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{
    "localId": "193886",
    "label": "Address at Rice University, Houston, Texas, 12 September 1962",
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    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/193886"
}

{
    "id": "193886",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/193886",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Address at Rice University, Houston, Texas, 12 September 1962",
    "description": "This folder contains materials collected by the office of President John F. Kennedy's secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, concerning President Kennedy's remarks at the Rice University Stadium in Houston, Texas concerning the nation's efforts in space exploration. In his speech the President discusses the necessity for the United States to become an international leader in space exploration, and famously states, \"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.\" Materials in this folder include a draft by Special Counsel and speechwriter Theodore Sorensen, press copies, and a reading copy of the speech. Of note are several items with handwritten notations by the President.",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/193886",
    "identifierLocal": "JFKPOF-040-001",
    "creators": [
        "Sorensen, Theodore Chaikin, 1928-2010"
    ],
    "collections": [
        "Papers of John F. Kennedy: Presidential Papers: President's Office Files",
        "Speech Files"
    ],
    "subjects": [
        "Cold War"
    ],
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    "source": "import",
    "hasTranscription": false
}

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    "seq": 12,
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    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/86/1938/193886/content/presidential-libraries/kennedy/POF/JFKPOF-040-001/JFKPOF-040-001-p0013.jpg",
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    "ocrText": "-3- -\nFor we are a nation of pilgrims, of pioneers and explorers, entering\nnow upon a great new Age of Exploration. A whole new geographic frontier\nhas opened up -- a frontier more hazardous, more challenging, more fraught\nwith both peril and destiny than that once traversed by Lewis and Clark. And\ncenturies before even they set out, the power and prestige of a great nation\nwere dependent in large measure on the courage and success of its explorers --\nand so it is today.\nFor the eyes of the world and its restless millions now look up and out\nto space, to the moon and the planets beyond. And we have vowed that they\nshall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a UN banner of\npeace. We have vowed that they shall not see space filled with weapons of\nmass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding. Yet\nthe vows of this nation can only be fulfilled if we in this nation are first and\ntherefore we intend to be first.\nIn short, our leadership in science and industry, our hopes for peace\nand security, our obligations as a first-class country, all require us to make\nthis effort, to solve these mysteries, to solve them for the good of all men,\nand to become the world's leading space-faring nation. We set sail on this\nnew sea because there is new knowledge to be gained and new rights to be won --\nand they must be won and used for the peace and progress of all.\nFor space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no\nconscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or evil is up\nto men to say. And only if the United States occupies a position of preeminence\ncan we help decide whether this great new ocean will be a sea of blessed\npeace or a terrifying theater of war."
}