[156] Wednesday, June 1: The morning was given over pretty much to a discussion with John Corson and our senior staff of the results of the meeting at Langley last week of the advisory committee on organization. It is apparent that progress is being made but that the subject is an exceedingly big one for any group to really understand sufficiently to make intelligent and useful comments. Unfortunately, Abe Silverstein takes a somewhat dim view of the whole operation although he has been cooperating fairly well. He spoke out this morning in response to a question of mine and said that he felt that they couldn't tell us anything we didn't know ourselves. His inexperience in the use of committees to make us do some of the things we ought to do but will not - even though we know we should do them - shows through in remarks of this kind.
We took off at 11:45 - the Yorks and myself - for Cleveland.1 It was a pleasant flight and Ruth met us at the other end. I left Herb at the house while I went right on down to Case for meetings relating to the student housing situation and the schedule as planned for the Greenbrier conference on resources. I have great confidence in John and Kent in their ability to clarify this situation. What a pleasant evening it was at the Skating Club as guests of Kent and Thelma Smith! The honorary degree group and the sponsors made a pleasant family affair of it. I think Kent and Thelma made everyone feel at home and quite relaxed. We had a chance to spend an hour and a half with the Yorks when we returned to the house but were inordinately tired when we turned in about 11:30.
Thursday, June 2: Up early so that Sally could drive to school in the Falcon and I could get back for breakfast with Herb and Sybil. Then, Herb and I went down to the campus where Herb had a series of meetings with several of our top people. I managed to get to the bank and do a few things on my own but the time went very fast. The luncheon before commencement was very pleasant and I was delighted to see Elmer Lindseth, Alex Brown, Sid Congdon and Herb Erf in attendance. They, together with Si Ramo, Kent Smith, Fred Crawford and myself made up quite a party of Trustees. Oh yes, I forgot to mention Sam Emerson, who should never be left out of anything. Commencement went off very well and we managed to escape the rain. The honorary degree candidates were all well received and I managed to get through mine without falling down or breaking down. I was very much touched by the fact that the faculty and the students honored me by rising and applauding vigorously. There is something very precious about an educational institution like Case. I am inordinately proud of my degree.
[157] Time was passing and we had to make tracks back to the house, pack, and get down to the Union Club in time for a quick dinner, and then on to the plane to return to Washington. Thus ended another memorable day.
Friday, June 3: Over to the White House at 9 o'clock for a cabinet meeting where the president spoke vigorously about the responsibility of this administration to provide a budget for the next administration that is responsible, sensible, and realistic in all respects. He noted that pre-Korea, the Department of Defense had a budget of $12.9 billion and it now has a budget of $41 billion. He pointed out that a goal had been set early in his administration to "free the economy" from controls, to provide a tax cut, and to hold the national budget to a level of $16 billion dollars. Each of these goals was reached with the exception of the budgetary one. By 1955, he continued, the scientists and other groups began to point out the necessity for large expenditures, particularly in the field of missiles. In 1957 Sputnik startled the nation and occasioned a great deal of chest-thumping.
For these and other reasons, we find ourselves operating from a platform of fear, not just fear of the Soviet Union but fear of pressure groups in the fields of health, education, science, etc. This is certainly the case and we all ought to recognize it. He stated that we have begun to accept inflation as a natural way of life. He is proud of being called conservative and hopes that we will continue to be conservative when this means conserving the things that count and doing only those things that should be the problem of the central government. This goes back to the statement of Lincoln that the central government should do only those things that the people cannot do for themselves or that it is clear the central government can do better than any other entity.
He pointed out that the expenditure program - as differentiated from the new obligational authority program - for 1962 should not exceed the $81 billion apparently set now for fiscal year 1961. He made quite a point of the excess personnel carried by all agencies and demanded reductions wherever possible. He pointed out the very appropriate and forceful article carried in the 1 June issue of the Wall Street Journal written by [historian and former president of Brown University] Henry Wriston and the editorial that accompanied it. He stated that this was one of the very best pieces he had ever read and recommended it to all of us. He made comments about the desire for security on the part of our people, which seems to be a continuing and important element in their lives. He stated that in his early days at Columbia, he spoke to the freshmen class and said that if they wanted security they should pick out a state where there is a good penitentiary, commit a crime, and they would certainly achieve security. Incidentally, they would lose their independence and therein lay the moral of the story.
He expressed concern over the actions of some executive department heads who seem unable to carry the philosophy of the administration clearly to the legislative bodies on the Hill. We ought to be responsible in our responses to the committees but we ought to express the clear purpose of the administration and not operate just to satisfy Congress or the newspapers. He said that he was not opposed to the start of new programs but that we must use the money of the public intelligently and that we should remind ourselves what our duty to this nation is. [158] Secretary Benson agreed with everything the president had said. No other person spoke up promptly and vigorously in defense of the president's comments, and it seemed a very sober-sided group as we filed out of the cabinet room.
I got back to the office just in time to sit down with the Bell Aircraft people and listen to their complaints about their seeming inability to win a contract from us. Next a visit from Rosener of Plasmadyne who wanted to tell me what his company could do. Then at 11:30 Dan Kimball, president of Aerojet, came in to say that it was strange that it had won the 200 K competition but had lost it to Rocketdyne. I pointed out in no uncertain terms exactly what the situation was and Dan seemed to be satisfied.2
At lunch, I talked with George Kistiakowsky about the future problems of the Federal Council for Science and Technology.3 Horner, General Ostrander and I talked further about the management problems in the Rover project. It seems almost impossible to get John McCone into a room to settle this matter.
Another discussion with Corson about the problems of the study on contracting and we finally wound up the day with Richard Dimbleby of the British Broadcasting Corporation. He turned out to be a very jolly fellow over here to do two shows - one on missiles and one on space. Several of our people took part in this activity and I hope the shows will be useful ones for the British audience.
