Archive for History
The first “black” president?
…and no, I’m not referring to Bill Clinton.
The Slave Scale
hat tip ww at the Agonist.
See here for more.
Kennedy’s 1962 address on the decision to go to the moon.
I came across this JFK speech and wanted to share it here. Here he makes his argument that America should lead in space exploration and be the first to the moon. What’s also interesting is that Kennedy maps out Western and American technological history which is reminiscent of Abraham Lincoln’s “Lectures on Discoveries and Inventions.” He also echoes Vannevar Bush’s “As We May Think” talking about the difficulties of information overload. This is a truly great speech.
Kennedy was also a skillful politician. In response to critics who ask, “why the moon?” Kennedy poses the rhetorical question, “Why does Rice play Texas?” (The University of Texas). This gets a huge roar from the crowd. Rice is a small, elite private university in Houston, and UT is and was one of the powerhouses of Texas football.
This is the part 1 of the speach
Part 2
President John F. Kennedy’s September 12, 1962 address on the decision to go to the moon.
I came across this JFK speech and wanted to share it here. Here he makes his argument that America should lead in space exploration and be the first to the moon. What’s also interesting is that Kennedy maps out Western and American technological history which is reminiscent of Abraham Lincoln’s “Lectures on Discoveries and Inventions.” He also echoes Vannevar Bush’s “As We May Think” talking about the difficulties of information overload. This is a truly great speech.
Kennedy was also a skillful politician. In response to critics who ask, “why the moon?” Kennedy poses the rhetorical question, “Why does Rice play Texas?” (The University of Texas). This gets a huge roar from the crowd.
This is the part 1 of the speach
Part 2
Rethinking American History in a Post-9/11 World
This is the article that I had spoken of. It has some of the themes that were in Eric Foner’s lecture; The Idea of Freedom in the United States: Before and After September 11
It was a great lecture, we should consider ourselves fortunate to have had him. Hat tip to the faculty at Sudansk Universitet.
“No idea is more quintessentially American than freedom. And throughout our history, in moments of crisis, the question of freedom — what it is, why it is worth defending, who should enjoy it — seems to come to the fore.” Eric Foner