American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race

Brinkley (The Great Deluge) frames the life and career of President John F. Kennedy through the Cold War–tinged lens of the Space Race in this inspiring history. The book opens with the parallels between the WWII experiences of PT boat commander Kennedy and Nazi rocketeer Wernher von Braun, whose lives intersected after the war with the launch of Kennedy’s political career and von Braun’s newfound role as the United States’ top rocket scientist. In Brinkley’s telling, Kennedy’s impassioned response to Soviet advances in space technology, which contrasted sharply the Eisenhower administration’s, led him to victory in the 1960 presidential election. His declaration before Congress that Americans would put men on the moon by the end of the decade and his public embrace of John Glenn and the other Mercury Seven astronauts were, Brinkley argues, political gestures also motivated by personal passion. The author argues that it was Kennedy’s appeal to a sense of American greatness, evident in his famous “We choose to go to the moon” speech at Rice University in September 1962, that made the U.S.’s space achievements possible. By highlighting the visionary, charismatic political leader’s role, Brinkley offers a new perspective on one of the greatest accomplishments in human history. Photos. [em](Apr.) [/em]