Saturday, June 4: Down to the office after packing for a trip to Dayton. I spent most of the morning clearing up the desk and then took the 12:45 plane to Dayton where I was to meet Ruth. She had been flown to Dayton by Kent Smith's aircraft and had been waiting for me for two or three hours. This never seems to bother the young lady, however, and we were glad to see each other. The Air Force had a car waiting for us and drove us out to Oxford where we had no difficulty in finding the Harrisons' home. It was a pleasant weekend we had in prospect and we were glad to see these good people - one of them a first cousin once removed of Ruth's, the other her husband. A good dinner, some good talk and then bed.
Sunday, June 5: Commencement Day at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. We were up bright and early for we had to have breakfast this morning with President and Mrs. [John D.] Millett. Bob Harrison, professor of zoology, took us to the Millett home where we met Bishop [Hazen G.] Werner, who was to give the baccalaureate and Mr. and Mrs. [Edward W.] Nippert. He is the chairman of the Board of Regents of Miami University. Werner is the presiding bishop of the Methodist Church in the Ohio area. Breakfast table conversation was pleasant. Ruth and I had decided, somewhat against our better judgment, to attend the baccalaureate service. First, however, I had to go to the office of the president, where several of us who were to be in the platform party during the afternoon were pictured with cap and gown by several photographers. Ruth was lucky - she was [159] taken on a brief tour by Mrs. Millett. They almost missed the service - perhaps they had planned it that way. The bishop spoke well with a good deal of fire but without very much substance.
We dashed back to the Harrisons' to pack and prepare for lunch at the student union building with the deans of the various schools and with Mike and Bob Harrison. Actually, we only partially packed and returned after the luncheon to get ready for the ordeal that was to start at 4:30. We put our bags into the car, which was to take us to the airport and then formed for the academic parade. There must have been 5,000 people in the stadium and with 850 candidates for graduation, it took almost 40 minutes to complete the academic procession. There was a strong wind blowing and there was the ever-present threat of rain, but providence smiled on the good people of Oxford and a pleasant commencement ceremony resulted. I was given a Doctor of Laws degree - one more pretty hood. President Millett seemed even more nervous than I about the arrangements for his commencement, but outwardly he was very calm and certainly made the people feel pleasantly relaxed and at home. Immediately following the ceremony, a Major Osver and the purchasing agent of the university drove Ruth and myself to Wright-Patterson Air Field where a Grumman Gulfstream took us aloft in our first ride in an executive-type jet job. We dropped Ruth in Cleveland and I reached home in Washington after a pleasant flight about 1:30 in the morning. Some day I must catch up on my sleep!
Monday, June 6: This day began the review of the budget being prepared for fiscal year 1962 - that is, the year starting 1 July 1961. It promises to be a thorough-going review of our program. The asking price of the field organization was about $1.58 billion; the recommendation of the Washington staff directors was $1.376 billion. My guess is that we must plan on a budget of about $1.1 to $1.2 billion.4 The morning was spent with the budget review committee as members delineated, each in his turn, the particular activities for which he had been responsible. It appears to be a well-managed job although I suspect there will be a good many headaches before we are finished. Shortly before noon, we got at the budget for the advanced research programs area. Abbott did a good job at defending his proposals, but it took all day - until 6:30 p.m. - to finish this one segment of the budget.
I had a call during the course of the morning from Estill Green, executive vice president of the Bell Telephone Laboratories. He has been recommended by Frederick Kappel, president of AT&T, as a good candidate for Horner's job. Arrangements were made for him to come down during the afternoon and I did see him at 4 o'clock. He was interested but seemed a bit afraid of the job. He is 65 years of age, has had 3 ulcers and is quite apparently not used to working at the pace at which we find we must work. He decided to give the matter further thought and let me know within a week.
[160] At 2:00, I went up to the Hill to see Senator Holland of Florida. He was attempting to get at the same problem about which the Michigan delegation visited criticism on our heads a week ago. This time, he was after me for the decision on the Saturn S-IV stage. Chrysler had told each of these delegations that their states would have the majority of the work to be done on the stage if Chrysler got the job. This was really quite an inquisition. After about an hour and 15 minutes of it, I banged the desk and suggested to Senator Holland that he might have a better way of deciding these matters and that I would be very happy to move out of my chair if he wanted it. He smiled and we parted friends a few minutes later. Apparently, one has to exhibit some strong feelings once in a while. Back home with some of the budget books to have a try at getting prepared for the next session.
Tuesday, June 7: Up at an early hour to meet Senator Sparkman at the Capitol at 8 o'clock for breakfast with one of his constituents, a Lou Jeffers of Huntsville. It appears that Jeffers is president of Hayes Aircraft Company, which has done a good bit of work for the Huntsville group in the past. It was the usual low pressure sell by a senator on behalf of one of his constituents. I was off at 11:15 in an Eastern Airlines Electra for Dallas. There was a two-hour time change, of course, and I arrived in Dallas at 1:30 central standard time.5 There I was met by a Mr. Jackson of the newspaper and T. Carr Forrest, a consulting engineer who was to introduce me at the luncheon the next day. Neil Mallon [director of Dresser Industries, Inc.] had provided a beautiful suite for me at the Sheraton-Dallas Hotel. There were lovely flowers, a bottle of whiskey, television, radio, etc., etc. At 5 o'clock, the newspaper men came in for an interview - there had been both TV and newspaper interviewing at the airport on arrival as well.
Henry Hersig of Dresser took me over to the firm's offices, which are really very beautiful. He then drove me out to see Helen and on to Neil Mallon's home. It is a beautiful country place situated about 30 minutes out of the center of the city. About 16 top industrial executives were present for a pleasant and rewarding conversation. I broke it off early because of the two-hour change in time and was back at the hotel by 10:30.
