The

The United States,

The President, Today is a very special day. As our listeners know, I am a presidential history enthusiast. I've been studying presidents since I was eight years old.

But I've always had a love for aviation and specifically space history.

Yes, my heroes growing up included the Washington's and Lincoln's of the world, but they also included the John Glens and the Neil Armstrongs.

And I remember the first time I watched the movie Apollo, Apollo 13.

I was 12 years old, and I saw it in the

theaters. And it was from then on that the crew of that mission, Jim Lovell, Fred Hayes, and Jack Swaggart,

joined my personal pantheon of heroes. From then on, I learned everything I could about the

Apollo missions. I read all the

books, and I've never quite gotten over just how remarkable it was that America in the late

1960s and early 1970s, during a time before the internet and smartphones, sent multiple

missions to the moon. And if I might be allowed to

geek out a little bit here, there are a few things as monumental to me as Apollo. I've always felt

that of all the incredible things that happened during the 20th century, the epic figures,

the wars, the social movements, When it's all said and done,

three things will stand out in the history books about that century, the World Wars,

the splitting of the atom, and the Apollo Moon missions. That's not to discount all the other

amazing things, but those three events, those achievements just really stand out. And among

those three, the most thrilling, impressive, and non-warfare related of them is Apollo, what many

consider to be the greatest technological achievement in human history. And my guest today is a man

who played a crucial role in all of this, a man

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