On the 4th of July, 1982 Ken Mattingly and Hank Hartsfield landed the Space Shuttle orbiter Columbia at Edwards. There to see the landing and meet the crew was President Ronald Reagan. With the orbiter Enterprise as a backdrop the President spoke of America, Freedom, Liberty and our bright future as a people. Following the series of speeches, the President stood with the Astronauts and watched as the SCA did a flyby with the orbiter Challenger headed for KSC and the Challenger's first flight.
As the Challenger and SCA went past the band struck up "God Bless America" and President Reagan spontaniously began to sing the song and a moment later was joined by the crowd. The President, being a trained actor, was right on key and in tune as he sung "God Bless America" clearly from the heart-(i.e. no teleprompter.)
After watching this video, can any of you out there honestly, seriously, picture this happening today?
Happy 4th of July.
Posts
Could *never* happen today; the media wouldn't allow it, the "separation" clause would be violated, or so the ACLU and CAIR would say, and the press would have to divert some of their resources away from the Mike and Mark comedy--or would it be tragedy?--hours.
ReplyDeleteBesides, our current administration just can't find any good thing in our past, including accomplishments such as the shuttle.