President John F. Kennedy's September 12, 1962 address on the decision to go to the moon.

I came across this JFK speech and wanted to share it here. Here he makes his argument that America should lead in space exploration and be the first to the moon. What's also interesting is that Kennedy maps out Western and American technological history which is reminiscent of Abraham Lincoln’s “Lectures on Discoveries and Inventions.” He also echoes Vannevar Bush’s “As We May Think” talking about the difficulties of information overload. This is a truly great speech.

Kennedy was also a skillful politician. In response to critics who ask, "why the moon?" Kennedy poses the rhetorical question, "Why does Rice play Texas?" (The University of Texas). This gets a huge roar from the crowd. Rice is a small, elite private university in Houston, and UT is and was one of the powerhouses of Texas football.

This is the part 1 of the speach
Part 2