Dr. Lee A. DuBridge, the Presidential Science Adviser, gave an Independence Day speech in Dearborn, Michigan. A biography of him is available here: [pdf]. Selections from his speech below:

“For untold millions of years the human animal was chained to the earth. Sixty years ago he found a way of soaring into its atmosphere. Ten years ago he learned to break the chains of gravity and to soar out into space. This month the first man will set foot on another world. Later this month two spacecraft will reach Mars and send back new information about that Planet. Americans will have no reason to be ashamed of their nation on those days. Is it worth while? Is it worth while to lift the spirits of millions of human beings? If not, what else is worth while?”

“The laws of nature which made it possible have been well known for a long time. The engineering skills required … were available and were brilliantly organized. Hundreds of thousands of Americans worked together to make this dream come true. They had faith and they had hope.

“The problems of our cities and the other social problems which beset us are not all that easy. In this area human beings are not working together but are in conflict. We find that we do not yet know the cause of these troubles nor do we yet have the mechanisms for curing them. Hence we must study, we must experiment, we must try and we will often fail. . . . And we shall learn from our failures.”

Dr. Lee A. DuBridge, the Presidential Science Adviser, gave an Independence Day speech in Dearborn, Michigan. A biography of him is available here: [pdf]. Selections from his speech below:

“For untold millions of years the human animal was chained to the earth. Sixty years ago he found a way of soaring into its atmosphere. Ten years ago he learned to break the chains of gravity and to soar out into space. This month the first man will set foot on another world. Later this month two spacecraft will reach Mars and send back new information about that Planet. Americans will have no reason to be ashamed of their nation on those days. Is it worth while? Is it worth while to lift the spirits of millions of human beings? If not, what else is worth while?”

“The laws of nature which made it possible have been well known for a long time. The engineering skills required … were available and were brilliantly organized. Hundreds of thousands of Americans worked together to make this dream come true. They had faith and they had hope.

“The problems of our cities and the other social problems which beset us are not all that easy. In this area human beings are not working together but are in conflict. We find that we do not yet know the cause of these troubles nor do we yet have the mechanisms for curing them. Hence we must study, we must experiment, we must try and we will often fail. . . . And we shall learn from our failures.”