Nov 24 1963
From The Space Library
The space program would not change greatly under the new President, Lyndon B. Johnson, William Hines of the Washington Sunday Star predicted : "The reasons are twofold and simple. "First, Mr. Johnson is fully as enthusiastic about the space program as was Mr. Kennedy, if not more so. Second, the new President has been in on the space program from its start, and through the 34 months of President Kennedy's tenure was 'Mr. Space.' " Mr. Johnson was head of the Senate Preparedness subcommittee at the time the U.S.S.R. launched SPUTNIK I, Hines pointed out. As Senate Majority Leader he caused the inquiry into U.S. space posture and sparked the special Senate committee that later became the standing Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences. "More than any other one man, President Johnson is personally responsible for the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 and the sprawling agency which it created . . . . "With the advent of the Kennedy administration, the space program immediately grew in importance, largely through Mr. Johnson's urging. The Space Act was amended to make the Vice President head of the [Space] council . . . . "Under then Vice President Johnson, the council took on real meaning.. . . "The Johnson-organized council staff prepared the studies which the Vice President used to persuade President Kennedy in the spring of 1961 that a manned lunar landing should be undertaken 'before the decade is out." (Hines, Wash. Sun. Star, 11/24/63)
A group of scientists met in Seattle to discuss policy for the Pacific Science Center. Formerly the U.S. exhibit at Seattle's Century 21 Exposition, the Center is located in the six-building complex covering more than six acres, it having been leased by the Government to the nonprofit Pacific Science Center Foundation. A 12-man science advisory committee headed by Paul A. Scherer, former associate director of the National Science Foundation, would advise on policy and exhibit content as part of the effort to convert the area into a permanent institution. It would become part of the 74-acre Seattle Center. (Davies, NYT, 11/24/63, 18)
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