50 years ago a promise made, a promise kept: going to the moon [View all]

[TexasTowelie]

President John F. Kennedy addresses a crowd at Rice Stadium in Houston Sept. 12, 1962

America believed him.

Half a century after President Kennedy's famous Moon speech at Rice University, what's perhaps most remarkable is that people took him at his word.

"We choose to go to the moon," Kennedy said. "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.'' And America did just what Kennedy said the country could do - put men on the Moon before the end of the 1960s.

"I can remember it clearly today,'' said Bob Gomel, then a photographer for LIFE magazine. "He has his fist clenched on the podium, and his delivery was so dynamic. He made all of us believe this was possible and achievable."

More at http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/50-years-ago-a-promise-made-a-promise-kept-3856536.php