 484 - > measure an act of faith and vision, for we do not now know 485 - > what benefits await us, but if I were to say, my fellow citizens, 486 - > that we shall send to the moon 240,000 miles away from the 487 - > control station in Houston a giant rocket, more than 300 feet 488 - > tall, the length of this football field, made of new 489 - > metal alloys, some of which have not yet been invented, capable 490 - > of standing heat and stresses several times more than have 491 - > ever been experienced, fitted together with a precision better 492 - > than the finest watch, carrying all the equipment needed for 493 - > propulsion, guidance, control, communications, food, and 494 - > survival on an untried mission to an unknown celestial body, 495 - > and then return it safely to earth, re-entering the 496 - > atmosphere at speeds of over 25,000 miles per hour, causing 497 - > heat about half that on the temperature of the sun, almost 498 - > as hot as it is here today, and do all this, and do all this, 499 - > and do it right, and do it first before this dictator is out.

500 - > Then we must be bold. I'm the one who's doing all the work, so 501 - > we'll get Marston stay cool for a minute. 502 - > However, I think we're going to do it, and I think that we must 503 - > pay what needs to be paid. I don't think we ought to waste 504 - > any money, but I think we ought to do the job, and this will be 505 - > done in the decade of the sixth.

506 - > It may be done. While some of you are still here at school at 507 - > this college and university, it will be done during the terms of 508 - > office of some of the people who sit here on this platform, but 509 - > it will be done, and it will be done before the end of this 510 - > decade, and I am delighted that this university is playing a 511 - > part in putting a man on the moon as part of a great national 512 - > effort of the United States of America. Many years ago, the 513 - > great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount 514 - > Everest, was asked, "Why did he want to climb it?

He said, 515 - > because it is there. Well, space is there, and we're going to 516 - > climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes 517 - > for knowledge and peace are there. And therefore, as we set 518 - > sail, we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous 519 - > and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked. Thank 520 - > you.

521 - > Matt Kirchner: Seven years later, on July 20, 1969 522 - > America's Neil Armstrong became the first human being to walk on 523 - > the moon. The two greatest speeches ever delivered. To be 524 - > sure, there are differences. One honors the sacrifice of the 525 - > past, and another eyes the sacrifice of the future.

One of 526 - > science and exploration, and another of blood and honor. One 527 - > looking inside our borders to science and scientists and 528 - > technology and progress, one looking outside to geopolitical 529 - > realities and threats. Kennedy's sword called the nation to 530 - > action. Reagan's was somber and reflective, but despite their 531 - > differences in time, in topic, in ticket or tenor, the 532 - > similarities and the values on which they focus is striking.

As 533 - > to courage, Kennedy calls on our answerable courage, our future 534 - > not built by those who waited and rested, but conquered by 535 - > those who move forward. Reagan speaks of roll calls, bravery, 536 - > and values worth dying for. 537 - > That's courage, as to righteousness. Reagan speaks of 538 - > soldiers who knew what they were doing was right, and of the 539 - > post-war Marshall Plan that rebuilt a foreign continent when 540 - > the soldiers' work was done.

541 - > Kennedy notes that it is up to the will of humankind to 542 - > determine whether technologies become forces for good or evil. 543 - > This is righteousness. As for sacrifice, Kennedy insists that 544 - > we must pay the price that needs to be paid, not because these 545 - > things are easy, but because they are hard. And Reagan goes 546 - > so far as to define what principles are worth dying for.

547 - > Sacrifice, as for honor, Kennedy tells us that honorable actions 548 - > come with great difficulties, and Reagan notes that the boys 549 - > of Puente Hoke were part of a roll call of honor with names 550 - > that spoke of a pride as bright as the colors they bore. Honor, 551 - > and as to conviction, Kennedy says that we shall send to the 552 - > moon 240,000 miles away in a giant rocket, more than 300 feet 553 - > tall, a human being, and then return them safely to earth.

He 554 - > says it will be done, and it will be done before the end of 555 - > this decade. Reagan tells 62 veterans of Puente Hoke, you 556 - > risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it?

We look at you, 557 - > and somehow we know the answer. 558 - > It was faith and belief, it was loyalty and love, and that is 559 - > conviction, courage, righteousness, sacrifice, honor, 560 - > and conviction. These values shine through the words of 561 - > Kennedy and Reagan, these are the values that built our 562 - > nation. These are the values that secured and defend our 563 - > freedom.

These are the values that hold the promise of our 564 - > future, and these are the values that unite us as Americans. May 565 - > we bear that in mind on this America 250 566 - > Unknown: and.