Wednesday, June 8: Up quite early to have breakfast in time to set out for Chance Vought Aircraft with C. J. McCarthy. This was a 2-hour show with a variety of seemingly very able young men. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Of course, there were the usual space cadet activities but I guess this is something one must put up with these days. We drove back to the hotel where I made a speech to the Rotary Club of Dallas. George Low had prepared the speech for me in quite some detail. It was on the subject of Project Mercury and accompanied by a number of very good slides. The audience seemed appreciative and I was glad to have made the date.
After a recorded radio interview, I took off in a hurry with a group of men for a visit to Temco. I was not impressed by this group and was glad to get away from the plant. Forrest then picked me up and drove me to the airport where we had a drink before I boarded the Electra for a pleasant ride back to Washington. I worked [161] on my speech for the commencement in Eau Claire all the way home. I was in bed by 11:30 - not bad for me.
Thursday, June 9: Up very early this morning to have breakfast at 7:30 at the Statler with people from Case. I was late for the staff meeting but was just in time to make certain that several decisions were made. Sometimes these decisions get lost in the shuffle because there seems to be so much discussion. Directly following the staff meeting, Bob Bell and one of his men came in to discuss a possible case of fraud on the part of one of our employees. It is interesting to watch a security type - they all seem to see hobgoblins under each bed. I insisted that we get more information and then turn the problem over to the FBI. At the very least, we ought to operate under the guidance of the FBI in a case such as this. Actually, I am not at all certain that members of the staff aren't attempting to get rid of a man for whom they have little use and who may very well be defrauding the government in some way.
Lunch with John Hrones [vice president for academic affairs at Case] to talk over some of the problems at Case - nothing very new or startling today. At 1:30, Frank Henry of the Baltimore Sun came in to talk with me. It was a pleasant conversation, and I think I gave him the sort of information he wanted. At 2 o'clock, Henry Simmons of Newsweek came in, and this was quite the opposite. For some reason, Simmons always rubs me the wrong way, and I very nearly threw him out of the office today. He seems to delight in probing into the future and insisting upon an answer as though our entire life was made up of efforts to satisfy his curiosity. I have given instructions that he stay out of my office from this point on.
At 3 o'clock, Dryden and I went over to the State Department for a meeting with Assistant Secretary [for International Organization Affairs Francis O.] Wilcox on matters relating to the United Nations Committee on Outer Space and the possible United Nations conference on outer space. There were seven or eight members of the State Department staff - they do not seem to trust each other very much in that operation. Dryden and I made it clear that we were quite willing to accept a co-presidency of the proposed conference.6 The Russians have proposed this and we can see no reason for being sticky about it. The State Department is concerned that this would set a precedent and that we would be faced from now on with the probability that the Russians would demand co-chairmanships and co-presidencies of a variety of activities. They may be more right than we are - at least they have to live with the problem and we don't.
I worked quite late tonight on the speech for Eau Claire. This is not an easy one for me to do. The chairs need new bottoms and I took six of them out of the [162] apartment so that they might be picked up by the Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind, which will do the recaning. In to bed very late once again.
Friday, June 10: Up at 6 o'clock to revise the speech for the last time and to get packed for the trip to Minneapolis and Eau Claire. Actually, I spent almost the entire day on the Hill, where I was able to talk to Senators [Joseph] Martin, [Thomas] Dodd, Lyndon Johnson, Warren Magnuson, Gordon Allott, Lister Hill, and one or two others. I think I can say that I accomplished my mission, which was to urge that the Senate exceed the amount we had requested in the president's budget to such an extent that compromise with the House would result in our getting exactly what we had asked for originally.
Having accomplished the tasks I had set for myself, I boarded Capital's flight #119 for Minneapolis. Departing at 6:45 pm., we arrived in Minneapolis at 9:45 central time. Ruth had come in an hour earlier from Chicago. We departed immediately in a Hertz car for Eau Claire. Taking off about 10 o'clock, we managed to get out of the city without too much difficulty and found that a 4-lane divided highway took us almost in to Eau Claire. About 20 minutes before arriving there, I was stopped by a state patrolman for failing to dim my lights when following his car. Apparently, one cannot have bright lights on when following a car. We managed to get away with a warning after a pleasant conversation with the patrolman. We arrived at 321 Summit Avenue to find the Midelfarts awaiting us.7 It was about 12:15 in the morning. After an hour's conversation, we were off to bed after a very full and quite long day. I should say it was most pleasant to see Peter and Gerd again.
Saturday, June 11: Saturday was a pleasant day in Eau Claire with Pete and his family. After a pleasant breakfast we drove to Chetek where we found things very much as they were when I was a youngster. There was one very great difference - it used to take us four hours and two blow-outs to make the trip. Today it is completed on a good highway in about forty-five minutes.8 Peter's cottage had been completely rebuilt and was somewhat smaller than it had been. Driving back to Eau Claire, we prepared for dinner with a good many of the people whom I had known as a boy. It was a pleasant evening with a reasonable amount of reminiscing and exchanging of experiences.
Sunday, June 12: Up about 9 o'clock to find that the entire household had overslept and that we had guests for breakfast coming at 9:30. We all pitched in and had a good time fixing up the fruit and other good things for breakfast. [Describes [163] many of the people who came by, whom he knew as a young man.] It was really pleasant to see these people once again. We drove over to the residence of Leonard Haas, president of Wisconsin State College. Lunch was a pleasant affair. We walked over to the campus and robed for the procession to the gymnasium where the commencement was to be held. I managed to get off my speech without too much difficulty and I believe it was reasonably well received. This had not been an easy one to do - I recounted my own experiences from the time I graduated from college and then tried to draw from these experiences some thoughts and convictions that might serve, in some way, the youngsters who were graduating.
Many of the people at the commencement were familiar to me. It was a bit of a trying time to have people come up and say, "I'll bet you don't remember . . . etc., etc." However, I felt well repaid for the effort I had made.
