JFK’s Houston Speeches Anniversary Today
For a Houstonian and Rice alum, today’s a big day in history, even more so in a presidential election year. It’s the anniversary of not one but two significant speeches by John F Kennedy, both given in Houston, Texas.
Religion & Politics has the full text of Kennedy’s seminal speech on the relationship between faith and political ideology as a candidate, delivered at the Rice Hotel in downtown for the Greater Houston Ministerial Association in 1960. Definitely worth a read in light of the quadrennial debate on what role, if any, religion should have in the life of a presidential candidate and national politics.
At this very moment, NASA TV celebrates the anniversary of the Moon speech delivered outdoors at Rice Stadium as a president 50 years ago. Watch for the oft-missed yet classic line wondering, “Why does Rice play Texas?” that JFK added himself at the last minute…and then led us to a place where together “We do these things not because they are easy but because they are hard.”
