^)? 



HISTORY OF Till COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



million more than President Kennedy's figure unveiled in March, the 

 President leapfrogged Congress with a startling new request for some 

 half a billion dollars beyond the House-passed figure at the time he 

 made his dramatic May 25 announcement 



The Senate docilely voted every penny of the President's request on 

 June 28. The House held 3 days of hearings starting July 11. Members 

 wanted to know why NASA in March had sworn that extra money 

 would be uneconomic, wasteful, and not speed up the program, and 

 now they were coming in to do a 180-degree turn. Dr. Dryden explained 

 it as a policy decision: "Shall the recommendation of President 

 Eisenhower be accepted that the manned space flight program be 

 confined to research and development beyond Project Mercury or should 

 steps be taken to move the follow-on vehicle development?'' The issue 

 was joined in this colloquy between Dr. Dryden and Representative 

 J. Edgar Chenoweth (Republican of Colorado): 



Mr. Chenoweth. We have great respect for vou. You have changed your attitude 

 a little hit here in the last few months. 



Dr. Dryden. In what way? 



Mr. Chenoweth. You didn't present such a program when you were here before. 

 What has caused the change in your thinking? 



Dr. Dryden. Two or three months ago you had a document before you from 

 President Eisenhower which said that he saw no reason for going beyond Project 

 Mercury with manned flight. I could not submit this kind of budget under the rules 

 as vou know. 



Mr. Chenoweth. I don't think it makes much difference who is President of the 

 United States. 



Dr. Dryden I think it makes a lot. 



A few days after the new House committee hearings had con- 

 cluded, the conference committee met on July 19 and accepted an in- 

 crease of $408 million beyond the authorization bill the House had 

 passed on May 24. 



Representative Perkins Bass (Republican of New Hampshire), 

 fifth-ranked Republican on the House Science Committee, led the fight 

 against the conference report. Representative Charles A. Mosher 

 (Republican of Ohio) did not speak against the report, but he joined 

 Bass in voting against it. Bass lost an important ally in his efforts to 

 defeat the test endorsement of the manned lunar goal. Representative 

 George P. Miller (Democrat of California), soon to become chairman 

 of the House Science Committee in September, had teamed up with 

 Bass to denounce the May 24 committee authorization bill when it 

 reached the floor. In supplemental views and on the floor in May, 

 Miller advised that we should move with "celerity" rather than with 

 "haste and hysteria," adding: "We can ruin this program, we can ruin 



