December 16, 2024 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, just moments before the biggest fireworks display in American history, President Ronald Reagan spoke in front of the Statue of Liberty aboard the USS John F. Kennedy. Reagan understood the profound nature of what the founders did back in 1776. We take you back to New York Harbor in 1986.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we returned to our American stories. When Apollow eight
took off from the John F. Kennedy Space Center in
nineteen sixty eight, the Vietnam War was in full swing,
and earlier that year in April, Martin Luther King Junior
had been assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. This all wasn't lost
on Apollow eight's three astronauts, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and
(00:33):
William Anders as they took off on their grand journey
around the Moon. Here to tell the story of what
happened with that in mind is Steve Kates take it away.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Steve apollowaight nacinated decision that they would send three astronauts
on a journey around the Moon for ten lunar orbits
in nineteen sixty eight, around Christmas time. There was a
lot of objections in some of the higher offices of
NASA that this might not have been the right thing
to do because we only tested Apollo seven in Earth orbit,
(01:05):
and yet we haven't sent a Paulo spicecraft to the
Moon yet. So Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders
did that most incredible feat.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Here's Jim Levell, astronaut on Apollo eight with more.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Well, my first sensation's course was not too far from
the earth, because when we turned around, we could actually
see the Earth start to shrink. Now, the highest anybody
had ever been, I think had been either I think
it was Apollo or Gemy eleven up about eight hundred
miles or something like that and back down again, and
all of a sudden, you know, we're just just going down.
And it was. It reminds me of driving a car
(01:40):
looking out the back window, going inside a tunnel and
seeing the tunnel entrance shrink as it gets as you
go farther into the tunnel. It was quite quite a
sensation to think about, you know, and you had to
pinch yourself, Hey, we're really going to the Moon. I mean,
you know, this is it. I was a navigator, and
it turned out that the navigation equipment was perfect, and
it was just you couldn't ask for a better piece
(02:02):
of navigation coming coming into the Moon itself. The last day,
our blunt end was towards the Moon, and we didn't
see it as it got bigger, but the ground called
up and the Michigan Control said, now it's such and
such a time, and they named it right down to
the second you lose communication with us because the Moon's
gradual swinging around on the far side. Right to the
(02:22):
second there were static in our earphones, no comm Then
of course we lit the engine to slow down and
we got into lunar orbit. And this is where we
started to look at the moon, you know, and we
all those nice things we said and that Christmas message.
When we determined first of all that we would get
(02:45):
and burn into the lunar orbit Christmas Eve, we thought, boy,
we something's got to be appropriate to say. We ought
to say something. What can we say? And we couldn't
think of anything. Then there was a fellow that I
think Borman knew.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
His name was, well, it's another example of the wonderful
country live in we go. Julian Cheer, who was the
head of public information for NASA in Washington, call me
one day and so you're going to have the largest
audience that's ever listened to or seen a television picture
of a human on Christmas Eve. And you've got I
don't know, five or six minutes. And I said, well
(03:20):
that's great, Julian.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
What do we do?
Speaker 4 (03:22):
And he said, do whatever is appropriate. That's the only instructions.
Then that's the exact word. Do whatever is appropriate, whatever
you feel is appropriate, and be honest with you. We
were so involved in the mission and this was a
peripheral one, so I just kind of farmed that out
to a friend of mine, Cyborgan, and from Washington.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
He was with the US Information Agency I think had
gone with some of the astronauts an around their trips.
Frank asked him, could he come up with something appropriate? Well,
he could, but he knew another person I think it
was a newspaper man, I forget his name that he said, Okay,
I'll think it over. I'll try to see what I
can do. And he was working almost all night trying
(04:06):
to think out appropriate words, and his wife came down
and said, why don't you have them read something from
the Bible. And they said, well, that's you know, the
New Testament. Now she says the Old.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Testament reading from Genesis.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Because you know, this would be very appropriate.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
And I discussed it with Bill and gemmen, and we
had it typed on the fight pline, and that's I
didn't give any more thought than that.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
So that's how it came to pass. They said the
first ten verses of Genesis, which is really the foundation
of many of the world's religions. And that's how I got.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
Started now brooking lunar for Ryan and for all the
people back on earth. The crew of Apollo eight haven't
met that we would like to then you the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth
(04:55):
without form, and lloyd in darkness with a bond the
face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters. And God said, let
there be light. And there was light, and God saw
the light. They went good. And God divided the light
(05:16):
from the darkness. And God called the light day, and
the darkness he called night, and the inning in the morning.
