Even though the entire nation focused on the space race during the 1960s, a national poll was taken, and it showed that 58% of the U.S population didn't want competition with the Soviet Union. Still many citizens, political leaders, and President John F. Kennedy wanted to beat the Soviet Union to the moon. In order to achieve his goal, President John F. Kennedy raised education standards, funded any departments or organizations that researched and studied space, and he promoted U.S labor in hopes of reaching the moon first. Many people thought all that Kennedy was doing to improve the space program was useless and pointless, but many changed their minds as they watched Armstrong land on the moon.