July 20th marks the 50th anniversary of an iconic day in history, with man first setting foot on the moon. However, what led up to that historic day has been largely forgotten.
An author set to speak on the South Coast, who's written a book about America's space program, talks about the path to the moon.
Douglas Brinkley is one of America’s leading modern day historians. He’s a best selling author, a Rice University professor, Vanity Fair editor, and CNN’s history commentator. Brinkley, who is coming to the South Coast to speak, wrote this year’s best seller “American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race.”
After World War II, relations between wartime allies the Soviet Union and the United States turned icy. It was the Cold War, with both nations involved in an arms, and technology race.
Brinkley says President John F. Kennedy saw the need to compete, and also viewed it as a political opportunity. In May of 1961, he made a speech to a joint session of Congress, outlining a bold plan to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
Brinkley says the U.S. took the same approach it did in winning World War Two: Mobilizing industry and academia to tackle the issues related to sending a manned mission to the moon. The historian says to his credit, President Kennedy didn’t try to turn America’s space program into a military effort.
While some people think Kennedy’s efforts in the fields of civil rights are his biggest contribution to the country, Brinkley suggests it may be the space program.
The author, and historian believes that that day 50 years ago when Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon was actually the peak of our space program, and that it doesn’t have the same momentum today:
Brinkley is coming to the South Coast later this year to talk about his book, American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race. He’ll speak December 5th at UC Santa Barbara’s Campbell Hall. Tickets are now on sale for the UCSB Arts and Lectures event.