With the first day, God said, let her be the
permot in the midst of the water. Let it divide
the waters from the waters. And God made the promn
(05:37):
and the might of the waters which were under the
from the waters, which were both the persons. And it
was so, and God called the movement heaven. In the
inning in the morning. The second day, God said, let
the waters under to heaven be gethered together into one plate,
and let the dry land of pear. And it was so,
(06:00):
and God called the dry land Earth and the geting
beginner of the water and calling God. Thought that it
was good and from the good night, good luck, and
God live all of you, all of you on the
(06:21):
good Earth.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Looking back at the Earth on Christmas Eve had a
great effect, I think on all three of us. I
can only speak for myself, but it had for me
because the wonderment of it and the fact that the
Earth looks so lonely in the universe. It's the only
thing with color. All of our emotions were focused back
there with our families, and so that was the most
(06:45):
emotional part of the flight for me.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
We were so curious, so excited about being at the
moon that we are like three school kids looking into
a candy story window watching those ancient old creators go
by from and we're already stick to my else above
the service. We didn't have any kind of feeling, at
least myself, of you know, fear or if you know,
(07:08):
are we going to get back or not. It was
just just to be there. Was such an exciting moment
that you know, would have done it all the time.
I felt very, very honored and lucky to be there.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
There was a little bit of concern as to how
that would be you know, received in the world. But
NASA gave them the permission to do that. I mean,
it wasn't something that was really that controversial, but in
many circles they thought that, hey, this is inappropriate thing
to do as we celebrate the birth of the Christ
Child Christmas and read from the Book of Genesis and
talk about the creation according to the Bible, of how
(07:43):
the universe was formed, and God in his wonderful ways,
of how we manifest beauty and love to all the
people of the world and probably to all people in
the other civilizations outside of this world.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
At the time, we didn't know what the effect of
the flight would be. We didn't know whether the flight
was going to be successful or not. But you know,
with riots and assassinations and the war going on, I
was part of a thing that Foley gave an uplift
to the American people about doing something positive, which was
really That's why I say Pollo Wait was really the
(08:15):
high point of my space career.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Their neutrality in politics was always number one, but reading
from the Bible was just in their opinion, and I
approve of it. I think it was a beautiful thing
because at that time there's a way to send a
message about peace and love, and why not do that
during a time when everybody meet up palming. It was
probably one of the most watched shows ever in the
(08:37):
history of television. And I don't know the exact number
of people that were watching, but it's in the hundreds
of millions. And it was so well done. And I
thought that the reading of the Bible and the Book
of Genesis was an apropos for the time when tensions
were very high in America.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
And a terrific job on the editing and production and
storytelling by Monty Montgomery. A special thanks to Steve Cats
and also a special thanks to NASA Johnson's Space Center
Oral History Project for some of the audio in this
piece and NASA itself. The astronauts knew they needed to
say something appropriate on Christmas Eve, with the largest television
(09:13):
viewing audience perhaps in history. They were told to do
something appropriate, and my goodness did there The story of
the reading of Genesis, the story of Americans in orbit
around the Moon, and God's creation here on our American
story
And we returned to our American stories. When Apollow eight
took off from the John F. Kennedy Space Center in
nineteen sixty eight, the Vietnam War was in full swing,
and earlier that year in April, Martin Luther King Junior
had been assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. This all wasn't lost
on Apollow eight's three astronauts, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and
(00:33):
William Anders as they took off on their grand journey
around the Moon. Here to tell the story of what
happened with that in mind is Steve Kates take it away.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Steve apollowaight nacinated decision that they would send three astronauts
on a journey around the Moon for ten lunar orbits
in nineteen sixty eight, around Christmas time. There was a
lot of objections in some of the higher offices of
NASA that this might not have been the right thing
to do because we only tested Apollo seven in Earth orbit,
(01:05):
and yet we haven't sent a Paulo spicecraft to the
Moon yet. So Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders
did that most incredible feat.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Here's Jim Levell, astronaut on Apollo eight with more.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Well, my first sensation's course was not too far from
the earth, because when we turned around, we could actually
see the Earth start to shrink. Now, the highest anybody
had ever been, I think had been either I think
it was Apollo or Gemy eleven up about eight hundred
miles or something like that and back down again, and
all of a sudden, you know, we're just just going down.
And it was. It reminds me of driving a car
(01:40):
looking out the back window, going inside a tunnel and
seeing the tunnel entrance shrink as it gets as you
go farther into the tunnel. It was quite quite a
sensation to think about, you know, and you had to
pinch yourself, Hey, we're really going to the Moon. I mean,
you know, this is it. I was a navigator, and
it turned out that the navigation equipment was perfect, and
it was just you couldn't ask for a better piece
(02:02):
of navigation coming coming into the Moon itself. The last day,
our blunt end was towards the Moon, and we didn't
see it as it got bigger, but the ground called
up and the Michigan Control said, now it's such and
such a time, and they named it right down to
the second you lose communication with us because the Moon's
gradual swinging around on the far side. Right to the
(02:22):
second there were static in our earphones, no comm Then
of course we lit the engine to slow down and
we got into lunar orbit. And this is where we
started to look at the moon, you know, and we
all those nice things we said and that Christmas message.
