Greatest US President - Page 9 - History -- Two Plus Two Poker Forums

I can give you that, Mason. Kennedy setting the time limit "before the end of the decade". And his assassination made it kind of mandatory for US to achieve. No coincidence Apollo 11 happened in mid year 1969.

In a way space travel started half a century too early. Now it's the time. Back then I think they mostly expressed capability to potentially delivering intercontinental missiles.

Still holding on to that a dork as a president could have screwed up the cold war in the early 60s though, Kennedy didn't do that on a large scale, in spite of Viet Nam.

Last edited by plaaynde; 05-27-2013 at 02:44 PM.

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05-27-2013 , 05:15 PM

#202

Cwocwoc

banned

Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 4,684

Quote:

Originally Posted by plaaynde

For me the space program comes under the category "would have happened anyway". Eisenhower reacted to the "Sputnik crisis" by setting up NASA and Kennedy's speech was a response to the "space race" and Yuri Gagarin's space flight (Yuri Gagarin space flight April 1961, Kennedy speech May 1961).

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05-27-2013 , 07:23 PM

#203

Mason Malmuth

Former Top Dog

Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 13,010

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cwocwoc

Hi Cwocwoc:

I think Kennedy's speech was more than that. He didn't say: Lets continue to support the space program. He said: Let's go to the moon and let's get it done quickly. That, in my opinion, is a whole different dynamic.

Best wishes,
Mason

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05-28-2013 , 06:07 PM

#204

Cwocwoc

banned

Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 4,684

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mason Malmuth

After Gagarin's space flight Kennedy immediately asked what America needed to do to catch up with the USSR. He gave NASA a high priority in terms of expenditure. The man on the moon stuff was aspirational at that time. He couldn't have known how many years it would actually take (but he did know that his second term would be over by 1968 !). However it did catch the public mood and it did happen obv. I am not qualified to judge what the full benefits of the Apollo program were so I'll pass on that.

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05-29-2013 , 01:43 AM

#205

Zeno

Le Misanthrope

Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 22,350

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cwocwoc

After Gagarin's space flight Kennedy immediately asked what America needed to do to catch up with the USSR. He gave NASA a high priority in terms of expenditure. The man on the moon stuff was aspirational at that time. He couldn't have known how many years it would actually take (but he did know that his second term would be over by 1968 !). However it did catch the public mood and it did happen obv. I am not qualified to judge what the full benefits of the Apollo program were so I'll pass on that.

The benefits were great even if you only measure it by the prestige (which is about the least important). But just thinking 100's of years into the future at a future historian looking back and asking what were America's best achievements for the world - The Moon Landing surely would be at the top of the list.

Humanity needs frontiers and an exploratory spirit, goals, and drives to be truly alive.

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06-01-2013 , 07:21 PM

#206

Cwocwoc

banned

Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 4,684

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeno

I don't know what the knock-on benefits were but it's odd to stare at a rock 238k miles away and decide that you are going to put the country's efforts into getting a man to stand on it. I can think of more sensible ambitions.

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06-05-2013 , 12:10 AM

#207

oldbookguy

veteran

Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 3,025

Many presidents in their own right were the greatest.

Often I have thought Washington, the first to voluntarily step down then I think of John Adams, the first to leave involuntarily and be forced out of office.

Yes, Adams has many faults and I doubt he could have stayed by force but he was the first to transfer power voluntarily after involuntarily giving up the presidency.

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10-22-2013 , 12:50 AM

#208

rivercitybirdie

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 4,707

two that show up really highly on most expert lists are: polk, teddy roosevelt

t roosevelt may be #1 that wasn't at absolute critical time in usa history... and polk must be #1 obscure president, and there were tons between madison and teddy

washington, fdr, lincoln seem to dominate most lists