FUNDAMENTALIST MOVEMENT THAN A
POLITICAL MOVEMENT.
>> DAVID, THANK YOU FOR BEING
ON.
>>> AS WE FOLLOW TODAY’S START
OF AMERICANS GETTING THE
CORONAVIRUS VACCINE, THE RACE
FOR THE VACCINE HAS BECOME AN
INTERNATIONAL ENDEAVOR SIMILAR
TO THE COLD WAR EFFORT TO
DOMINATE SPACE.
>> WHY CHOOSE THIS AS OUR GOAL
AND THEY MAY WELL ASK, WHY CLIMB
THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN?
FLY THE ATLANTIC.
WHY DOES RICE PLAY TEXAS?
WE CHOOSE TO GO TO THE MOON.
WE CHOOSE TO GO TO THE MOON IN
THIS DECADE AND DO THE OTHER
THINGS, NOT BECAUSE THEY ARE
EASY BUT BECAUSE THEY ARE HARD.
>> THAT WAS PRESIDENT JOHN F.
KENNEDY AT RICE UNIVERSITY.
JOINING US NOW, DOUGLAS
BRINKLEY.
AMONG HIS MANY BOOKS IS HIS MOST
RECENT "AMERICAN MOONSHOT."
JOHN F. KENNEDY AND THE GREAT
SPACE RACE.
>> SO DOUG, WE SAID, WE WERE
TALKING AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS
PANDEMIC.
WHAT AN EXTRAORDINARY THING IT
WOULD BE TO HAVE ALL OF THE MOST
GIFTED MINDS IN THE WORLD
FOCUSSING FOR THE MOST PART ON
THE ONE THING.
BUT I MUST SAY, I DON’T THINK
ANY OF US EVER EXPECTED IT TO BE
TURNED AROUND THIS QUICKLY AS IT
HAS.
COMPARE THE MOON SHOT TO WHAT
WE’VE SEEN OVER THE PAST NINE,
TEN MONTHS.
>> YOU KNOW, THEY BOTH GROW OUT
OF WORLD WAR II WHEN WE LEARN TO
DO THINGS QUICKLY THAT WE
STARTED TRUSTING IN SCIENTISTS
AND THE ENGINEERING COMMUNITY.
SO AS YOU’RE WRITING ABOUT HARRY
TRUMAN, JOE, YOU KNOW ALL THOSE
PEOPLE THAT SERVE TRUMAN CAME
OUT OF WORLD WAR II EXPERIENCE
TO BUILD UP ON THE ATOMIC ENERGY
COMMISSION.
DWIGHT EISENHOWER CREATED NASA
IN 1958.
IT’S A RESPONSE TO SPUTNIK AND
THE SOVIETS GETTING ICBMs.
THEY WERE ABLE TO GET THE
TALENT.
THE HEAD OF NASA, JAMES WEBB,
WAS A MARINE RADAR EXPERT IN THE
PACIFIC THEATER WHERE HE REALLY
LEARNED HIS CHOPS, AND THEN
KENNEDY KNEW THAT HE DID NOT
WANT A KOREAN WAR.
KENNEDY DID NOT WANT A, YOU
KNOW, TO HAVE A NUCLEAR SHOWDOWN
WITH THE SOVIET UNION SO WHY NOT
PUT IT IN A FOOTBALL RIVALRY
LIKE YOU JUST SHOWED.
MY UNIVERSITY.
THAT WAS SEPTEMBER 12th, 1962
AND KENNEDY SAID, WE BELIEVE IN
THE SCIENTISTS.
JOE, IN 1960, SCIENTISTS WERE
CHOSEN AS "TIME" MAGAZINES
PERSONS OF THE YEAR.
THIS YEAR FAUCI EASILY COULD
HAVE BEEN CHOSEN.
THEY PICKED BIDEN AND KAMALA
HARRIS, AND PROBABLY RIGHTFULLY
SO, BUT AT LEAST A LOT OF THE
PUBLIC BELIEVES IN THE
SCIENTISTS TODAY.
>> JON MEACHAM, LET ME ASK YOU
THE SAME THING.
COMPARE THIS TO THE MOON SHOT
BUT ALSO COMPARE HOW SCIENTISTS
WERE VIEWED THEN IN THE EARLY
’60s AND HOW THEY HAD BEEN
VIEWED BY DONALD TRUMP AND
UNFORTUNATELY, TOO MANY PEOPLE
IN THIS COUNTRY OVER THE PAST
FOUR YEARS.
>> WELL, THERE’S AN EBB AND FLOW
IN AMERICAN LIFE BETWEEN A
REVERENCE FOR EXPERTISE AND A
SKEPTICISM OF IT.
AFTER SPUTNIK, AS DOUG IS
SAYING, INTO THE ’60s YOU HAD
THIS SENSE THAT AS KENNEDY SAID
ON ANOTHER OCCASION, MAN’S
PROBLEMS COULD BE SOLVED BY MAN.
AND THEN IT TURNED OUT THAT