duced a resolution to create a standing committee, the Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, to have jurisdiction over the new agency.

The conference report was passed by both houses on July 16,46 and although there was some concern about the international cooperation provision, the President signed the act as Public Law 85-568 on July 29, 1958.

The act contained a declaration of policy and purpose; definitions; established the National Aeronautics and Space Council with staff as an advisory group to the President on matters of coordination and overall space policy, development of a comprehensive program, allocation of responsibility, and settling of differences; provided for an administrator and deputy administrator; defined the functions of the new agency; established a militarycivilian liaison committee; authorized international cooperation; and required annual reports to Congress. It also provided for the transfer of NACA and related

functions; public access to information; security; patent and property rights and contributions awards; and an authorization for appropriations. To resolve the concern over the international cooperation section, upon signing the act, the President stated:

The new act contains one provision that requires comment. Section 205 authorizes cooperation with other nations and groups of nations in work done pursuant to the act and in the peaceful application of the results of such work, pursuant to international agreements entered into by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. I regard this section merely as recognizing that international treaties may be made in this field, and as not precluding, in appropriate cases, less formal arrangements for cooperation. To construe the section otherwise would raise substantial constitutional questions."

47

On July 21 the House had passed the resolution to create a twenty-fivemember standing Committee on Science and Astronautics, and on July 23 the Senand Astronautics, and on July 23 the Senate had passed the resolution to create a fifteen-member standing Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences.

In consideration of a supplemental appropriations bill in August, Senator Johnson inserted a provision to require prior authorization for all of NASA's appropriations. This provision was the first major amendment to the NASA act. The change was at first bitterly opposed by officials at NACA (NASA did not officially come into existence until October 1) who failed to see how important this would be to them in obtaining appropriations in the future. Johnson and McCormack agreed to the provision, but through a misunderstanding, it was opposed by members of the House committee (McCormack had left town, was incommunicado, and had failed to tell the committee members of his agreement with Johnson).48 A compromise was reached, however, and the provision be

House Majority Leader John McCormack chaired the Select Committee on Astronautics and Space Exploration.

49

came permanent the following year. cause of this provision, NASA received much more money in the ensuing years than they probably would have otherwise.

In November, to show unity between the White House and the Congress, President Eisenhower asked Lyndon Johnson to make a major speech on space before the United Nations. In his November 17, 1958, address Senator Johnson stressed the importance of conducting space activities for peaceful purposes, emphasized the need for international cooperation, and urged the support of the pending resolution to create an "Ad Hoc Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space."50 The United Nations adopted this resolution on December 13, 1958.

The entire legislative process from Sputnik I to the end of 1958 was almost a textbook case of how law, spurred by technological advancement, should be made. In Dr. James R. Killian's book Sputnik, Scientists, and Eisenhower, there is a statement (on p. 141) that sums the process up well, except that he failed to give any credit to the legislative contributions. Therefore, to make the statement a more accurate description, the words "the Congress" have been added below.

Many influences were brought to bear on the formulation of the [space] legislation, as they should have been, and the final act represented a remarkable blending of the interests, needs, and objectives of the administration, the Department of Defense, [the Congress,] and the scientific community. While the President's science advisers had played a key role in opting for a civilian agency and in the shaping of the administration's original legislative proposal, I think they would have readily agreed that their proposals were but the start of a process of developing ultimate legislation that would fairly represent the needs and views of all interested parties.

51

The passage of the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 also illustrated two other points that are frequently overlooked: (1) Congress, under strong leadership, can act quickly on urgently needed legislation, and (2) Congress and the President, even if they represent different political parties, can work together to pass and implement such legislation.

In 1993 the nation is still wrestling with some of the problems of space exploration and development and space organization that were identified during the birth of what is perhaps mankind's noblest adventure. Lyndon Johnson said it best in his opening statement at the hearings before the Special Committee on Space and Astronautics to consider the space bill (May 6, 1958).

Space affects all of us and all that we do, in our private lives, in our business, in our education, and in our Government. [As a nation] we shall succeed or fail [depending on] our . . . success at incorporating the exploration and utilization of space into all aspects of our society and the enrichment of all phases of our life on this earth."