Immediately following the reception, Ruth and I want back to the Midelfarts and took off for the airport without further delay. I had had the Convair come to pick us up because of the necessity of my being back in Washington on Monday morning. It was ready and waiting and we took off without further delay. We will be hoping that we may repay the hospitality of the Midelfarts one of these days. Ruth and I wrote a long letter to mother while enroute to Chicago. I am sure she will thoroughly enjoy hearing about our experiences in Eau Claire. We arrived in Chicago in the middle of a light rainfall and found Kitty, Sally and Frank waiting for us. We had time for a short drink and then I took off for Washington where I arrived about 12:30 midnight. Quite a weekend!
At this point, it seems worthwhile to make the observation that a return to one's boyhood home is both reassuring and discouraging. It is reassuring in the sense that one finds relatively little change - I am speaking of a relatively small town, of course - but finds signs of prosperity and good living. It is discouraging in the sense that any problems of earlier years seem still to be the significant problems of the community. I suppose this is to be expected, particularly when one has achieved a certain amount of success and mobility in his adult life.
Monday, June 13: This is the week of budget reviews and most of Monday and all of Tuesday morning were given over to this activity. I should say that I am desperately in need of some ideas as to a replacement for Dick Horner. I have been unable to find a mechanism satisfactory to the telephone company that would allow one of its better men to come to us for a year's employment. This business of having to sever connections with any company that has business with the government makes it almost impossible for a good man to come away from his industrial association. It may be that we will have to get a general officer on assignment from the military for a period of at least one year.
Tuesday, June 14: Again, budget review all morning. At noon, John Johnson and I had lunch with Dave Kendall to talk over the problem of finding a mechanism that would allow us to employ a man from industry. There seems to be no new idea although there is great desire to be helpful in the matter. At 4:45, I left for Cleveland on Capitol's flight #907. Ruth and Sally had driven in from Chicago [164] and they met me at the airport. We had dinner at home and a quiet evening in anticipation of the activities of the morrow.
Wednesday, June 15: We reported in to Western Reserve University at 9:15 to robe for the commencement, which was to start at 9:45 in the morning. Jack Millis, president of WRU, had been in Miami on Tuesday for a speech and had difficulty getting back to Cleveland because of a strike on Eastern Airlines. He finally managed to make it by taking a late flight out of Miami to Pittsburgh and driving up from Pittsburgh. We had marched onto the stage and were awaiting the seating of all of the graduating class when Jack came in.
The citation given me was a warm and somewhat flattering one.9 I think Western Reserve has done an excellent service for the community in awarding degrees to Kent Smith and myself. Whether or not we deserve them is something others must judge.
We went to lunch with the Western Reserve platform group at the Wade Park Manor at 1:00 o'clock. I spent the intervening time with Kent Smith going over some of the Case problems, then joined Ruth at the Wade Park Manor. We came away at 2 o'clock because I had to go out to Thompson-Ramo-Wooldridge to take part in the dedication ceremonies of the Colwell Engineering Center. This is a very nice building and I was happy to be part of the group assembled there. They are really fine people - Fred Crawford, Dave Wright, Ray Livingstone, Arch Colwell, Si Ramo, Dean Wooldridge, and others. I had intended to drive the station wagon back to Washington immediately following the ceremony but the Thompson people said that they had to send some materials to Washington on Thursday and offered to drive the wagon down so that I could take a plane. This was a fine solution to a serious problem for me. I got off on the 7:35 plane and managed to get a night's sleep in Washington before taking up the budget once again.
Thursday, June 16: All day was given over to budget review.
Friday, June 17: The morning was given over to discussion of the budget with the markup being fairly well decided upon. At noon, several of us went to the Sheraton-Park Hotel to attend the luncheon for [W. A. S.] Butement, who seems to be the Minister for Science and Technology in the Australian cabinet. It was a pleasant lunch but went on altogether too long. I finally left about 2:15 to return to the office. At 3:00, John Maddox of the Manchester Guardian and at 4:00, Serge Groussard of Figaro came in to interview me for articles in their respective papers. They were both very interesting, with Maddox being much the more responsible in his questions. It was a little difficult to know whether the frenchman really understood or simply put down what he wanted to after listening to my reply.
Saturday, June 18: Up early to drive to Quantico with Maury Stans. This is the weekend for the secretary's conference - an exercise held annually by the secretary of defense and the secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force. A very [165] frank discussion of problems and policies takes place over a period of three days. I listened to talks by each of the joint chiefs and by the chairman of the joint chiefs, by Fred Eaton who has been in Geneva for the past several weeks in the disarmament sessions, by the commander of the North American Defense Command (NORAD), by the commander of the Pacific Fleet and the commander of the Atlantic Fleet. Actually these last three are what are known as combined commands. The discussions were excellent - some more pointed than others. Secretary Gates finished up the conference with a brief but frank statement of his reactions to his first year in office. He stated that he felt a good bit had been accomplished and enumerated some of the actions he had taken and policies he had established. He pointed out several deficiencies and then moved over for a frank statement of his concern over the lack of loyalty and discipline among the people in the Pentagon. He invited people who could not accept decisions made after they had had a hearing to resign. His statement was received with a good bit of warm and genuine applause. It is obvious that General [Laurence] Kuter [NORAD commander] and General [Thomas S.] Power [commander-in-chief of Strategic Air Command] are among those who have been less than well-disciplined in their activities relating to the need for money for their commands.
At lunch, Stans gave his usual talk. He always speaks forcefully and effectively, but it is the same story - we must control the budget. I drove back to Washington with Gordon Gray and Karl Harr. Making good connections, we took off from Butler in the Convair at 4 o'clock for St. Louis. Arriving there at about 6:30 local time, we were met by Jim McDonnell and several members of his staff. After checking in, we went to a beautiful country club for dinner where Arthur Compton joined us. It was pleasant to have a chance to talk with him again. The evening drew on until about 1 o'clock when we turned in.
