Fifty-six years ago, John F. Kennedy — the President of the United States of America — spoke to a crowd of 40,000 in the football stadium at Rice University. Many of those attending were schoolchildren, and the message was clear from the President, that America was going to the Moon. “We choose to go the Moon!” he declared. “We choose to go to the Moon… not because it is easy, but because it is hard.”

About a year and a half prior, Kennedy stood before Congress, urging that the country “should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” While the initial reaction to Kennedy’s charge was tepid in both Congress and the public, the substantial effort of such a remarkable achievement rolled forth nonetheless. Sure enough, less than eight years after his stadium speech at Rice University, America had a man on the Moon.

From the beginning of his presidency, Kennedy’s lunar ambitions were largely prompted by Russia’s space superiority — fueling concerns over weaponized Soviet satellites posing a nuclear threat to America and the entire planet. Kennedy made it clear: “...only if the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help decide whether this new ocean (space) will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war.”

Recognizing the implications and financial cost of this historic achievement, and no doubt wanting to replace hostility with cooperation from our Cold War foe, Kennedy twice invited Nikita Kruschev to join the US in a joint effort to reach the Moon. Kruschev rejected both invitations. If a man was to land on the Moon, America was going to do it alone. And we did.

This past weekend, “First Man” depicting that first Moon mission rolled out in theaters across the country. By all accounts, the acting is superb, the special effects are stunning, and the realism is compelling. Sadly, the creators made a deliberate and controversial omission. The film does not depict Neil Armstrong planting the American flag on the lunar surface. (In fairness, the already-planted flag reportedly does make an appearance in the film later. It’s just not portrayed how it got there.)

Because of the decision to skip over this relevant and highly-symbolic moment, the movie’s creators — backed up by Armstrong’s sons — issued a statement to dampen the controversy: “This story is human and it is universal. Of course, it celebrates an America achievement. It also celebrates an achievement ‘for all mankind’.”

Why depicting “an achievement for all mankind” precludes showing the true-to-history planting of an American flag was not fully explained. The two are not mutually exclusive. If reaching the moon had been the accomplishment of any other nation — Afghanistan, Japan, Ireland, or Cuba — omitting from an otherwise realistic biopic the triumphant and symbolic moment of planting their flag, would have been considered an offensive faux pas of epic proportions. When it’s the United States, including such a scene is often viewed as some kind of triggering jingoism.

The current aversion to relevant reality makes me more sad than angry. Hollywood can tell stories however they’d like. We can judge them however we’d like. But the idea that the Shining City on a Hill should dim its lights to avoid offense makes little sense.

The Moon landing was a grand achievement for all mankind, one that an accurate and complete portrayal would not diminish. The selective omission, likely done out of political and cultural sensitivity, simply makes the storytelling watered-down and incomplete.

Associated Press award-winning columnist Neal Larson of Idaho Falls is the author of “Living in Spin.” He is a conservative talk show host on KID Newsradio 106.3 and 92.1, and also at www.kidnewsradio.com. “The Neal Larson Show” can be heard weekday mornings from 6:00 to 10:00. His email address is neal@590kid.com.