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Why did Kennedy want to go to the Moon?

Why did Kennedy want to go to the Moon?

Pres. John F. Kennedy rallying the people of the United States to support NASA's Apollo program to land human beings on the Moon, September 12, 1962.
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News •

Kennedy relatives join the fight against Trump's arch, alleging harm to JFK's grave • Nov. 11, 2026, 11:59 AM ET (NPR)
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Transcript

PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY: 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, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we're willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too.

[Applause]
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