Sunday, June 19: Up relatively early for breakfast and a full day at McDonnell Aircraft where the Mercury capsule is being constructed. It was an interesting day and one could not help but be impressed by the care that is being taken to do a good job. It's an expensive one all right but the gadget is really complicated.
At 3:30, we departed St. Louis and flew directly to Langley. We were all pretty tired and turned in early.
Monday, June 20: We spent the entire day with the Space Task Group listening to a briefing on the Mercury project. The morning was given over to the manufacturing and technological problems relating to the capsule itself, and the afternoon was devoted to a discussion of the operational phases of the project. I must say that it was a perfectly splendid job. A fair amount of attention was given to the question of reliability. This had been one of the real reasons for calling this particular conference. Stopping for a few minutes after the end of the briefings, I called together a few of the project leaders and the people from Washington to talk a little bit about the reliability question. It seems to me that they are doing an excellent job in planning for the operations but there is somewhat more to be done [166] in testing and evaluating the reliability of the capsule itself during the manufacturing process. There seems to be a great tendency to rely entirely on the actual flights - there will be many of them - for proof-testing the gear. This is not a bad idea but it may be a very expensive one, particularly if we find difficulties that might just as well have been found through tests on the ground.
Unfortunately, Nick Golovin took off in his usual "bull in a china shop" way and brought the day to an end that was not quite as pleasant as I had hoped. Surely, a person of his stature ought to know a little bit more about the methods to be used in discussions of this kind. You do not insult the people who have been working so hard to achieve the desired end product; you may question some of their premises and actions but you do not, in effect, accuse them of gross negligence. I think we were able to smooth it over a bit before we left Langley, but the day, which had started out as an excellent one, came to a rather disappointing close.
Tuesday, June 21: At 9:30, [Franklin] Floete of the General Services Administration came over to try to talk me out of the occupancy we were planning for Federal Office Building Number 6.10 He knew he was going to lose before he started talking, but he had to go through with the exercise so that he could tell other claimants that he had made an effort. I don't think I would want his job for all the tea in China. A discussion followed with Siepert, Lacklen and others over our executive training program. We keep on writing routines and uncovering new executive training activities but don't seem to get any people into these courses. I asked that they immediately identify a promising group in each of the laboratories and headquarters and make arrangements to get them started in some of this sort of thing. Actually, what I am driving at is to have a group of younger men identified and put through a series of these "off-campus" executive training courses and through a rotational program on the job wherever possible. We are suffering very badly at the present time from the lack of well-trained management material.
At noon I joined a host of people in Secretary Brucker's office to take part in the award ceremony for Eberhard Rees of Marshall Space Flight Center. Wilbur Brucker did his usual flowery job, which always seems embarrassing to me and very insincere. It was obvious that Dr. Rees was pleased with the award and well he might be!11 Lunch with Secretary Douglas to discuss the possible availability of Richard Morse, the Army's research and development head, resulted in a stalemate. I had been talking with Dick Morse about the possibility of his taking on Dick Horner's job. Douglas states that they really need him in the Army although I am quite certain the Army doesn't believe that statement. Brucker has him effectively boxed in but Dick is not a quitter and it may be that he will get sufficient support from Tom Gates and Jim Douglas so that he may achieve some of the objectives he has set for himself. Jim Douglas said that he would talk with Dick, try to determine what ought to be done, and call me tomorrow.
[167] At 2:30, Shelby Thompson, Bonney, Frutkin, Phillips, and others came in to talk about our posture with respect to problems arising in foreign countries where we have agreements on the establishment of tracking stations. What appear to be communist-inspired criticisms of the nature of our programs have caused some real concern in Zanzibar, Nigeria and one or two other places. We are accused of being something other than a peaceful agency - an aftermath of the U-2 incident. It was agreed that the best possible action on our part was to provide to our representatives in these particular countries sufficient information to allow them to refute vigorously any such accusations. Further, it appears desirable to have political and technical representatives of each of the countries visit the United States for an intimate glimpse at Project Mercury so they can satisfy themselves about the nature of the program.
This evening at 5:30, I hastened up to the Hill where I was to meet Polly, Sally and Ruth to attend the Congressional showing of "I Aim At The Stars." This is the film of von Braun's life, and Senators Sparkman and Hill of Alabama were holding a special showing for congressmen and their friends, followed by a reception in the north cafeteria of the new Senate Office Building. Von Braun was there and spoke briefly before the film was shown. He was his usual relaxed and seemingly good-natured self. He stated that it was a little difficult to be objective about a film of one's own life but that, given the usual discount for love interest and drama required by screen writers, he thought the film was a reasonably accurate portrayal. Ruth and I reacted rather negatively to the whole thing. Von Braun is made out to be an anti-Nazi and seems to epitomize the scientist's lack of responsibility for the end use of the products of his mind.12 Most people seemed to like it however. The girls had a chance to meet and talk with von Braun after the film. We wound up the evening at a restaurant similar to those of the Howard Johnson chain.
Wednesday, June 22: At 9 o'clock, Horner, Phillips and Hjornevik came together to discuss our budgetary presentation to Stans later in the morning. This session with Stans at which we were joined by Dryden was not too unpleasant. I stated rather bluntly that we were asking for $1.23 billion. He listened intently and [168] finally stated, with some show of irritation, his judgment that we should have no more than we were asking for this year - $915 million. Finally, he said that he would like us to build up a budget totaling $1 billion, of which $50 million would be held in reserve to be available in the event of an emergency. I responded promptly that I could give him such a budget without working it over. We would just cut out the Saturn project and thus save a quarter of a billion dollars. I stated, too, that he could also have von Braun with such a cut and I thought that he would not very much like the result. Of course, I withdrew the suggestion, which I had made half in jest. Dryden was able to answer many of the questions placed by the director. Many of these queried the importance of space as compared with medical research or agricultural research or greater aid to education, etc. Dryden simply pointed out that these were not really comparable. If the space program of the nation were to be cancelled, the money thus saved would not be allocated to these other fields. Stans had to admit this to be the case. We wound up the session in a friendly fashion with Stans indicating that he found it pleasant to do business with us and hard to deny our requests.13
Immediately after lunch, several of us met on the question of providing an answer to the letter...
