Suzy B Software 2/Suzy B Software CD-ROM 2 (1994).iso/nasa/space_63/space_63.txt

Text File | 1995-05-02 | 6KB | 137 lines

 *********************************
Number: 3045  Name: SPACE_63.TXT
Address: N.GANT                Date: 930429
Approximate # of bytes: 4921
Number of Accesses: 5  Library: 3
Description:
When President Kennedy made his famous U.N. speech on Sept. 20, 1963,
he called for a joint lunar mission with Russian participation.
The Honorable Albert Thomas, Democrat of Texas, questioned the legality
of his proposal.  The President wrote back to him with this letter,
which explained U.S. space policy in accordance with the 1958 National
Aeronautics and Space Act.  This letter is in the NASA archives at Johnson
Space Center in Houston.
Keywords: SPACE POLICY, KENNEDY, JOHNSON, NASA, LUNAR MISSION
 ---------------------------------

File: SPACE_63.TXT
File Ready. 7 Bit Text.

Press <RETURN> to skip, <D>ownload, or <Q>uit.
?d

** Turn on Capture File **
Press <RETURN>
?4
                         THE WHITE HOUSE

                           WASHINGTON



                                                                 September 23, 1
963

Dear Al:

I am very glad to respond to your letter of September 21 and to
state my position on the relation between our great current space
effort and my proposal at the United Nations for increased
cooperation with the Russians in this field.  In my view an
energetic continuation of our strong space effort is essential,
and the need for this effort is, if anything, increased by our
intent to work for increasing cooperation if the Soviet
Government proves willing.

As you know, the idea of cooperation in space is not new.  My
statement of our willingness to cooperate in a moon shot was an
extension of a policy developed as long ago as 1958 on a
bipartisan basis, with particular leadership from Vice President
Johnson, who was than the Senate Majority Leader.  The American
purpose of cooperation in space was stated by the Congress in the
National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, and reaffirmed in my
Inaugural Address in 1961.  Our specific interest in cooperation
with the Soviet Union, as the other nation with a major present
capability in space, was indicated to me to Chairman Krushchev in
Vienna in the middle of 1961, and reaffirmed in my letter to him
of March 7, 1962, which was made public at the time.  As I then
said, discussion of cooperation would undoubtedly show us
"possibilities for substantive scientific and technical
cooperation in manned and unmanned space investigations."  So my
statement in the United Nations is a direct development of a
policy long held by the United States Government.

Our repeated offers of cooperation with the Soviet Union have so
far produced only limited responses and results.  We have an
agreement to exchange certain information in such limited fields
as weather observation and passive communications, and technical
discussions of other limited possibilities are going forward.
But as I said in July of this year, there are a good many
barriers of suspicion and fear to be broken down before we can
have major progress in this field.  Yet our intent remains:  to
do our part to bring those barriers down.

At the same time, as no one knows better that you, the United
States in the last five years has made a steadily growing
national effort in space.  On May 25, 1961, I proposed to the
Congress and the nation a major expansion of this effort, and I
particularly emphasized as a target the achievement of a manned
lunar landing in the decade of the 90's.  I stated that this
would be a task requiring great effort and very large
expenditures; the Congress and the nation approved of this goal;
we have been on our way ever since.  In the larger sense this is
not merely an effort to put a man on the moon; it is a means and
a stimulus for all the advances in technology, in understanding
and in experience, which can move us forward toward man's mastery
of space.

This great national effort and this steadily stated readiness to
cooperate with others are not in conflict.  They are mutually
supporting elements of a single policy.  We do not make our space
effort with the narrow purpose of national aggrandizement.  We
make it so that the United States may have a leading and
honorable role in mankind's peaceful conquest of space.  It is
this great effort which permits us now to offer increased
cooperation with no suspicion anywhere that we speak from
weakness.  And in the same way, our readiness to cooperate with
others enlarges the international meaning of our own peaceful
American program in space.

In my judgement, therefore, our renewed and extended purpose of
cooperation, so far from offering any excuse for slackening or
weakness in our space effort, is one reason the more for moving
ahead with the great program to which we have been committed as a
country for more than two years.

So the position of the United States is clear.  If cooperation is
possible, we mean to cooperate, and we shall do so from a
position made strong and solid by our national effort in space.
If cooperation is not possible  -- and as realists we must plan
for this contingency too -- then the same strong national effort
will serve all free men's interest in space, and protect us also
against possible hazards to our national security,

Let me thank you again for this opportunity of expressing my
views.

With warm personal regards,

                            Sincerely



                signed   JOHN F. KENNEDY





The Honorable Albert Thomas
House of Representatives
Washington, D. C.



Download complete.  Turn off Capture File.