From The Archives: Kennedy's Offer Stirs Confusion, Dismay

Two months before he was assassinated in Dallas, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ignited a firestorm when he proposed in a speech at the United Nations  that the U.S. and Soviet Union conduct a joint manned lunar landing program. 

"Most observers interpret the proposal as either a recognition that the U.S. cannot meet its goal of a manned lunar landing by 1970 or that the nation is now unwilling to continue supporting the massive cost of the Apollo program," states an article in the Sept. 30, issue 1963 edition of Aviation week. 

Kennedy's proposal also sent Aviation Week's Editor-in-Chief Robert Hotz into orbit. In a signed editorial, he blasted the offer as an "extraordinary feat of political contortion" and warned that it could lead to a drastic cut in Apollo funding. That did not happen. Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin landed on the Moon in 1969 without the Russians.