152

Eleven months ago, the Senate Preparedness Subcommittee, of which I am Chairman, submitted to the United States Senate a report on an exhaustive inquiry into the satellite and missile program of the United States. In that report, the bi-partisan membership of the subcommittee made this unanimous declaration:

"The immediate objective is to defend ourselves, but the equally important otjec tive is to reach the hearts and minds of men everywhere so that the day will come when the ballistic missile will be merely a dusty relic in the museums of mankind and men everywhere will work together in understanding."

The Senate Subcommittee on Disarmament, under the able leadership of Senator Humphrey, had recommended unanimously that the use of space for military purposes be banned. The Subcommittee has also urged international cooperation for peaceful space exploration and development.

On July 29 of this year, the Congress in an Act signed by the President established in the Executive Branch an agency under civilian control to guide and direct our national efforts in the exploration of space. By the Act creating this agency, Congress embedded in the permanent law of the United States the following declaration of policy.

"The Congress hereby declares that it is the policy of the United States that activities in space should be devoted to peaceful purposes for the benefit of all mankind."

Further, in the same section of that Act, Congress stated as a firm objective of the national efforts the following:

"Cooperation by the United States with other nations and groups of nations in work done pursuant to this Act and in the peaceful application of the results thereof."

Subsequent to that, the great Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, the Honorable John McCormack, introduced in that body a resolution expressly requesting the President of the United States to submit to the United Nations the question of international cooperation in dedicating outer space to peaceful purposes only.

That resolution received the earnest support of the full membership of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House and it was adopted unanimously by the full membership of the House of Representatives.

In the Senate, the Foreign Relations Committee under the chairmanship of the Honorable Theodore Green likewise accorded to the resolution the most serious study and recommended without dissent that it be adopted. The Senate of the United States-. like the House of Representatives gave to the resolution the unanimous support of

the Senators of both parties.

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MORE

PR #3081

Asked by Eisenhower to make a speech before the United Nations in November 1958, Johnson stressed the importance of peaceful and cooperative uses of space.

NOTES

1993 by Glen P. Wilson

1Eugene M. Emme, Aeronautics and Astronautics: An American Chronology of Science and Technology in the Exploration of Space, 1915-1960 (1961), pp. 1–12.

2Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, Policy Planning for Aeronautical Research and Development, 89th Cong., 2d sess., 1966, S. Doc. 90, p. 166.

3New York Times, July 30, 1955, pp. 8, 9.

*Statement made by L. I. Sedov, chairman of the USSR Academy of Sciences Interdepartmental Commission on Interplanetary Communications, at a press conference during the International Congress of Astronauts, on August 2, 1955. Reported in F. J. Krieger, A Casebook on Soviet Astronautics, RM-1760, ASTIA Doc. No. AD 108750, June 21, 1956 (U.S. Air Force Project Rand, Research Memorandum, p. 2).

"Interview with Gerald Siegel, Mar. 25, 1992. See also The Legislative Origins of the Space Act: Proceedings of a Videotaped Workshop, Washington, DC, Apr. 3, 1992, p. 15. The co-organizers of the workshop were the Space Policy Institute, The George Washington University, and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library. "New York Times, Oct. 5, 1957, p. 1.

"Solis Horwitz to Senator Richard Russell, Oct. 7, 1957, Senate Papers, box 355, Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, Austin, TX. Horwitz to Secretary of Defense Neil McElroy, Oct. 11, 1957, box 355, LBJ Library; Washington Post, Oct. 9, 1957, P. A3. "Robert A. Divine, Lyndon B. Johnson and the Politics of Space: The Johnson Years, vol. 2 (1987), p. 217.

10Wall Street Journal, Oct. 8, 1957, p. 1. 11Washington Post, Oct. 7, 1957, p. 1.

12 New York Times, Oct. 6, 1957, p. 1.

13Lyndon Baines Johnson, The Vantage Point, Perspectives of the Presidency, 1963–69 (1971), p. 273.

14 New York Times, Oct. 9, 1957, p. 1. 15Washington Post, Oct. 22, 1957, p. A2.

16New York Times, Oct. 10, 1957, pp. 1, 14.

17Memorandum, George Reedy to Lyndon Johnson, Oct. 17, 1957, Senate Papers, box 420, LBJ Library.

18 Memorandum, George Reedy to Lyndon Johnson reporting on a phone conversation with Gerald Siegel, n.d. (but the context of memorandum places it early in the week of Oct. 28, 1957), Senate Papers, box 420, LBJ Library.

19Lyndon Johnson press release, Nov. 4, 1957, Statements file, box 3, LBJ Library.

