Pres. Kennedy Speech, Rice University Stadium re Science & Space Beginning Pt. 2 of 3
14:52:00 Pitzer introduces JFK, photographers pop up as he stands at microphone. “President Pitzer, Mr. Vice President, Governor, Congressman Thomas, Senator Wiley, & Congressman Miller, Mr. Webb. Mr. Bell, scientists, distinguished guests, & ladies & gentlemen: I appreciate your president having made me an honorary visiting professor & I will assure you that my first lecture will be very brief. I am delighted to be here & I'm particularly delighted to be here on this occasion. We meet at a college noted for knowledge, in a city noted for progress, in a State noted for strength, & we stand in need of all three, for we meet in an hour of change & challenge, in a decade of hope & fear, in an age of both knowledge & ignorance. The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.
14:53:46 Despite the striking fact that most of the scientists that the world has ever known are alive & working today, despite the fact that this Nation's own scientific manpower is doubling every 12 years in a rate of growth more than three times that of our population as a whole; despite that, the vast stretches of the unknown, & the unanswered, & the unfinished still far outstrip our collective comprehension. No man can fully grasp how far & how fast we have come, but condense if you will, the 50,000 years of man's recorded history in a time span of but a half century. Stated in these terms, we know very little about the first 40 years, except at the end of them advanced man had learned to use the skins of animals to cover them. Then about 10 years ago, under this standard, man emerged from his caves to construct other kinds of shelter. Only 5 years ago man learned to write & use a cart w/ wheels. Christianity began less than 2 years ago. The printing press came this year, & then less than 2 months ago, during this whole 50-year span of human history, the steam engine provided a new source of power. Newton explored the meaning of gravity. Last month electric lights & telephones & automobiles & airplanes became available. Only last week did we develop penicillin & television & nuclear power, & now if America's new spacecraft succeeds in reaching Venus we will have literally reached the stars before midnight tonight. This is a breathtaking pace, & such a pace cannot help but create new ills as it dispels old; new ignorance, new problems, new dangers. Surely the opening vistas of space promise high costs & hardships, as well as high reward.
14:56:21 So it is not surprising that some would have us stay where we are a little longer to rest, to wait. But this city of Houston, this State of Texas, this country of the United States was not built by those who waited & rested & wished to look behind them. This country was conquered by those who moved forward--and so will space. William Bradford, speaking in 1630 of the founding of the Plymouth Bay Colony, said that all great & honorable actions are accompanied w/ great difficulties, and both must be enterprised and overcome with answerable courage. Continued...
Space Research; Space Race; Exploration; Presidential Speech; Encouragement; Cold War;
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Pres. Kennedy Speech, Rice University Stadium re Science & Space Beginning Pt. 2 of 3 14:52:00 Pitzer introduces JFK, photographers pop up as he stands at microphone. “President Pitzer, Mr. Vice President, Governor, Congressman Thomas, Senator Wiley, & Congressman Miller, Mr. Webb. Mr. Bell, scientists, distinguished guests, & ladies & gentlemen: I appreciate your president having made me an honorary visiting professor & I will assure you that my first lecture will be very brief. I am delighted to be here & I'm particularly delighted to be here on this occasion. We meet at a college noted for knowledge, in a city noted for progress, in a State noted for strength, & we stand in need of all three, for we meet in an hour of change & challenge, in a decade of hope & fear, in an age of both knowledge & ignorance. The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds. 14:53:46 Despite the striking fact that most of the scientists that the world has ever known are alive & working today, despite the fact that this Nation's own scientific manpower is doubling every 12 years in a rate of growth more than three times that of our population as a whole; despite that, the vast stretches of the unknown, & the unanswered, & the unfinished still far outstrip our collective comprehension. No man can fully grasp how far & how fast we have come, but condense if you will, the 50,000 years of man's recorded history in a time span of but a half century. Stated in these terms, we know very little about the first 40 years, except at the end of them advanced man had learned to use the skins of animals to cover them. Then about 10 years ago, under this standard, man emerged from his caves to construct other kinds of shelter. Only 5 years ago man learned to write & use a cart w/ wheels. Christianity began less than 2 years ago. The printing press came this year, & then less than 2 months ago, during this whole 50-year span of human history, the steam engine provided a new source of power. Newton explored the meaning of gravity. Last month electric lights & telephones & automobiles & airplanes became available. Only last week did we develop penicillin & television & nuclear power, & now if America's new spacecraft succeeds in reaching Venus we will have literally reached the stars before midnight tonight. This is a breathtaking pace, & such a pace cannot help but create new ills as it dispels old; new ignorance, new problems, new dangers. Surely the opening vistas of space promise high costs & hardships, as well as high reward. 14:56:21 So it is not surprising that some would have us stay where we are a little longer to rest, to wait. But this city of Houston, this State of Texas, this country of the United States was not built by those who waited & rested & wished to look behind them. This country was conquered by those who moved forward--and so will space. William Bradford, speaking in 1630 of the founding of the Plymouth Bay Colony, said that all great & honorable actions are accompanied w/ great difficulties, and both must be enterprised and overcome with answerable courage. Continued... Space Research; Space Race; Exploration; Presidential Speech; Encouragement; Cold War;