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HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



new or expanding Federal program, Jensen was also bitterly anti- 

 Kennedy and therefore even more anti-Apollo. Not long after the 

 John Glenn flight in 1962, Teague persuaded Jensen to come down 

 with him to Cape Canaveral one Sunday night in April 1962. According 

 to Maj. Rocco Petrone, Jensen came in "just absolutely going to tear 

 us apart.'* 



Teague briefed Petrone on how to handle Jensen. "Hey, look, this 

 guy can be rough, can be gruff, can be mean — take it," Teague advised. 

 According to Petrone: "He was going to make sure we didn't say 

 anything mean back to him. He was giving us fatherly advice." 

 Jensen observed a test firing of the lirst stage of Saturn generating 1.3 

 million pounds of thrust. He was not only impressed, but also agreed 

 to pose with Teague in front of the gantry, smilingly demonstrating 

 his approval. More important, when the NASA authorization bill 

 was debated on the floor on May 23, 1962, the following colloquy 

 occurred : 



Mr. Jensen. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield? 



Mr. Teague of Texas. I am glad to yield to the gentleman. 



Mr. Jensen. I want to commend the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Teague) for the 

 great interest he has taken in this space program. It was my pleasure to be in the 

 gentleman's company at Cape Canaveral a couple of weeks ago when the Saturn 

 was launched. 



There, for the first time, I had the pleasure of meeting and visiting with Dr. von 

 Braun and Dr. Debus, two German scientists who are perhaps the greatest authori- 



Representative Olio I . reague (Democrat of Texas) talks with Dr. Kurt 11. Debus ( nj^ht ) 

 on one of Chairman league's many visits to the John F. Kennedy Space Center, where Dr. 

 Debus served as Director. 



