Part 5: Chapter 15, Destination Moon Summary and Analysis

Jack and Bobby Kennedy were first introduced to rocketry at the Men's Clam and Oyster Bar when the owner introduced them to Charles Stark Draper of MIT. Both remained skeptics until years later. On May 25, 1961, President Kennedy asked Congress for funding to put men on the moon and to return them to Earth. Kennedy wanted Americans to project a positive image to the world. Kennedy brought about the largest commitment in resources to the moon program and the missile program, one being peaceful, the other being military.

Kennedy felt that the world was different than it had been even under Eisenhower. America, which had been used to the thrifty ways of the Eisenhower administration, was now facing the big spending of the Kennedy Administration. The new approach, from an economic point, was to stimulate the...