What makes a great politician?

[David Lockmiller]

(12-20-2017 05:45 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Did he go to the moon or was it his effort/research? I would think it's the scientists'. (And other countries contributed to that, too, the Russians actually were the first to invade space, the US had to catch and keep up.)

No Money in the Federal Budget would have meant No Space Science for the United States (Scientists don't work for free). See Wikipedia- Budget of NASA and accompanying chart titled "NASA's Budget as Percentage of Federal Budget, from 1958 to 2017": 1958- one tenth of 1 percent; 1959- two tenths of 1 percent; 1960- half of 1 percent; 1961- nine tenths of 1 percent; 1962- 1.2 percent; 1963- 2.3 percent; 1964- 3.5 percent; 1965- 4.4 percent; 1966- 4.5 percent; and then a general decline started.

Did John Kennedy go to the moon? Kennedy did not do so, but neither has Putin or any other Russian leader from Nikita Khrushchev on down to Putin.

Eva writes that "the Russians actually were the first to invade space, the US had to catch and keep up." This is true.

But there are some people who might argue that the Americans have actually surpassed the accomplishments of the Russians in space.

Twelve American astronauts have walked on the Moon's surface, and six of those drove Lunar Roving Vehicles on the Moon. The nine Apollo missions to the Moon occurred between December 1968 and December 1972. No Russian has even walked on the moon.

President Kennedy's inspiring words of September 12, 1962 were: "We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade."

Apollo 11 blasted off on July 16, 1969. Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins were the astronauts on Apollo 11. Four days later, Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon in the Lunar Module.

A Mars rover is an automated motor vehicle that propels itself across the surface of the planet Mars. There have been four successful robotically operated Mars rovers; all have been American.

The twin American Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft are exploring where nothing from Earth has flown before. Continuing on their more-than-39-year journey since their 1977 launches, they each are much farther away from Earth and the sun than Pluto. In August 2012, Voyager 1 made the historic entry into interstellar space, the region between stars, filled with material ejected by the death of nearby stars millions of years ago. Scientists hope to learn more about this region when Voyager 2, in the “heliosheath" — the outermost layer of the heliosphere where the solar wind is slowed by the pressure of interstellar medium — also reaches interstellar space. Both spacecraft are still sending scientific information about their surroundings through the Deep Space Network.

The primary mission was the exploration of Jupiter and Saturn. After making a string of discoveries there — such as active volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io and intricacies of Saturn's rings — the mission was extended. Voyager 2 went on to explore Uranus and Neptune, and is still the only spacecraft to have visited those outer planets. The adventurers' current mission, the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM), will explore the outermost edge of the Sun's domain.

The transcript of Steve Martin's Saturday Night Live skit from April 22, 1978 reads:

"The four words that came to us from outer space -- the FOUR words that will appear on the cover of Time Magazine next week -- are: [Steve Martin holds up the magazine] "Send More Chuck Berry." The audience applauded enthusiastically.

But there would have been no enthusiastic applause in 1978 for this "Chuck Berry" Saturday Night Live skit had it not been for the words and actions of President John F. Kennedy in the years of his administration.

I was in class at MacArthur High School in Decatur, Illinois when it was announced over the intercom that President Kennedy had been assassinated. It was a very sad day for me and I felt that it was a very great loss for the nation. After the Cuban missile crisis in October, 1962, I remember that my history teacher said at the time that he had been prepared to enter a nuclear bomb shelter that he had built for his family. Those were very serious times and President Kennedy showed great courage and determination as I vividly recall.

I also liked President Kennedy's sense of humor. I was watching a taped news conference at the time and a female journalist got up and asked the President a very long and loaded question about his support for the women's movement and whether he thought his efforts in behalf of this cause had been sufficient. The President's first words in response were: "Obviously, not enough."

Jackie dazzled all of Paris when the Kennedys visited May 31-June 3, 1961. So much greater was the attention paid to her than to him that President Kennedy remarked to the press, with some pride and humor, “I do not think it altogether inappropriate for me to introduce myself. I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris.”