wormyguy
Banned
A thread for these. Set the scene, the give the speech!
November 7, 1967:
The occupants of the Oval Office were in a hushed silence, huddled around a small television screen, specially wheeled in for the occasion. They were joined by hundreds of millions all around the world. The montage they were watching was a rather odd one – views of schoolchildren all over the world watching the same thing. Children in Moscow, in Warsaw, in Berlin (both halves), in Tokyo, in Beijing, in Havana, in Chicago, in Cairo, and in Pretoria. The feed then cut back to the moon, as the hysterical announcer interspersed his English translation of the space-to-ground communications with grandiose pronouncements of how this great triumph of science on the fiftieth anniversary of the glorious October Revolution would ensure world peace for all the generations to come. The image cut to a camera inside the lander as Gagarin guided it to a smooth landing on the lunar surface. “Fuck!” yelled the President, “why couldn’t he have crashed?” Gagarin popped open the door, as Leonov filmed him. The first man in space would be the first man to walk on the moon.
“This is not a step for a man. This is not a step for Socialism. This is a step for peace.”
It was three o’clock when the President read his prepared statement. Brezhnev’s speech had lasted nearly 2 hours, and he worried that people might have turned off their televisions.
“Good afternoon. I am always amazed by the tenacity of man. There is no challenge, no scientific question that cannot be resolved through the effort of our best and brightest scientists. I am pleased that our nation has some of the best and brightest among our community of mankind, and I am no less pleased that any other nation shares in the power of scientific discovery and exploration. On this day, we have witnessed a giant leap forward in the field of the exploration of outer space. I have telephoned Mr. Brezhnev and congratulated him on his nation’s impressive achievement. I congratulate the Soviet people, the Soviet Cosmonauts, and most of all, the unsung heroes, the Soviet scientists who made this event possible.
I would like to emphasize that this is not a competition, but merely a challenge. We must challenge ourselves to do even better, to go even further in the field of space exploration than we ever have before. We remain committed as a nation to the peaceful exploration of space. We, too, shall reach for the stars. We, too, shall travel to the moon, to Mars, to the furthest reaches of man’s imagination. Let this be a first step to a new millennium of peace and prosperity for our nation, and for all others.”
November 7, 1967:
The occupants of the Oval Office were in a hushed silence, huddled around a small television screen, specially wheeled in for the occasion. They were joined by hundreds of millions all around the world. The montage they were watching was a rather odd one – views of schoolchildren all over the world watching the same thing. Children in Moscow, in Warsaw, in Berlin (both halves), in Tokyo, in Beijing, in Havana, in Chicago, in Cairo, and in Pretoria. The feed then cut back to the moon, as the hysterical announcer interspersed his English translation of the space-to-ground communications with grandiose pronouncements of how this great triumph of science on the fiftieth anniversary of the glorious October Revolution would ensure world peace for all the generations to come. The image cut to a camera inside the lander as Gagarin guided it to a smooth landing on the lunar surface. “Fuck!” yelled the President, “why couldn’t he have crashed?” Gagarin popped open the door, as Leonov filmed him. The first man in space would be the first man to walk on the moon.
“This is not a step for a man. This is not a step for Socialism. This is a step for peace.”
It was three o’clock when the President read his prepared statement. Brezhnev’s speech had lasted nearly 2 hours, and he worried that people might have turned off their televisions.
“Good afternoon. I am always amazed by the tenacity of man. There is no challenge, no scientific question that cannot be resolved through the effort of our best and brightest scientists. I am pleased that our nation has some of the best and brightest among our community of mankind, and I am no less pleased that any other nation shares in the power of scientific discovery and exploration. On this day, we have witnessed a giant leap forward in the field of the exploration of outer space. I have telephoned Mr. Brezhnev and congratulated him on his nation’s impressive achievement. I congratulate the Soviet people, the Soviet Cosmonauts, and most of all, the unsung heroes, the Soviet scientists who made this event possible.
I would like to emphasize that this is not a competition, but merely a challenge. We must challenge ourselves to do even better, to go even further in the field of space exploration than we ever have before. We remain committed as a nation to the peaceful exploration of space. We, too, shall reach for the stars. We, too, shall travel to the moon, to Mars, to the furthest reaches of man’s imagination. Let this be a first step to a new millennium of peace and prosperity for our nation, and for all others.”
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