Political Speeches
Lyndon B. Johnson - lbjlibrary.org
Political speeches were influential Space Race propaganda. Lyndon B. Johnson often communicated his concerns about Soviet space supremacy.
“The Roman Empire controlled the world because it could build roads. Later--when men moved to the sea--the British Empire was dominant because it had ships. In the air age, we were powerful because we had airplanes. Now the communists have established a foothold in outer space.” - Lyndon B. Johnson.
President Kennedy's 1961 “Urgent National Needs" speech to Congress set the goal of being the first country to go to the moon by the end of the decade.
“If we are to win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny, the dramatic achievements in space which occurred in recent weeks should have made clear to us all, as did the Sputnik in 1957, the impact of this adventure on the minds of men everywhere who are attempting to make a determination which road they should take...” - Kennedy speaking to Congress, May 25th, 1961.
Kennedy's Speech to Congress, May 25th, 1961. - kennedy-center.org.
His 1962 “Moon Speech” at Rice Stadium inspired the American people to beat the Soviet Union in the race to the Moon:
Actual speaking notes from Kennedy's "Moon Speech" with his own edits. - JFK Library
"But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas? We choose to go to the moon. 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." - Kennedy's "Moon Speech", September 12, 1962.
Kennedy's "Moon Speech", September 12,1962 - nasa.gov
With this motivation and empowerment, the U.S. began to make huge technological innovations in space exploration
Similarly, U.S.S.R. leader, Nikita Khrushchev, praised Soviet technology in his speeches.
Nikita Khrushchev - rbth.com
"With his brain and his hands, man has created space ships which circle Earth... We travel on and above the Earth at astounding speed; the extent of our knowledge is a source of amazement even to ourselves." - Nikita Khrushchev, United Nations speech, September 23, 1960.