John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, gave a speech on September 12, 1962 that was instrumental in the space race. The now famous Rice Stadium speech at Rice University in Houston, Texas was a rousing call to arms for space exploration. In this groundbreaking speech, JFK spoke in depth on how far mankind has come in its scientific knowledge. The President compared the advancements over the past 50,000 years to the vast strides made in the preceding 50 years and the fast pace with which we were advancing.
This led to JFK referring to America as a country on the edge of reaching the stars. He made the point that the U.S. was conquered by those who moved forward and space would be the same. The point of these statements was evident when the President stated that the aim going forward was to place a man on the moon by the end of the decade. This, of course, happened in 1969 when Apollo 11 landed on the moon and Neil Armstrong became the first man to step foot on the lunar surface. Sadly, President Kennedy himself never saw the fruition of his speech because he was assassinated the year after the Rice Stadium speech.