The Franklin D. Roosevelt
Presidential Library and Museum
presents "American Ingenuity:
From FDR's D-Day to JFK's Moonshot"
a book talk and signing
with presidential historian
and Roosevelt Library Trustee
Douglas Brinkley author of
AMERICAN MOONSHOT:
JOHN F. KENNEDY AND
THE GREAT SPACE RACE
Wednesday, June 19, 2019 at 7:00 p.m.
Henry A. Wallace Center at the
FDR Presidential Library and Home
HYDE PARK, NY -- The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum presents "American Ingenuity: From FDR's D-Day to JFK's Moonshot" a book talk and signing with presidential historian Roosevelt Library Trustee
Douglas Brinkley author of
AMERICAN MOONSHOT: JOHN F. KENNEDY AND THE GREAT SPACE RACE on Wednesday, June 19, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. The event will be held in the Henry A. Wallace Center at the FDR Presidential Library and Home.
This is a free public event but registration is required.
Synopsis:
On May 25, 1961, JFK made an astonishing announcement: his goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade. In
AMERICAN MOONSHOT, Douglas Brinkley returns to the 1960s to recreate one of the most exciting and ambitious achievements in the history of humankind and brings together the extraordinary political, cultural, and scientific factors that fueled the birth and development of NASA and the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo projects, which shot the United States to victory in the space race against the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War.
Drawing on new primary source material and major interviews with many of the surviving figures who were key to America's success, AMERICAN MOONSHOT is a portrait of the brilliant men and women who made this giant leap possible, the technology that enabled us to propel men beyond earth's orbit to the moon and return them safely, and the geopolitical tensions that spurred Kennedy to commit himself fully to this audacious dream. Brinkley's ensemble cast of New Frontier characters include rocketeer Wernher von Braun, astronaut John Glenn and space booster Lyndon Johnson.
A vivid chronicle of one of the most thrilling, hopeful, and turbulent eras in the nation's history, AMERICAN MOONSHOT is an homage to scientific ingenuity, human curiosity, and the boundless American spirit.
Douglas Brinkley is the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History at Rice University, a CNN Presidential Historian, and a contributing editor at
Vanity Fair. He is a Trustee of the Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, New York. In the world of public history, he serves on boards, at museums, at colleges, and for historical societies. The
Chicago Tribune dubbed him "America's New Past Master." The New-York Historical Society has chosen Brinkley as its official U.S. Presidential Historian. His recent book CRONKITE won the Sperber Prize, while THE GREAT DELUGE: HURRICANE KATRINA, NEW ORLEANS, AND THE MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST received the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. He was awarded a Grammy for PRESIDENTIAL SUITE and is the recipient of seven honorary doctorates in American studies. His NIXON TAPES recently won the Arthur S. Link-Warren F. Kuehl Prize. He is a member of the Century Association, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the James Madison Council of the Library of Congress. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and three children.
Please contact Cliff Laube at (845) 486-7745 with questions about the event.
