GEMINI AND APOLLO 



171 



The mood in the country was gradually changing also. The Bay of 

 Pigs disaster and the Gagarin flight in 1961 shocked the Nation to 

 demand positive action to overtake the Soviets. Somehow, the success 

 of making Russia hack down during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, 

 plus American successes in the Mercury program, had a slightly lulling 

 effect on our gung-ho enthusiasm for a crash program in space. The 

 successful Russian flights by 1963 were viewed with more mature and 

 objective reactions. 



House Republican Leader Charles A. Halleck (Republican of In- 

 diana) released a letter of protest from former President Eisenhower, 

 which was printed in the April 2, 1963, Congressional Record and 

 contained this warning: 



The space program, in my opinion, is downright spongy. This is an area where 

 we particularly need to demonstrate some common sense. Specifically, I have never 

 believed that a spectacular dash to the Moon, vastly deepening our debt, is worth 

 the added tax burden it will eventually impose upon our citizens. This result should 

 be achieved as a natural outgrowth of demonstrably valuable space operations. But 

 having made this into a crash program, we are unavoidably wasting enormous sums. 

 I suggest that our enthusiasm here be tempered in the interest of fiscal soundness. 



The New York Times of June 13, 1963, reported that former 

 President Eisenhower, at a breakfast meeting with Republican Con- 

 gressmen, had bluntly characterized the projected Moon flight as 

 "nuts." 



The very size and steep increases in the NASA budget alarmed 

 many Congressmen. To leap from $1.7 billion to $38 billion and then 

 to $57 billion over the calendar years from 1961 to 1963 terrified those 

 accustomed to pruning budgets and cutting out waste. 



Despite the fact that Teague's subcommittee slashed NASA's 

 manned space flight requests by some $300 million — close to a 10- 

 percent cut — opposition began to form in preparation for the floor 

 fight over the authorization. Six Republican committee members filed 

 "Additional Views" on the bill, even though they voted for the bill 

 both in committee and on the floor. The six were as follows: 



Richard L. Roudebush, Indiana James D. Weaver, Pennsylvania 



Thomas M. Pelly, Washington Edward J. Gurney, Florida 



Donald Rumsfeld, Illinois John W. Wydler, New York 



In their additional views, the six committee members attacked the 

 emphasis on outer space to the exclusion of more stress on the military 

 advantages of "inner space" — between 100 and 500 miles from the 

 Earth. They also opposed NASA facility and training grants, and 

 succeeded in cutting NASA grants to educational institutions from 

 $55 million down to $30 million in an amendment on the floor. Further 

 opposition surfaced to the proposed Electronics Research Center. 



