Political Quotes

“May 25, 2011, marked the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's speech that set the original dream of American exploration with a goal of sending a human to the Moon and returning him safely by the end of the decade. President Kennedy's speech was more than a call for a Moon shot. It was 17 days after Alan Shepard became the second human in space, and the Nation was still recovering from a recession and recovering from the Cuban missile crisis. That year, President Kennedy took the unusual step of coming to Congress in May to address urgent, ``extraordinary'' national needs. During his speech, he said, ``In a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the Moon . . . it will be an entire Nation. For all of us must work to put him there.'' He sounded the starting gun of the space race. In that race, the United States and its young President were determined to cross the finish line first. America is no longer in a space race. We are in a race for our economic future. We are not racing other countries. We are racing ourselves. To win this economic race, we must do as President Obama has urged us. We must work together to out-innovate, out-educate, and out- build our competitors. That is why I fight so hard to invest in America's exploration and discovery which creates jobs for today and jobs for tomorrow. As we were 50 years ago, our space program is embarking on a new journey.…”