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  Mercury - Gemini - Apollo
  Apollo 8: 'You saved 1968' telegram

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Author Topic:   Apollo 8: 'You saved 1968' telegram
Norman Ferguson
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Posts: 5
From: United Kingdom
Registered: Dec 2012

posted 03-29-2018 03:30 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Norman Ferguson     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Am trying to trace a reference that backs up the "You saved 1968" telegram from a Valerie Pringle, sent to Frank Borman/Apollo 8 crew.

Does anyone have a verified source for this? Is it just Hollywood artistic license?

Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 43576
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 04-06-2018 08:50 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Robert Kurson, in his new book "Rocket Men," ascribes the telegram to an anonymous sender. And in an interview with Tom Brokaw in support of the book's release, the Apollo 8 crew talks about it:
Lovell: I think that Bill got this telegram that said what, "You made 1968."

Borman: Saved.

Anders: Right.

Lovell: "You saved 1968."

The part about "Valerie Pringle" might have been an invention of the HBO miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon," which also has Michael Collins as capcom reading the telegram to the crew while they are still in space. That doesn't seem to have happened (per the Apollo 8 Flight Journal).

Norman Ferguson
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Posts: 5
From: United Kingdom
Registered: Dec 2012

posted 04-07-2018 02:58 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Norman Ferguson     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thank you, Robert. That is perfect.

I wonder who it was from and where the telegram ended up. Would be quite an artifact.

Headshot
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Posts: 891
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 04-07-2018 07:44 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Headshot   Click Here to Email Headshot     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
For what it is worth, I have searched my files of Chicago newspaper clippings from the Apollo 8 mission and found no reference to the, "You saved 1968," telegram. For some unknown reason I have always associated that phrase with Time magazine.

I did find a political cartoon from the Dec. 31, 1968 issue of the Chicago American, a Republican-based evening newspaper owned by the Tribune Company. It shows Father Time holding up the glove (with Apollo 8 written on it) of a rather beat-up cartoon-ish boxer, labelled U.S., who is standing above the dust cloud representing 1968 Shortcomings. Father Time is shouting, "Tough Fight, but We Won!"

Space Cadet Carl
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Posts: 225
From: Lake Orion, Michigan
Registered: Feb 2006

posted 04-07-2018 09:54 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Space Cadet Carl   Click Here to Email Space Cadet Carl     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Sounds like a great bit of folklore or fact that has apparently never been totally traced or confirmed.

For myself, laying underneath our Christmas tree on the night of Dec. 24, 1868 and hearing the crew read from the Book of Genesis was an unforgettable moment in my life.

All times are CT (US)

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