CONGRATULATIONS on the magnificent beginning of the Apollo 8 adventure. The visions of the past are coming closer and closer to becoming the amazing achievements of the present.
I am confident that the world's finest equipment will strive to match the courage of our astronauts. If it does that, a successful mission is assured. Prudence is a of courage, however, so we must give priority to astronaut safety as decisions are made each step of the way.
Note: The message was addressed to Col. Frank Borman, USAF, Capt. James A. Lovell, Jr., USN, and Maj. William A. Anders, USAF, the Apollo 8 astronauts, who were beginning the 6-day space flight which would take them into lunar orbit. See also Items 645, 647.
The message was released at Bethesda Naval Medical Center.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Message to the Apollo 8 Astronauts at the Beginning of Their Flight to the Moon. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/236390