....from Aerojet quarreling with our decision in the awarding of the 200 K contract. It was decided that a simple straightforward letter would be best and that such a letter could be prepared by Johnson. Obviously, Dan Kimball [director of Aerojet] is reaching for political advantage, and it is reasonably clear that he does not expect an answer different from the one he will get. At 3:30, we had a discussion on the activities of our program planning group under Homer Stewart. I am not happy about this activity because I don't believe it is quite as thoroughly organized and integrated into our total program as it should be. I'm a little at a loss as to the best method of getting at the problem, however. I wound up by asking for a statement from Stewart showing the format and intended content of his planning effort for the balance of this year. He will leave us to return to Caltech late in the year.
We were to meet Jim Perkins at the Cosmos Club for dinner. This we did and enjoyed the evening with Jim and his brother Courtland. Discussion was had of the invitation I had received that day from the Council on Higher Education in the American Republics. This is a group supported by the Carnegie Corporation and is interested in improving the quality of higher education in all of the Americas. Among the American members are Clark Kerr, Grayson Kirk, Jim Perkins, Meredith Wilson, Franklin Murphy, and one or two others.14 Ruth and I are to go [170] to San Francisco for a week at the end of February of 1961 and I am to take a month traveling in South America visiting universities there. I have agreed to undertake this task hoping that I can make the trip to South America in the Summer of 1961. Possibly, I may need the change and will take it in March of 1961, however. It sounds like a pleasant prospect.
Thursday, June 23: This morning started with a staff meeting and a series of sessions relating to the foreign program, legislative program and our internal and external public relations problems. Nothing of note except that I continue to be very much concerned about our ability to get Lyndon Johnson to deal with the legislation we want passed this session. I had stayed over today rather than going to the Greenbrier for the conference with the Case people because I felt it possible that we could get Johnson to act.15 This turned out to be an erroneous assumption. I therefore decided I would take off for the Greenbrier early in the afternoon and ordered an airplane for that purpose. At 3 o'clock, Silverstein, Buckley, Stroud, Mengel, Goett, Horner and Dryden came in to talk about the necessity for a large radar in Alaska and for two others to be located in other parts of the world. They needed an answer immediately because the construction season in Alaska is so short. After an hour, I cut the meeting short by agreeing that they could have the Alaska station but not the other two. Strangely enough, this turned out to be a wise decision as the boys say that they really do not need the other two after taking a harder look at the problem.
I met at 4 o'clock with Hjornevik and the budget review committee to tell them what we had done with the budget mark-up. They seemed pleased and I was able to compliment them genuinely on the excellence of their task. Before taking off for the Greenbrier I decided to call Lyndon Johnson and try to talk him into making a place on the legislative calendar for our bill. When I reached Lyndon, he started right in on me stating that he had insisted in the full Appropriations Committee that $50 million be added to our appropriation request - that he had overruled the recommendation of the subcommittee, which had added only $20 million.
I responded by saying that I had taken note of this and was very grateful. I told him that he might be certain that I knew who brought this about, but I went on to say that we need now to get on with the amendments to the law. I started another sentence but was interrupted by Johnson who said, "Now why do you need to go on with that? There are only 10 days left in this session. You have or will have the money to get on with this job. Why don't you get on with it without 'them' changes in the law?" I responded, "But Lyndon, you leave us right in mid-stream. The House has approved the bill, which we will accept. We have set up an activities [171] coordinating board and have mothballed Space Council and the Civilian-Military Liaison Committee. We haven't signed the papers on the activities coordinating board as yet because we didn't think it quite proper since mention of it is made in the House version of the bill."
Lyndon broke in again to say, "Look now, doctor, you haven't a chance to get that legislation. You have no right to assume. . . ." I broke in saying, "But, I didn't assume anything. We all agreed that the Space Council was not a useful device any longer." Lyndon then stated, "That's what the president wanted. You don't have to use it if you don't want to. You are doing very well at the job as it is. I don't see any reason for giving you a new law at the present time. If I am elected president, you will get a changed law without delay." At this juncture, I said, "But I won't be among those present if you are president and I have. . . ." Lyndon broke in, "Now don't try to get me to commit myself at this early stage. I am not elected yet." I wound up the conversation by saying that I felt certain he would do a good job if elected and if I could be certain of a job with him, I might even vote for him - this last with a chuckle. Thus ended an interesting exchange.
We sat on the runway for one hour trying to get off for the Greenbrier. It was a pleasant flight even though the weather seemed to be threatening. I enjoyed seeing the gang at the Greenbrier although the fact that the employees were on strike made it seem a little less of a resort than usual.
Friday, June 24: This is another day at the Greenbrier. I sat quietly through most of it since I am merely a spectator at the moment. I did enjoy listening to the excellent discussion. I wonder if they really know how much money they are talking about?
Saturday, June 25: Saturday morning at the Greenbrier and then off to Washington with John Hrones and Ray Bolz. I had forgotten that we were to go to the Silversteins' for a party at 9 o'clock on Saturday night. We did make it but I got away at 11 o'clock - much the worse for wear.
Sunday, June 26: We were up a little bit late and then prepared for a brunch. The balance of the day was pretty well shot by the time our guests had left.
Monday, June 27: This was another day of varied activity. Bonney and Frutkin came in early to talk about the handling of Dr. Lovell's trip on 6 July.16 We are playing this at a relatively low level but want enough material for good and effective distribution through the USIA. Gleason and Johnson came in to talk about the prospects of legislative action, and it was reasonably clear that we aren't going to make it this session. Later in the morning, a gentleman from the CIA came in to talk about matters that cannot be discussed in this diary. I am out of sympathy with the CIA's objectives.