20In addition to regular Preparedness Subcommittee staffers Dan McGillicuddy, Stuart French, and Ben Gilleas, others were brought in from other Johnson staffs: Solis Horwitz, Gerry Siegel, Dr. Glen Wilson, Harry McPherson, and Dr. Edward C. Welsh, assistant to Senator Symington. Also brought on from the outside as consultants were Dr. William Houston, president of Rice Institute (now University), Dr. Homer Joe Stuart from Cal Tech, Horace Busby (frequent adviser and statement writer), Washington attorney George Bunn, and most important, Eilene Galloway from the Legislative Reference Service of the Library of Congress. 21 New York Times, Nov. 8, 1957, p. 10.

22 New York Times, Nov. 9, 1957, p. 2. The Vanguard project was based on a navy rocket, the Viking, and had been selected in 1955 as the U.S. scientific satellite entry for the IGY. Vanguard was selected over the Orbiter project proposed by Wernher von Braun and his team of rocket engineers at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. The Orbiter project was later renamed the Jupiter C. 23U.S. Senate, "Inquiry into Satellite and Missile Programs," Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee of the Committee on Armed Services, 85th Cong., 1st and 2d sess., 1957-1958, 3 parts. There was a serious concern about the American education system. Was the Soviet system superior? They were turning out more scientists and engineers than we were. Was there something we could do with our educational system to help us to recover from this setback? The status of our educational system, and consideration of what we had to do to overcome the appar

ent Soviet advantage, became a major subissue in the hearings. Views of leading educators were solicited by the subcommittee and were made a part of the hearings, part 2, pp. 2149–2216.

24U.S. Senate, Special Committee on Space and Astronautics, "Compilation of Materials on Space and Astronautics, No. 1,′′ 85th Cong., 2d sess., 1958, pp. 14–19.

25U.S. Senate, "Inquiry into Satellite and Missile Programs," part 1, pp. 1055–1056.

26Ibid., pp. 217-218.

27House of Representatives, conference report on H.R. 9739, Supplemental Military Construction Authorization Act, 85th Cong., 2d sess., 1958, Report No. 1329, pp. 7-9.

28U.S. Senate, Special Committee on Space and Astronautics, "Compilation of Materials on Space and Astronautics, No. 2," 85th Cong., 2d sess., 1958, pp. 308–353.

29Jan. 23, 1958, Congressional Record, 85th Cong., 2d sess., pp. 805-807.

30S. Res. 256, creating a Special Committee on Space and Astronautics to frame legislation for a national program of space exploration and development. Feb. 6, 1958, 85th Cong., 2d sess., pp. 1551-1553.

31Department of Defense, Office of Public Information, News Release No. 109-58, Feb. 7, 1958.

32H. Res. 496, established a Select Committee on Astronautics and Space Exploration to investigate the problems of outer space and to submit recommendations for the control and development of astronautical resources. Mar. 5, 1958, Congressional Record, 85th Cong., 2d sess., pp. 3019-3020.

33Other staff selected were Spencer Beresford, Richard P. Hines, Raymond Wilcove, Harney S. Bogan, Jr., Philip B. Yeager, Dr. Charles S. Sheldon II from the Legislative Reference Service of the Library of Congress, and Dr. S. Fred Singer, scientific consultant.

34On March 24, Eilene Galloway and Dr. Glen Wilson were transferred to the new staff, although both had been working on the "space" problem since November. As before, other people were borrowed from other of Senator Johnson's offices and from other senators' staffs. Gerry Siegel was the de facto staff director, and Ed Weisl and Cy Vance again came from New York to help at the time of the hearings.

35Legislative Leadership Meeting, Supplementary Notes, Feb. 4, 1958, Dwight D. Eisenhower's Papers as President, Legislative Meeting Series, box 3, "Legislative Minutes, 1958, folder 1,” Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, KS.

36Memorandum for the President, "Organization for Civil Space Programs," Mar. 5, 1958, Records of the U.S. President's Advisory Committee on Government Organization (Rockefeller Committee), DDE Library.

37 Apr. 2, 1958, Congressional Record, 85th Cong., 2d sess., pp. 5489-5490.

38 Legislative Origins of the Space Act, p. 42.

39U.S. House of Representatives, "Astronautics and Space Exploration," on H.R. 11881, Select Committee on Astronautics and Space Exploration, 85th Cong., 2d sess.