When we determined first of all that we would get
(02:45):
and burn into the lunar orbit Christmas Eve, we thought, boy,
we something's got to be appropriate to say. We ought
to say something. What can we say? And we couldn't
think of anything. Then there was a fellow that I
think Borman knew.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
His name was, well, it's another example of the wonderful
country live in we go. Julian Cheer, who was the
head of public information for NASA in Washington, call me
one day and so you're going to have the largest
audience that's ever listened to or seen a television picture
of a human on Christmas Eve. And you've got I
don't know, five or six minutes. And I said, well
(03:20):
that's great, Julian.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
What do we do?
Speaker 4 (03:22):
And he said, do whatever is appropriate. That's the only instructions.
Then that's the exact word. Do whatever is appropriate, whatever
you feel is appropriate, and be honest with you. We
were so involved in the mission and this was a
peripheral one, so I just kind of farmed that out
to a friend of mine, Cyborgan, and from Washington.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
He was with the US Information Agency I think had
gone with some of the astronauts an around their trips.
Frank asked him, could he come up with something appropriate? Well,
he could, but he knew another person I think it
was a newspaper man, I forget his name that he said, Okay,
I'll think it over. I'll try to see what I
can do. And he was working almost all night trying
(04:06):
to think out appropriate words, and his wife came down
and said, why don't you have them read something from
the Bible. And they said, well, that's you know, the
New Testament. Now she says the Old.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Testament reading from Genesis.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Because you know, this would be very appropriate.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
And I discussed it with Bill and gemmen, and we
had it typed on the fight pline, and that's I
didn't give any more thought than that.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
So that's how it came to pass. They said the
first ten verses of Genesis, which is really the foundation
of many of the world's religions. And that's how I got.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
Started now brooking lunar for Ryan and for all the
people back on earth. The crew of Apollo eight haven't
met that we would like to then you the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth
(04:55):
without form, and lloyd in darkness with a bond the
face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters. And God said, let
there be light. And there was light, and God saw
the light. They went good. And God divided the light
(05:16):
from the darkness. And God called the light day, and
the darkness he called night, and the inning in the morning.
With the first day, God said, let her be the
permot in the midst of the water. Let it divide
the waters from the waters. And God made the promn
(05:37):
and the might of the waters which were under the
from the waters, which were both the persons. And it
was so, and God called the movement heaven. In the
inning in the morning. The second day, God said, let
the waters under to heaven be gethered together into one plate,
and let the dry land of pear. And it was so,
(06:00):
and God called the dry land Earth and the geting
beginner of the water and calling God. Thought that it
was good and from the good night, good luck, and
God live all of you, all of you on the
(06:21):
good Earth.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Looking back at the Earth on Christmas Eve had a
great effect, I think on all three of us. I
can only speak for myself, but it had for me
because the wonderment of it and the fact that the
Earth looks so lonely in the universe. It's the only
thing with color. All of our emotions were focused back
there with our families, and so that was the most
(06:45):
emotional part of the flight for me.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
We were so curious, so excited about being at the
moon that we are like three school kids looking into
a candy story window watching those ancient old creators go
by from and we're already stick to my else above
the service. We didn't have any kind of feeling, at
least myself, of you know, fear or if you know,
(07:08):
are we going to get back or not. It was
just just to be there. Was such an exciting moment
that you know, would have done it all the time.
I felt very, very honored and lucky to be there.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
There was a little bit of concern as to how
that would be you know, received in the world. But
NASA gave them the permission to do that. I mean,
it wasn't something that was really that controversial, but in
many circles they thought that, hey, this is inappropriate thing
to do as we celebrate the birth of the Christ
Child Christmas and read from the Book of Genesis and
talk about the creation according to the Bible, of how
(07:43):
the universe was formed, and God in his wonderful ways,
of how we manifest beauty and love to all the
people of the world and probably to all people in
the other civilizations outside of this world.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
At the time, we didn't know what the effect of
the flight would be. We didn't know whether the flight
was going to be successful or not. But you know,
with riots and assassinations and the war going on, I
was part of a thing that Foley gave an uplift
to the American people about doing something positive, which was
really That's why I say Pollo Wait was really the
(08:15):
high point of my space career.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Their neutrality in politics was always number one, but reading
from the Bible was just in their opinion, and I
approve of it. I think it was a beautiful thing
because at that time there's a way to send a
message about peace and love, and why not do that
during a time when everybody meet up palming. It was
probably one of the most watched shows ever in the
(08:37):
history of television. And I don't know the exact number
of people that were watching, but it's in the hundreds
of millions. And it was so well done. And I
thought that the reading of the Bible and the Book
of Genesis was an apropos for the time when tensions
were very high in America.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
And a terrific job on the editing and production and
storytelling by Monty Montgomery. A special thanks to Steve Cats
and also a special thanks to NASA Johnson's Space Center
Oral History Project for some of the audio in this
piece and NASA itself. The astronauts knew they needed to
say something appropriate on Christmas Eve, with the largest television
(09:13):
viewing audience perhaps in history. They were told to do
something appropriate, and my goodness did there The story of
the reading of Genesis, the story of Americans in orbit
around the Moon, and God's creation here on our American
story
Host
Lee Habeeb
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