Ambassador Speech
Ambassador's July 4 Speech
Welcome to the U.S. Embassy’s Independence Day celebration. We are here tonight to celebrate an event that took place 233 years ago: the official adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress, which took place on July 4, 1776. That day marked the first step of a journey that has continued until this day.
This month, we are also celebrating another anniversary. Forty years ago, in July 1969, man took his first steps on the surface of the moon. In May of 1961 President John F. Kennedy announced the goal of sending a man to the moon before the end of the decade. Eight years of hard work by thousands of Americans made this seemingly impossible dream come true on July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong stepped out of the lunar module and onto the Sea of Tranquility, calling it “one small step for [a] man, but a giant leap for mankind.”
After the successful lunar landing, the astronauts were in demand all over the world as their achievement had ignited the imagination of people everywhere. They traveled to Kinshasa, where they were greeted by the Congolese people, who welcomed them as heroes. And heroes they were in the minds of people everywhere, because their remarkable feat that year was an incontrovertible demonstration that man can conquer limits and explore new frontiers. The astronauts’ visit to Congo was also visible proof of the friendship between our two nations as we celebrated together one of history’s greatest achievements.
This accomplishment did not end with the moon landing. Subsequent missions studied the moon’s soil, mechanics, meteoroids, seismic trends, heat flow, lunar ranging, magnetic fields and solar wind. Today, the United States, working together with other countries, continues to explore our solar system and beyond in efforts to better understand our remarkable universe.
Ladies and gentlemen, there remain new frontiers to explore, and new challenges to meet, in space but also much closer to home. Working together the people of the world will find a way to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. We will find ways to create sustainable energy sources and preserve our beloved planet. On that day in 1961, as President Kennedy spoke of the space program, he also laid out other goals: economic and social progress at home and abroad, as well as goals for homeland security. As it turns out, getting to the moon was the easy part; we still have much work to do, both at home and abroad, to make significant progress in attaining the goals articulated by President Kennedy.
The challenges of this global age can only be met with a global response. We remain committed to working together to create prosperity, freedom and peace. President Kennedy looked forward into the future and, in the challenges he faced, saw opportunity. We must now recognize not only the challenges that face us, but also see the opportunities they present to us.