Despite the Freedom Rides, Kennedy remained focused on international affairs, specifically keeping the world free from the spread of communism. He decided to deliver a mid-year State of the Union Address. Kennedy entitled his May 25, 1961, speech “Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs.”

The address began with a statement of the importance of promoting freedom — freedom from communism, not freedom from racial prejudice. Kennedy asked for an additional $2 billion tacked onto the current military budget of $2.4 billion. The money would pay for more weapons, more marines, and the creation of bomb shelters.

Next, Kennedy addressed the need to surpass the Soviets in space exploration. Landing a man on the moon, according to Kennedy, was imperative in the face of Soviet space advancements. This had not always been Kennedy's stance on the space program. In fact, he had contemplated discontinuing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), but with his vice president a strong backer of the program, he had decided otherwise. Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union had become the first person to orbit Earth in April, and Kennedy decided the American space program was more crucial than ever. Kennedy informed Congress that in order to beat the Soviet Union in space, NASA would need $7 to $9 billion. Kennedy's remarks were met with enthusiastic applause.

President Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Vice President Johnson watch a television broadcast of the liftoff of astronaut Alan Shepard on the first U.S. manned suborbital flight.

Photo credit: Cecil Stoughton, White House/John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston