“]

[ Mary Cohn, Dr. Bud Fraizer, and Mary Duplantis- Photo Credit Keith Cohn

Kennedy famously called the nation to win the space race and reach the moon, “not because it was easy, but because it was hard.”

“The Rice speech has lived on in history because in it Kennedy threw down the gauntlet that America would land on the moon before the decade’s end,” wrote Brinkley. “And he [JFK] posed an exciting challenge to the nation.”

We know the glorious outcome that followed Kennedy’s remarks, and Houston’s prominent role in it. It is more than fitting that we celebrate these achievements and what they’ve meant in the ensuing 50 years.

There is another golden anniversary that Houston is marking this month. One that, like the race to the moon, has posed an exciting challenge. And like the space program, has had far-reaching benefit – for all mankind.

Just days ahead of Kennedy’s speech, and a stone’s throw away from Rice Stadium, the nonprofit Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital was founded by prominent heart surgeon Denton A. Cooley. The goal: to alleviate, through research, education and medical advancement, the ravages of the No. 1 medical threat of our times.  Read More  Full Story and Photos