JFK's "We Choose to Go to the Moon" Speech

President John F. Kennedy addresses 40,000 people at Rice Stadium in Houston, Texas, rallying public and Congressional support for the Apollo program with the words "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" — at a time when only 33% of Americans supported the program's $20 billion cost, this speech re-energized the nation's commitment and secured the funding that would peak at $5.9 billion/year (4.4% of the federal budget), ultimately producing the Apollo missions