JFK once famously posited this question in a speech, imploring ‘Merican astronauts to make the moon a reality by 69 (nice). These were things done “not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” The latter portion of that quote was reused as a justification for a different American achievement, much to Arthur Miller’s chagrin. During the original quote, Kennedy was standing in a Rice Stadium giving the speech as a thanks to Rice University for donating the initial land used for the space program. Longhorn-loving LBJ presumably helped him craft the joke, a tame pot-shot not quite in the same league as his take on Gerald Ford’s economic policies (“worst thing that’s happened to this country since pantyhose ruined finger-[.
Texas Pregamer: Rice
