Kennedy (19 17 ~ 1963)

John fitzgerald Kennedy

President of the United States (196 1 ~ 1963). Born in 19 17 on May 29th, and died in 19631October 22nd. Graduated from Harvard University. In World War II, the torpedo boat he commanded was sunk by the Japanese navy, and he was seriously injured and fled to a desert island behind enemy lines. Later, he led the soldiers back to the team. At the age of 29, he won the House of Representatives election and was re-elected for three terms (1947 ~ 1953). In Congress, he paid attention to social relief and civilian welfare internally, opposed imperialism externally and supported the Cold War. He was dissatisfied with Truman's policy of forcing Chiang Kai-shek to reunify with China. He entered the Senate in 1953, when McCarthy's anti-* * movement prevailed and a large number of federal civil servants were purged on charges of sympathizing with the * * * production party, which Kennedy had no objection to. 1956 He wrote and published The Legend of the Brave and won the Pulitzer Prize. In the late 1950s, he served as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Advocate expanding aid to Africa and newly independent countries. His political views are gradually leaning to the left, and his popularity in the Democratic Party is gradually rising. 1958 was re-elected as a senator, and 1960 announced his candidacy for the presidency. He defeated the party candidate Nixon by a narrow majority, becoming the youngest president in American history and the first president who believed in Catholicism. He was in power 1037 days. At the beginning of his tenure, he suffered a disastrous incident of American invasion of Cuba. In June, 196 1 held talks with Soviet leader Khrushchev in Vienna, and took a tough stance on the threat that the Soviet Union would sign a peace treaty with East Germany alone. 1962 10 found that the Soviet Union had set up missiles in Cuba, and he ordered a blockade of Cuba, forcing the Soviet Union to withdraw its missile devices. 10 months later, the United States, the Soviet Union and Britain signed the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Kennedy organized the Alliance for Progress in Latin America and the Peace Corps. His legislation to reduce income tax and expand human rights was postponed until his death. 1963165438+10, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

John fitzgerald kennedy was born in Brooklyn, Massachusetts in 19 17. He served as President of the United States from196165438+1October 20th to196365438+1October 22nd, and was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. I'm not going to describe most other aspects of Kennedy's life, partly because such a situation is widely known, but more importantly, because most of Kennedy's personal and political activities have little to do with his inclusion in this book.

From now until the next Millennium, the Peace Corps, the American League for Progress or the Bay of Pigs will not be deeply remembered, and Kennedy's tax policy and human rights legislation will not seem to be very important. There is only one reason to include john fitzgerald kennedy in this book: he is the main person in charge of the Apollo program. If mankind will not be completely destroyed in the future, we can be absolutely sure that our trip to the moon will still be regarded as a truly important event from now on and even in the next 5000 years, which is one of the great milestones in human history.

I will further discuss the importance of the moon landing plan. Shouldn't the main achievements be attributed to people like neil armstrong or Edwin Aldrin who left their footprints on the moon for the first time? If we rank people according to their eternal fame, it may be correct, because I really think that neil armstrong is more likely to be remembered than Kennedy in the next 5,000 years. But in terms of influence, Armstrong and Aldrin are completely unimportant. If these two people died unfortunately two months before the launch of Apollo 2, many well-trained and talented astronauts would take their place.

So, should we give credit to wernher braun or some other scientists or engineers who have made great contributions to space science? Of course, Wernher wernher von braun, like such important predecessors as Konstantin Zorkov, Robert H Goddard and Herman Olbers, has made more contributions to the exploration of space than he should. However, once the political decision to implement the Apollo program is made, no scientist or a team of ten scientists will play a decisive role in its success. The decisive breakthrough of the trip to the moon was not a unique scientific progress, but a political decision made in advance, which allocated 24 billion US dollars for the project.

So how was this political decision made? Even without john fitzgerald kennedy, wouldn't such a decision be made sooner or later? But I firmly believe, of course, I'm not absolutely sure-there will eventually be government funding for manned landing on the moon. Of course, john fitzgerald kennedy did not force the Apollo program despite public opposition.

But there is no great pressure from the public to support such a grand plan. Suppose that in 1959 or 1960, the U.S. Congress passed a bill to formulate the Apollo program and allocate funds for it, and then it was rejected by President Eisenhower, then perhaps it can be said that Kennedy just followed the trend of public opinion. But this is not the case: many Americans want to have some kind of space program, but the public support for a truly huge space program is not very high. In fact, even after the success of Apollo 2, there is still a great debate about whether the public paid the price for the project. Of course, NASA's budget has dropped sharply since 1966.

Therefore, it is not difficult to see that john fitzgerald kennedy's leadership is the real reason for the implementation of the Apollo program. He asked the United States to make a promise in May 196 1 2008 to send a manned spacecraft to the moon before the end of this decade. It was he who got the money from Congress and made the plan under his leadership. People may think that the moon landing plan will be worked out sooner or later (this is not entirely certain), but Kennedy is the one who actually made the plan.

Of course, some people still think that the Apollo program is just a project with huge cost and little effect, and it is really insignificant. So far, there is no indication that the anniversary of1July 20, 969 (the actual moon landing day) will be regarded as a national holiday. But we may remember that although Columbus's festival was not celebrated in the16th century, it has become a festival celebrated in a new era.

Even if there is no successor to the Apollo program, it will remain in people's memory forever as one of the greatest pioneering works of mankind. But I think the Apollo program will continue in the end, and space travel will play a much bigger role in the future than in the past. If so, our descendants will think that Apollo 2' s trip, like Columbus' crossing the Atlantic Ocean, ushered in a brand-new era in human history.

(1) Bahia de los Cochinos:1961April 17, 1200 Cuban exiles who opposed Castro attempted to invade from the southwest coast of Cuba. As the invasion was funded and directed by the American government, the already hostile relationship between the United States and Cuba further deteriorated, and the tension in the international cold war further intensified.