From Sea to Shining Sea:
A Film Treatment by Paul Gasek and Gene Carl Feldman
Historical footage: clips from JFK speeches
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy declares two important national goals. Says Kennedy, "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.
One of the "other things" Kennedy proposes is a "national effort in the basic and applied research of oceanography." He notes that "Knowledge of the oceans is more than a matter of curiosity. Our very survival may hinge upon it."
Historical: clips of astronauts, and the Trieste submerged.
There are military agendas attached to exploration of both the moon and the oceans - but the tone is clear. The President means to inspire the best and the brightest scientific minds of a generation to acts of intellectual and physical bravery in both arenas. Further, in 1961, ‘exploration’ means sending, not something, but someone out into the unknown to have a look, and plans for manned explorations of outer space and the deep oceans are set in motion.
Historical: Richard Nixon, Vietnam images.
A lot can happen in eight years. By 1969 the political scene has changed dramatically. Richard M. Nixon is inaugurated as the 37th President of the United States; Spiro Agnew is sworn in as Vice-President. Even though the war in Vietnam is in full spate, the new administration begins to withdraw American troops, as anti-war protests fill urban streets and the Nation’s capital.
Historical: imagery of both crews engaged in similar activities and circumstances.
Meanwhile, the two great scientific endeavors set in motion almost a decade earlier are about to pay off. Down in Florida, NASA is preparing to send, not one, but two historic missions out of Earth’s breathable atmosphere to explore new frontiers.
Two crews, one three-man, one six-man, are training hard for their missions. Two space ships are undergoing exhaustive last minute checks, counting down to launch. Both missions are the culmination, the fulfillment of hopes set in motion 8 years earlier by President Kennedy.
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