Late in the afternoon, Dick Horner and I had a visit with General White to seek out his advice on a possible replacement for Horner should we find it impossible to get a civilian. Tommy promised that we would have our choice of [172] three or four on very short notice although he fully agreed with us that we ought to bend every effort toward getting the civilian. Earlier this afternoon, I had talked with Dick Morse about this same problem again and had determined from a conversation with Jim Douglas that Morse would not be available. Morse had suggested Robert Seamans of RCA. I talked with Seamans and immediately decided to go to Boston to see him. Ruth packed the bag for me and I caught a 5:30 plane for Boston so that I was able to have dinner with Seamans.
He turned out to be a rather interesting person who had graduated from MIT in the class of 1940. He seems to have enough money so that he could take a job in government and seems also to want to take such a job. He is presently being considered for the job of scientific advisor to the armed forces in Europe. He evidenced a very real interest in our situation, and I have invited him to come to Washington next week.
Off to bed about 10:30 to be prepared for the trip back to Washington in the morning.
Tuesday, June 28: Eastern Airlines woke me at 5 o'clock to say that its plane had been canceled but that they had put me on an 8 o'clock flight on Northeast. I arrived in Washington about 10 minutes to 10 - just in time to miss the Smithsonian Institute presentation of the Goddard Award to Mrs. Goddard. Further discussions with Frutkin and Horner about certain of our activities in foreign countries, and then off to the State Department to see Secretary Livingston Merchant. I was talking to him about some classified matters. He seems about as mystified as I am.
At the Federal Council on Science and Technology nothing of any great note happened. I returned a little bit early to my office to find that John McCone had canceled another meeting with me. We did have a session with Horner, Ostrander and von Braun relating to the budget for the Marshall Space Flight Center. I think we came out all right on this one.
Wednesday, June 29: This was one helluva day. I spent most of it on the Hill trying to talk with various people about the conference on our appropriation. This meeting is to be held on Thursday afternoon. The facts are that, as against our request for $915 million, the House has given us $876 million and the Senate has given us $965 million. The House cut 373 people and $4 million from our salaries and expenses account, $15 million from our construction and equipment account, and the balance from the research and development account. The Senate restored all of these cuts and added the $50 million in the research and development account. Normally, a conference of this type would result in splitting the difference. In this instance, this might mean that we would lose the House cuts in salaries and expenses and in construction and equipment while the compromise would take place only in the research and development account. This is the situation against which we must protect ourselves. I talked to Congressmen Taber, Brooks, Ostertag, and Thomas, as well as Senators Anderson, Saltenstall, and Allott. What a rat race! I hope we have made our point but I rather doubt it. They are so overworked and so much concerned about the coming recess that it is a wonder anything gets done. Most of the congressmen don't like this - all members of the House and one-third of the [173] members of the Senate are running for their offices. This kind of an action puts them to extra expense and interferes with their campaigns for reelection. It seems obvious that Lyndon Johnson, recognizing that Congress can't finish its task in three or four days, has made this move in order that he may have a full week at Los Angeles to do a little electioneering. Smart cookie! In between visits to people on the Hill, I sandwiched discussions with a vice president of AT&T, George Best, and John Pierce of the Bell Telephone Laboratories; spoke at the dedication of the IBM Space Exhibit; had a session finally with John McCone and General Luedecke of the AEC; and finally had a session with Horner, Bonney and Thompson on their budgetary questions.
Just as we were preparing to give up for the day, Horner and Golovin came in. Obviously, the matter of reliability in the Mercury system is not moving as well as we would want it to. There is resistance from McDonnell and from within our own Space Task Group. It is all part of a very interesting set of interactions and is a prime example of the sort of passive resistance one finds in government and on college campuses. I have decided that we will take the bull by the horns and instruct McDonnell to do as we wish at headquarters. We will pay the bill whatever it may be. The Space Task Group will simply have to go along and take part in the analysis of the reports that are submitted. What a day!
Thursday, June 30: This morning we had a meeting with the staff. We had a discussion of the management analysis division operation, and I brought the group up-to-date on the work of the Federal Council on Science and Technology. Immediately following this session we talked with Dr. Randt about his budget. He is a very reasonable person and I think we will have no difficulty in supporting him adequately. He is going slowly enough to get really good men and seems much more concerned about quality than he is about the quantity of the group he has on board. We have been having several meetings over the past two days with respect to our problems in Zanzibar. This is a British protectorate but is one of those African nations that is being used, apparently, as a base for Communist agitation. For some months, we have had permission to install a Mercury tracking station and things had been going well. At least, so we thought. However, since the U-2 incident, the situation has been changing. In the first place, while I suppose we were aware of it, the Defense Department has pulled a fast one in attempting to install a Courier tracking station adjacent to ours. Courier is an operation involving the use of active communications satellites; is run by the Air Force; and thus has some connotations of being a military operation. Indeed, it is just such an operation.17 In any event, there have been some demonstrations, the Communist front organization has a fairly large membership and has adopted resolutions condemning Project Mercury as a "military intelligence operation."
[174] It seems that the situation has been aggravated somewhat by the undisciplined comments of certain representatives of the Space Technology Laboratories who were operating in Zanzibar for the Air Force. "Ugly American" would seem to describe their activities. The result is that Courier has been withdrawn as an operating installation and we hope to be able to keep Mercury in the picture. To withdraw is to admit the effectiveness of Communist agitation. We must ride this out if we can, although we have an alternative in the chartering of an additional ship on which the equipment could be installed.18
At noon, Jim Gleason and I went up to the Congressional Hotel where we met with the assistants to a great many of the Republican congressmen. They call themselves the Beau Elephants and seem to be a group of very nice and relatively young men. I spoke to them on the program of NASA and answered their questions, which were for the most part very interesting ones. When asked to comment on the U-2, I simply said I would not. They took this with a smile. During the course of the afternoon, word came down to us that the conference committee had accepted a compromise that gave us exactly what we asked for last January. I am delighted with this result. I think our visits paid off, but it is clear that the action of Lyndon Johnson in insisting that the Senate vote $50 million more than we had asked provided the means for a compromise.
