THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VI, Issue # 159, July 19, 2004
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
JULY 20, 1969: THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
By Christopher G. Adamo
FULL STORY:
Tuesday, July 20, 2004, is presently shaping up to be a fairly typical day in America, which, in all actuality, is quite a shame. Thirty-five
years ago on that date, at 4:53 p.m. Eastern time, a single statement crackled through space to Houston Texas, “Tranquility Base here.
The Eagle has landed.” And the world changed forever.
This nation however, was hardly a tranquil place during that tumultuous era. The Vietnam War was at its peak, and the
antiwar/antiAmerica forces back home were in their prime, ravaging one traditional institution after another. As an appalled majority
looked on in relative silence, too stunned and disbelieving to speak out against the ensuing disaster of cultural revolution, the
malignant forces of Leftwing Liberalism went into high gear.
For their own part, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin had to deal with a couple of hair-raising last minute emergencies in
order to achieve a successful landing. Though, at that time, it was the most sophisticated flying machine ever built, the Lunar
Module’s total computing power was considerably less than that of today’s average automobile. And, at a crucial moment, its
computer overloaded. Then, on “final approach,” Armstrong had to perform an emergency maneuver to avoid crashing into a field of
boulders, nearly expending the vehicle’s fuel before navigating safely to the moon’s surface. But the technological effort required to
get there, and the true significance of the feat, extended far beyond such aeronautical heroics.
Twelve years prior to the epic journey of Apollo 11, an object barely larger than a watermelon filled the entire Western world with
indescribable dread. With an announcement by the Soviet Union that Sputnik 1 had been successfully orbited, American military
strategists realized that a technological deficit was developing which could spell doom for America in the face of an onslaught of
spaceborne Soviet weapons. The “space race” was on, dominated for the first few years by one loudly trumpeted Soviet
achievement after another.
But in late May of 1961, buoyed by Alan Shepard’s successful fifteen minute sub-orbital flight (an accomplishment which, in reality,
amounted to slightly more than a “human cannonball” act), President John F. Kennedy gave a speech in which he made the
now-famous commitment for America to send a man to the moon before the end of the decade. Eight years and two months later,
that pipe-dream was a reality.
Unfortunately, the unparalleled successes of America’s space program were effected against the backdrop of previously
unimaginable social transformation being propagated by the American political and cultural Left. So rapid and severe was this
transformation that, even before Americans had successfully navigated the quarter-million miles to the moon, their feat was being
treated with a rash of derision and cynicism. Citing the $24 billion spent to put a man on the moon as proof of American insensitivity
to the poor, much criticism was leveled at the United States government, and often from the very same individuals who, only a few
years prior, had lauded Soviet space achievements as a clear indication of the superiority of Marxism.
In truth, during the early 1960s, the Soviets had every intention of beating Americans in the moon race. By mid-decade, several
catastrophic mishaps within the Soviet space program made this dream an impossibility, thus forcing their propaganda machine to
shift from touting the superiority of their technology to the heightened morality of their social programs. And, of course, American
Liberals dutifully followed the cue. Sadly, by the time of the moon landing, many prominent Americans were actually expressing
embarrassment and regret over the cost of the venture.
Within this clouded context, it should be understood that Armstrong and Aldrin weren’t merely space pilots or even explorers.
Rather, they were the preeminent combatants in nothing less than a war for the future of America. And unlike the notable struggles
in the jungles of Southeast Asia, this war was largely being fought by aerospace engineers and manufacturers, its victory being
the fruit of their labors, seen hurtling into space from Cape Canaveral.
Though it would be two decades before the collapse of the USSR, America’s successful conquest of the moon marked the
beginning of the end for Soviet dreams of technological domination over the West. While far too many among younger Americans
disregard the importance of VE and VJ days, few who had to endure the hardships and sacrifices required to secure victory in
Europe and Japan, could ever understate their significance. Likewise, the successful endeavor to reach the moon before the end of
the 1960’s should never have been trivialized, as the political and cultural Left has done to so many capstones of American
greatness.
So flags should wave proudly across this land in commemoration of July 20, 1969. It was the day America won the Cold War.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Military Defense & National Security
Military Weaponry & International Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
Communism: Longterm Enemy
Liberals, Statists, Socialists, & Other Leftists
Christopher G. Adamo is a freelance writer who lives in southeastern Wyoming and works in the field of industrial instrumentation.
He is actively involved in Wyoming's political process, serving as a delegate to successive Wyoming State Republican Conventions
and as a member of the Wyoming State Republican Central Committee. He has assisted Republican candidates for local and state
legislatures and for the United States Congress. His articles, which appear regularly in The Progressive Conservative, U.S.A.,
and on a number of other websites, reflect a major concern with the damage being done to Conservatism and Conservative causes by
the Liberal Leftist faction in the Republican Party as well as by the much larger and more powerful Liberal Leftist faction in the
Democratic Party. During the early and middle 1990s, Adamo was Editor of the Wyoming Christian Coalition's official news organ,
The Wyoming Christian. Adamo maintains his own Internet website, which is located at
www.chrisadamo.com.
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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