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Photo
Credit: NASA |
 Of
the many challenges that lay before the United States in the early
1960s, why did the President select the Moon?One must be aware that the period of time was marked by a world wide conflict between the East and the West. That conflict became known as the cold war. It was a battle over ideology; it was communism versus democracy. The Soviets, who extolled communism, had beaten the Americans into space and had a large lead in rocket technology. Should the United States continue to fall behind, not only was the nation's prestige at stake, but also its very survival. President Kennedy delivered another speech at Rice University in Houston, Texas on September 12, 1962. In that speech the President eloquently answered the question of why. "We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard." |