40U.S. Senate, "National Aeronautics and Space Act," on S. 3609, Special Committee on Space and Astronautics, 85th Cong., 2d sess.

"Legislative Origins of the Space Act, p. 40.

42June 2, 1958, Congressional Record, 85th Cong., 2d sess., pp. 8892-8918.

43 Legislative Origins of the Space Act, p. 25. 44June 11, 1958, Congressional Record, 85th Cong., 2d sess., p.

9829.

45Johnson, The Vantage Point, p. 277. A recent book by Robert A. Divine, The Sputnik Challenge (1993), fails to give the Johnson citation and claims (on p. 147) that Eisenhower initiated the meeting and proposed the compromise. These claims, however, are not supported by the references cited. Divine also asserts (on p. 149) that Johnson was "outmaneuvered on NASA," which is not

supported by the references or the facts.

46H. Rept. 2166, conference report, agreed to in the House and the Senate, July 16, 1958, Congressional Record, 85th Cong., 2d sess., p. 12737.

47 Dwight D. Eisenhower, Statement by the President, The White House, July 29, 1958.

48 Legislative Origins of the Space Act, p. 26.

49PL 85-766, approved by the President, Aug. 27, 1958. 50Entire speech reprinted in Final Report of the Special Committee

on Space and Astronautics of the United States Senate, pursuant to S. Res. 256 of the 85th Congress, Mar. 11, 1959, pp. 58-62. 51 James R. Killian, Jr., Sputnik, Scientists, and Eisenhower (1977), 52See reference 40, part 1, May 6, 1958, p. 8.

P. 141.

T

The existence of a marble block from the Parthenon in Washington, D.C., is a little-known fact that deserves wider familiarity. The story of how it came to the capital city of the United States of America goes back to the period early in the nineteenth century when a monument was being planned to honor George Washington. In his original plan for the city, Pierre L'Enfant marked a spot for an equestrian statue approximately where the Washington Monument now stands, at the intersection of the visual lines that can be traced from the south side of the White House and the west side of the Capitol. By 1836, however, the memorial idea had been changed to an architectural form, and Robert Mills's design stipulated a rather elaborately conceived eclectic structure much taller than the obelisk that stands today. Its essential features included a 500-foot decorated Egyptian shaft mounted on a circular Greek temple 100 feet high and 250 feet in diameter (designated as a "National Pantheon"). Above the east doorway, there was to be a sculpture (30 feet tall) of George Washington, clad in a Roman toga, sitting on a Greek chariot drawn by Arabian steeds and driven by an Etruscan winged Victory. In its final form, however, the monument's much simpler design corresponded to the dimensions of an authentic Egyptian obelisk. The change in plan was due to a long delay caused in part by a political quarrel that interrupted construction only six years after the laying of the cornerstone in 1848.

On the night of March 5, 1854, masked men sneaked onto the construction grounds, tossed a rope around the guardshed with the guard inside and held him prisoner at gunpoint. They then stole the marble slab from the ancient Roman Temple of Concord, a gift of Pope Pius IX,

which was stored in the Lapidarium along with other dedicatory stones sent by organizations and countries all over the world. It was believed that this theft was the work of the American party (or the "Know-Nothings"), acting out of dread of foreign influence in American affairs and great hostility toward the Catholic Church. The Pope's Stone was probably smashed to bits and dumped into the Potomac River, although its fate is disputed. Less than a year later, the Know-Nothings broke into the office of the Washington National Monument Society and seized the official records. Because of these incidents and especially the disruption caused by the Civil War, all work ceased on the monument for about twenty-five years. Work resumed in 1880, and the monument was finally dedicated on February 21, 1885.

The National Archives holds a collection of signed petitions objecting to the placing of the Pope's Stone, "this gift of a despot," in a monument dedicated to the leader of a free republic. The petitions, in fact, protest against the inclusion of any stone from any other than a republican government. Fortunately the vandals did not return to inspect the other stones sent by "despots"—the Parthenon Stone, sent by King Otho of Greece; the stone from the sultan of Turkey; or the stone from Napoleon's tomb! These were also in the Lapidarium, where they were still on display when C. D. Gedney made sketches of them in 1880.3

The Parthenon Stone is one of nearly two hundred carved tribute blocks that were installed on the inside walls of the Washington

Opposite: Mills's initial design called for a larger obelisk mounted on a circular Greek temple and a togaclad Washington sitting on a chariot.