CHAPTER U 



The Overton Brooks Years, 1959-61 



At the stroke of noon on January 3, 1959, the House Committee on 

 Science and Astronautics officially came into being. 



\ grim reminder of the challenge facing the new committee was 

 contained in screaming black headlines announcing that on January 2 

 the Soviet Union had launched another heavy rocket with an instru- 

 mented payload of 796 pounds, headed toward the Moon. Even though 

 "Lunik" missed the Moon and eventually orbited the Sun, it was 

 front-page news during the first week of the committee's existence. 



The new committee was authorized to have 25 members — 16 

 Democrats and 9 Republicans. The increased number of Democrats 

 reflected the larger Democratic majority in the 86th Congress. It took 

 until January 19 to complete the delicate process of tapping new 

 members, and on that date the following were officially certified as 

 charter members of the new committee: 



Democrats 



Overton Brooks, Louisiana, Chairman 



John \V. McCormack, Massachusetts 



George P. Miller, California 



Olin E. Teague, Texas 



Victor L. Anfuso, New York 



B. F. Sisk, California 



Erwin Mitchell, Georgia 



James M. Quigley, Pennsylvania 



David M. Hall, North Carolina 



Leonard G. Wolf, Iowa 



Joseph E. Karth, Minnesota 



Ken Hechler, West Virginia 



Emilio Q. Daddario, Connecticut 



Walter H. Moeller, Ohio 



David S. King, Utah 



J. Edward Roush, Indiana 



Republicans 



Joseph W. Martin, Jr., Massachusetts 

 James G. Fulton, Pennsylvania 

 Gordon L. McDonough, California 

 J. Edgar Chenoweth, Colorado 

 Frank C. Osmers, Jr., New Jersey 

 William K. Van Pelt, Wisconsin 

 A. D. Baumhart, Jr., Ohio 

 Perkins Bass, New Hampshire 

 R. Walter Riehlman, New York ' 



OVERTON BROOKS AS CHAIRMAN 



Every congressional committee carries the imprint of its chairman 

 in its mode of operation, areas of activity, and effectiveness. Overton 

 Brooks clearly set the tone of his new committee which plunged into 

 wide-ranging investigations, studies, and hearings covering space 



1 Riehlman was appointed on Jan. 29, 1959 



29 



35-120 0-79 



