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President John F. Kennedy's Last Speech |
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President John F. Kennedy's Last Speech
November 21, 1963
Dedication Ceremony of the New Facilities of the School of
Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas
Few events in the history of Brooks AFB had more lasting memories for the people of San Antonio as the events on a Thursday in November of 1963. President John F. Kennedy's last official act before his death the next day was a dedication ceremony at Brooks AFB on November 21. The occasion was the dedication of new buildings for the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine here. An underlying reason for the visit was to reaffirm the president's support of the space program, a program in which the school and its parent headquarters, the Aerospace Medical Division, had played a role. President Kennedy, accompanied by his wife and members of the Texas Democratic delegation--Gov. John B. Connally, U.S. Senator Ralph Yarborough, and U.S. Representative Henry B. Gonzales of San Antonio--arrived at Brooks AFB at approximately 2:40 p.m. Major General T.C. Bedwell, Aerospace Medical Division commander, introduced the young commander-in-chief to a crowd of 10,000 gathered for the event. In his speech, the president talked about some of the benefits that research in space medicine would bring in solving the health problems of mankind. He went on to discuss advances being made in the space program in general. The president, who said that man would be on the moon before the end of the decade, admitted that the work would be long and tedious, but the work must go on. Following the speech and dedication ceremony, the president and his party walked to the altitude laboratory where an experiment was in progress. There, in a space cabin simulator, four young airmen were undergoing a month-long test in an atmosphere of almost pure oxygen, at a pressure equivalent to an altitude of more than 5.2 miles. The school had undertaken the experiment at the request of NASA, which was preparing for future missions in the Gemini and Apollo programs. The president and his party departed Brooks AFB after the visit with the airmen. His itinerary following San Antonio included Houston, Fort Worth and, then, Dallas. His dream to see a man on the moon before the end of the decade did come true, although he would not live to see it happen.
Speech:
Mr. Secretary, Governor, Mr. Vice President, Senator, Members of the Congress, members of the military, ladies and gentlemen. For more than three years, I have spoken about the New Frontier. This is not a partisan term, and it is not the exclusive property of Republicans or Democrats. It refers instead to this nation's place in history, to the fact that we do stand on the edge of a great new era filled with both crises and opportunity, an era to be characterized by achievements and by challenge. It is an era which calls for action, and for the best efforts of all those who would test the unknown and the uncertain in every phase of human endeavor. It is a time for pathfinders and pioneers. I have come to Texas today to salute an outstanding group of pioneers--the men who man the Brooks Air Force Base School of Aerospace Medicine and the Aerospace Medical Center. It is fitting that San Antonio should be the site of this Center and this School as we gather to dedicate this complex of buildings. For this city has long been the home of the pioneers in the air; it was here that Sidney Brooks, whose memory we honor today, was born and raised. It was here that Charles Lindbergh and Claire Chennault and a host of others who in World War I and World War II and Korea, and even today, have helped demonstrate American mastery of the sky, trained at Kelly Field and Randolph Field, which form a major part of aviation history. And in the new frontier of outer space, while headlines may be made by others in other places, history is being made every day by the men and women of the Aerospace Medical Center without whom there could be no history. Many Americans make the mistake of assuming that space research has no value here on earth. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just as the wartime development of radar gave us the transistor and all that it made possible, so research in space medicine holds the promise of substantial benefit to those of us who are earthbound. For our effort in space is not, as some have suggested, a competitor for the natural resources that we need to develop the earth, it is a working partner and a co-producer of these resources. And nothing makes this clearer than the fact that medicine in space is going to make our lives healthier, and happier here on earth. I give you three examples. First, medical space research may open up new understanding of man's relation to his environment. Examination of the astronauts' physical and mental and emotional reactions can teach us more about the differences between normal and abnormal, about the causes and effects of disorientation, in metabolism which could result in extending the life span. When you study effects on our astronauts of exhaust gases which can contaminate their environment, and seek ways to alter these gases so to reduce their toxicity, you are working on problems similar to those we face in our great urban centers which themselves are being corrupted by gases and which must be cleared. Second, medical space research may revolutionize the technology and the techniques of modern medicine. What ever new devices are created, for example, to monitor our astronauts--to measure their heart activity, their breathing, their brain waves, and their eye motions at great distances and under difficult conditions, will also represent a major advance in general medical instrumentation. Heart patients may even be able to wear a light monitor which will sound a warning if their activity exceeds certain limits. An instrument recently developed to record automatically the impact of acceleration upon an astronaut's eyes, will also be of help to small children who are suffering miserably from eye defects, but are unable to describe their impairment. And also by the use of instruments similar to those used in Project MERCURY, this nation's private as well as public nursing services are being improved, enabling one nurse now to give more critically ill patients greater attention than they ever could in the past. Third, medical space research may lead to new safeguards against hazards common to many environments. Specifically, our astronauts will need fundamentally new devices to protect them from the ill effects of radiation, which can have a profound influence upon medicine and man's relation to our present environment. Here at this Center we have the laboratories, the talent, the resources to give new impetus to vital research in the life sciences. I am not suggesting that the entire space program is justified alone by what is done in medicine. The space program stands on its own as a contribution to national strength. And last Saturday at Cape Canaveral I saw our new Saturn C-1 rocket booster which, with its payload when it rises in December of this year, will be for the first time the largest booster in the world carrying into space the largest payload that any country in the world has ever sent into space. That's what I consider. I think the United States should be a leader. A country as rich and powerful as this, which bears so many burdens and responsibilities, which has so many opportunities, should be second to none. And in December, while I do not regard our mastery of space as anywhere near complete, while I recognize that there are still areas where we are behind, at least in one area--in the size of the booster--this year I hope the United States will be ahead. I'm for it. We have a long way to go; many weeks, and months and years of long tedious work lie ahead. There will be setbacks and frustrations and disappointments. There will be, as there always are, pressures in this country to do less in this area as in so many others, and temptations to do something else that is perhaps easier. But this research here must go on, this space effort must go on, the conquest of space must and will go ahead. That much we know--that much we can say with confidence and conviction. Frank O'Connor, the Irish writer, tells in one of his books how, as a boy, he and his friends would make their way across the countryside, and when they came to an orchard wall that seemed too high, and too doubtful to try, and too difficult to permit their voyage to continue, they took off their hats and tossed them over the wall--and then they had no choice but to follow them. This nation has tossed its cap over the wall of space--and we have no choice but to follow it. Whatever the difficulties, they will be overcome; whatever the hazards, they must be guarded against. With the vital help of this Aerospace Medical Center, with the help of all those who labor in the space endeavor, with the help and support of all Americans, we will climb this wall with safety and with speed--and we shall then explore the wonders on the other side.
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