With a strong effort, the United States could conceivably be first [in a manned trip to the Moon]
Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, April 28, 1961
Memo for the President from Vice President Johnson responding to President Kennedy’s memo, April 28, 1961
As ordered by the President, Vice President Johnson surveyed the space program, consulted the experts and reported that a manned mission to the Moon was a project in which the United States could conceivably beat the Soviet Union.