Which U.S. president announced the goal of landing a man on the Moon before the 1960s ended?

Which U.S. president announced the goal of landing a man on the Moon before the 1960s ended? John F. Kennedy did.

On May 25, 1961, Kennedy told a joint session of Congress that the United States should commit to landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth before the decade was out. The declaration transformed the still-developing Apollo effort into a clear national objective.

The announcement came during the Cold War space race. The Soviet Union had put Yuri Gagarin into orbit the previous month, while the United States had completed only a brief crewed spaceflight. NASA had not yet sent an American astronaut into orbit, so Kennedy’s timetable appeared highly ambitious even to some NASA personnel.

Apollo 11 fulfilled the goal on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon while Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit. Kennedy did not live to see the achievement: he was assassinated in November 1963. President Lyndon B. Johnson continued supporting the program, but the famous deadline and commitment originated with Kennedy.