Even the most iconic moments in American history can start to seem a little shopworn after a while. The flag-raising at Iwo Jima? Seen the picture a million times. FDR’s “nothing to fear but fear itself” speech? Isn’t that a bumper sticker?
The same overfamiliarity is true, to a lesser extent, of President Kennedy’s historic speech before a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961 in which he set the U.S. on the path to a lunar landing by the end of the 1960s. “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth,” Kennedy said. Eight years later, the nation did just that.
