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Author
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Topic: Document: Nixon wanted to close the Cape in '72
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Machodoc
Member Posts: 207
From: DE
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 07-06-2009 09:19 PM
   
I was doing some more archival research at the National Archives in College Park today and came across something that really got my attention. In going through the handwritten notes of John Ehrlichman's meetings with Nixon there were two items that I had never heard of before: On a December 26, 1969 budget meeting Ehrlichman noted that Nixon asked if they should continue the Saturn V (no surprise there) and if they should "close Kennedy in '72".Ehrlichman's notes from a January 11, 1970 budget meeting, where NASA's budget was to be "3.7 bil + 40 or 50", item #7 stated that "Cape Kennedy leter (sic) of closure to be submitted later." After reading in the same file a Nixon quote on December 26, 1969 that the "space program=not popular" I was prepared for something off the wall, but not that Nixon was thinking about closing the Cape in 1972. I just love archival research! Apart from my academic needs and personal interest, one other reason I'm focusing on the Nixon period is that all of the remaining Nixon archives currently at College Park, Maryland, are due to be shipped out to the Nixon library by the end of February. After then I have to fly 3,000 miles. |
Fra Mauro
Member Posts: 1624
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002
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posted 07-06-2009 11:59 PM
Nixon was not a fan of the space program unless it could help him politically. You should read "The Space Shuttle Decision 1965-1972" and it reinforces the idea that NASA was close to wither being ended or made an almost non-entity. Caspar Weinberger and George Schulz were among the few in the Nixon White House who helped get the Shuttle approved. |
Apollo Redux
Member Posts: 346
From: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Registered: Sep 2006
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posted 07-07-2009 12:58 AM
Nixon. Nuff said. |
robsouth
Member Posts: 769
From: West Midlands, UK
Registered: Jun 2005
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posted 07-07-2009 04:18 PM
Nixon milked it for all it was worth but was no great fan of space. I was watching a TV documentary about the Apollo wives and one of them said that he was a horrible man. I have never really thought it was fair that he got to talk to them on the moon and meet them when they landed after Apollo 11. |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 07-07-2009 05:18 PM
It's probably no surprise that the Apollo program meant very little to Nixon, other than the publicity he could gain for himself during the moon landings. Apollo was generally seen as the legacy of the man (JFK) who defeated Nixon in 1960. Ending Apollo meant ending a project that furthered Kennedy's legacy. |
328KF
Member Posts: 1251
From:
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 07-07-2009 08:39 PM
Fascinating stuff and a great find...congrats! Thanks for posting. |
Machodoc
Member Posts: 207
From: DE
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 07-09-2009 10:04 PM
More to come. I'm reworking a paper I wrote for a spring course entitled "Moonglow: Space Diplomacy in the Nixon Administration" for potential publication which is the reason behind the summertime additional research. |
Lou Chinal
Member Posts: 1332
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007
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posted 07-09-2009 11:16 PM
I have talked to a few Grumman workers who were assured the LM production lines would stay open. They were planning two week stay times for the LM and fuel cells.Keep digging you guys. |
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