The final selection for the location of this facility (the
Manned Spacecraft Center) came down to a choice between
Cambridge, Massachusetts and
Houston, Texas. The former had several advantages, including ready access to space-related lab and research facilities (
MIT,
Draper Laboratory,
Lincoln Labs,
USAF ESC, etc) and a high availability of technical personnel. The latter had lots of space, access to
open training areas, cheap land, and (some say most important) was in the home state of VP
Lyndon Baines Johnson, a prominent
space program champion looking to
bolster Texas home-state support for a
campaign in
1964.
Needless to say, the astronauts all got good barbecue, and if you use the phrase "Uh, Cambridge, we have a problem," people look at you funny.