# Did JFK Provide a Deadline? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 26, 2019, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jfk-provide-a-deadline/837647 "2019-07-26T01:50:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jfk-provide-a-deadline/837647/21 "2019-07-26T20:29:34Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > The moon thing was easy. The important question is, did they manage to do “the other things”? I had a teacher once tell me, many years later, that this was a reference to Civil Rights legislation. Reading the speech, it is certainly not explicit. Kennedy does allude to ensuring peace, rather than war, in space, so perhaps that is the reference. > [@JFK speech](#): > > …For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding. > Yet the vows of this Nation can only be fulfilled if we in this Nation are first, and, therefore, we intend to be first. In short, our leadership in science and in industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as well as others, all require us to make this effort, to solve these mysteries, to solve them for the good of all men, and to become the world’s leading space-faring nation. > We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. Considering he managed a [nuclear test ban treaty](https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/nuclear-test-ban-treaty) to limit nukes in space, he arguably succeeded. Incidentally, JFK was clear in that speech that, by end of the decade, he meant by the end of the sixties. > [@](#): > > However, I think we’re going to do it, and I think that we must pay what needs to be paid. I don’t think we ought to waste any money, but I think we ought to do the job. And **this will be done in the decade of the sixties**. It may be done while some of you are still here at school at this college and university. It will be done during the term of office of some of the people who sit here on this platform. But it will be done. And it will be done before the end of this decade. (Emphasis added) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jfk-provide-a-deadline/837647/22 "2019-07-26T20:42:29Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > The moon thing was easy. The important question is, did they manage to do “the other things”? Short answer, yes. The context: > [@](#): > > But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas? > > We choose to go to the moon. 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, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. People had climbed Mt Everest in 1953, and flown across the Atlantic in 1927. I don’t know Rice University’s schedule but I assume they have played games against the University of Texas. (Kennedy’s speech was delivered at Rice so this reference was an inside joke; Texas is generally seen as a much stronger team than Rice.) ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jfk-provide-a-deadline/837647/23 "2019-07-26T21:23:00Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > This is the correct answer. The real deadline had nothing to do with Kennedy’s speech. The real deadline was “before the Soviets do it.” yes because people were mad the Soviets had the first satellite in space and also the first man in space. The US did not want to come in 2nd in the next major space goal. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jfk-provide-a-deadline/837647/24 "2019-07-27T01:27:42Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > The moon thing was easy. The important question is, did they manage to do “the other things”? [Here’s the transcript.](https://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/ricetalk.htm) > [@](#): > > There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas? Climb the highest mountain? That was in 1953. Fly across the Atlantic? Heck, that was in 1919. It took eight more years to fly across the Atlantic\*\* solo.\*\* Rice play Texas? Well, when JFK made his speech, Rice had won 19 of 48 games against Texas, including five of the previous nine. For all we know, Kennedy might have meant, “it’s only hard to do if you think it is.” ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jfk-provide-a-deadline/837647/25 "2019-07-27T05:47:39Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I was watching one of the myriad documentaries about Apollo 11 the other day, and one of the NASA wonks they were interviewing pointed this out specifically- he said that basically prior to his assassination, it was a goal, but afterward, it became something more akin to a crusade (my words), in that they were doing it more as a last salute to JFK than merely to meet the arbitrary deadline. There was certainly that feeling among the public. And NASA budget requests were appropriated pretty easily because of this. I think NASA started some ancillary programs at this time, because they could get the money. And once Congress has spent a few million on it already, it’s hard to cut the program off. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jfk-provide-a-deadline/837647/26 "2019-07-27T06:51:26Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Rice play Texas? Well, when JFK made his speech, Rice had won 19 of 48 games against Texas, including five of the previous nine. > > For all we know, Kennedy might have meant, “it’s only hard to do if you think it is.” Yeah, I always thought that the Rice v. Texas thing was a hopeless travesty, much like WVU against Penn State. We stand at 9-48-2. But it Rice v. Texas was a gutty thing. Something that you pulled from deep inside yourself, it was tough, but you would win. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jfk-provide-a-deadline/837647/27 "2019-07-27T12:50:27Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > So I will have to assume that the Kennedy’s deadline then remained for memorial reasons. [Interesting article](https://www.fastcompany.com/90376962/if-president-kennedy-hadnt-been-killed-would-we-have-landed-on-the-moon-on-july-20-1969-it-seems-unlikely) about this on Fast Company, saying that Kennedy himself was having doubts by 1963, and that his death was what drove the whole project to continue to the end. (This is one of 50 articles in the [50 days to the Moon](https://www.fastcompany.com/section/50-days-to-the-moon) series.) ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jfk-provide-a-deadline/837647/28 "2019-07-27T14:22:56Z")
Since the OP has been answered can I ask a tag along question I’ve been wondering about lately? Who’s idea was it to put a man on the moon anyway? Had the Soviets announced they were going to try so we wanted to beat them? Or did Kennedy just make up something better than putting a man in orbit. Or maybe NASA wanted to and asked Kennedy? ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jfk-provide-a-deadline/837647/29 "2019-07-27T19:17:11Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Who’s idea was it to put a man on the moon anyway? Had the Soviets announced they were going to try so we wanted to beat them? Or did Kennedy just make up something better than putting a man in orbit. Or maybe NASA wanted to and asked Kennedy? [This article at The Space Review](http://www.thespacereview.com/article/511/1) describes a meeting at the White House in the days following Gagarin’s first orbital flight. Kennedy had never shown much interest in space until then, but felt he had to do something to take back the advantage and show leadership. This meeting was on April 14th, and JFK’s speech to Congress was on May 25th. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jfk-provide-a-deadline/837647/30 "2019-07-27T19:28:30Z")
Sorry, I didn’t quite answer the question. Apollo was already [in early planning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_program#Origin_and_spacecraft_feasibility_studies) in 1961, as a follow-up to Mercury, but not specifically focused on lunar landings. The U.S.S.R. hadn’t announced an intention of landing people on the Moon, and apparently kept _not_ announcing anything even once [their own programs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_crewed_lunar_programs) were under way. Although the N-1 rockets (and some of their failures) had been spotted by U.S. spy satellites, it was not officially acknowledged by the U.S.S.R. that there was a program for crewed lunar flights until the breakup of the Soviet Union. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jfk-provide-a-deadline/837647/31 "2019-07-27T21:06:01Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > The moon thing was easy. The important question is, did they manage to do “the other things”? I note that this has been commented on twice, but even with them I don’t understand what the question is referring to. /not snark ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jfk-provide-a-deadline/837647/32 "2019-07-27T21:12:15Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > I note that this has been commented on twice, but even with them I don’t understand what the question is referring to. /not snark From the quotes of the speech already here in the thread: > [@](#): > > We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jfk-provide-a-deadline/837647/33 "2019-07-27T23:47:31Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Fly across the Atlantic? Heck, that was in 1919. It took eight more years to fly across the Atlantic\*\* solo.\*\* In 1919, 32 men flew across the Atlantic. Alcock and Brown flew nonstop from Canada to Ireland, and the R34 British dirigible crossed from east to west with a crew of thirty, and a cat. Playing jazz on a gramophone. Then the R34 turned around and flew back. Lindbergh, my ass. Suck on it, Nazi-lover. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2019, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jfk-provide-a-deadline/837647/34 "2019-07-28T01:52:11Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Lindbergh, my ass. Suck on it, Nazi-lover. It’s not like Joe Kennedy’s son was going to hold that against somebody. And Kennedy was clearly referring to Lindbergh. He made the speech in 1962 and he referred to a flight across the Atlantic 35 years ago, which was 1927. ---
**Author:** ![Saturdaysmorning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/db5fbb/32.png) [@Saturdaysmorning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saturdaysmorning)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2019, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jfk-provide-a-deadline/837647/35 "2019-07-28T11:21:00Z")
I was only 7yrs old when that speech was made but the Soviet Union was already ahead of us in other things that were related to Space. You had to be alive to really pick up on fear (from adults) & as a child, I could feel it. He wanted it ASAP. For anyone interested, under the Freedom Act, JFK wrote a letter to the CIA demanding they turn over any info they had regarding any info they had to him & eventually to Soviet Union so we could work together. What makes this stand out is it was dated 10 days before JFK was assassinated. I have my own personal opinion. If others want to read about it, check out the letter, etc., you can Google it. Thank you for accepting me as a member. ������ ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2019, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jfk-provide-a-deadline/837647/36 "2019-07-28T16:28:27Z")
> [@Saturdaysmorning](#): > > JFK wrote a letter to the CIA demanding they turn over any info they had regarding any info they had to him & eventually to Soviet Union so we could work together. What? If I’m understanding you correctly, you’re saying Kennedy wanted the CIA to give him any information they had about the Soviet space program so we could share that information with the Soviets. Wouldn’t the Soviets already know what was happening in their space program? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jfk-provide-a-deadline/837647.md?page=1)