1. Herbert York and Glennan himself were receiving honorary D.Sc. degrees from Case.
3. An executive order of 13 March 1959 established this body to promote coordination and improve the planning and management of federal programs in the areas of science and technology. (United States Government Organization Manual 1959-1960, p. 541.)
4. The actual appropriation for fiscal year 1962 ended up being $1.8253 billion. (NASA Historical Data Book, Vol. I, p. 128.)
5. Texas did not observe daylight savings time until 1966.
6. NASA continued planning for an international conference on the peaceful uses of outer space through 30 June 1961, but the conference seems never to have occurred. (Fourth through sixth Semiannual Report to Congress [Apr.-Sept. 1960, p. 115; Oct.1960-Jun. 1961, p. 152; Jul.-Dec. 1961, pp. 132-133, where the conference is no longer mentioned.]) Perhaps this was because in 1959 the U.N. had established a permanent Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space to replace its ad hoc committee of that name created the year before. It first met in November 1961, and over the next three decades it adopted five conventions, agreements, and treaties plus three sets of principles in the area of space law. (Lubos Perek, "The Scientific and Technological Basis of Space Law," in Space Law: Development and Scope, Nandasiri Jasentuliyana, ed. [Westport, CT: Praeger, 1992], pp. 175-177. Thanks to Eilene Galloway, to whom the book is dedicated; she generously donated a copy to the NASA History Office.)
7. (Medical) Dr. Peter A. H. Midelfart (1905-1978) and his wife Gerd Gjems (1912- ) were close friends of the Glennans. Dr. Midelfart had graduated from Yale in 1927, the same year as Dr. Glennan. He earned his MD from Harvard in 1931 and ran a clinic in Eau Claire that was founded by his father. When he retired, he changed his name and that of the clinic to Midelfort, having already changed his children's names to that anglicized version a couple of decades earlier. (Private correspondence from Professor H. C. Erik Midelfort, to whom we wish to express our thanks for the information.)
8. Chetek was both a lake and a town 40 miles or so north of Eau Claire.
9. He was here, also, to receive an honorary D.Sc. Kent Smith was awarded an honorary LL.D. at the same graduation.
10. NASA Headquarters had been scattered among four different buildings along H Street near the White House until 1961 when it moved to Federal Office Building Number 6 along Maryland Avenue between 4th and 6th Streets. ("Facilities-Headquarters" folder, facilities subseries, NASA Historical Reference Collection.)
11. He received the DOD Distinguished Civil Service Award.
12. In fact, von Braun had joined the Nazi party on 1 May 1937 and had even become an officer (eventually a major) in the elite, quasi-military SS on 1 May 1940, but available American records, based on those in immediate post-World War II Germany, support his own assertions that he had joined both only because failure to do so would have forced him to abandon his work on rocketry and that he had engaged in no political work for either the party or the SS. He claimed that his motivation in building Army missiles was their ultimate use in space travel and scientific endeavors, but that hardly excuses him from blame for the deaths in allied countries resulting from the military uses of his V-2 rocket or for the slave labor used to produce them. (Collection of documents in folder marked "v. Braun, Nazi, SS Membership" [especially Col. Thomas J. Ford, GSC Director, Joint Chiefs of Staff, to Commanding General, U.S. Forces, European Theater, 3 March 1947; Affidavit of Membership in NSDAP of Prof. Dr. Wernher von Braun, 18 June 1947; and Security Report . . . on von Braun, Wernher, date illegible] and other materials in "Wernher von Braun," biographical files, NASA Historical Reference Collection; for further information on this score, see the sensationalistic but still useful book by Linda Hunt, Secret Agenda: The United States Government, Nazi Scientists, and Project Paperclip, 1945 to 1990 [New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991], pp. 44, 65, 109, 120, and 226 as well as the forthcoming studies by Michael J. Neufeld on Peenemünde, "The Guided Missile and the Third Reich: Peenemünde and the forging of a Technological Revolution," in Monika Renneberg and Mark Walker, eds., Science, Technology and National Socialism [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993] and a book-length version of the same material projected to appear in 1994.)
13. The ultimate NASA appropriation for FY 1962 was $1.8253 billion. (NASA Historical Data Book, Vol. I, p. 128.)
14. All of these men were university presidents or chancellors.
15. This paragraph refers to the attempt Glennan and President Eisenhower had made to amend the 1958 Space Act so as to eliminate the Space Council and repeal the Civil-Military Liaison Committee in favor of an Aeronautics and Astronautics Coordinating Board. Johnson opposed any changes in the Space Act at least until the next administration took office, so the law remained unchanged in January 1961 when Glennan stepped down as NASA administrator. (Rosholt, Administrative History of NASA, pp. 170-171.)
16. He visited NASA, the White House, and the Green Bank radio observatory in WV. See entries in Chapter Eight for July 6-7.
17. The Air Force placed the Courier I-B active communications satellite in successful orbit on 4 October 1960. It had a total weight of 500 lbs., an apogee of 658 miles and a perigee of 501 miles. By October 23 when it ceased transmitting, it had transmitted 118 million words. (Emme, Aeronautics and Astronautics . . . 1915-1960, pp. 128-129, 150.)
18. This expedient did not prove necessary. Although Zanzibar did request the removal of the station, the head of state later publicly regretted the request and the station remained in Zanzibar. (Frutkin, International Cooperation in Space, p. 70.)
