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HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



Elaborate international agreements were signed with every nation in 

 which the United States established a tracking station. In addition, 

 Congress also encouraged agreements for the dissemination of scientific 

 data obtained from nearly all space-related experiments. 



ANFUSO ADVOCATES MORE COOPERATION 



Starting in the very first year of its existence, the committee 

 members pursued an active schedule of addresses to foreign groups, 

 attendance at panels and symposia in other nations, and encourage- 

 ment to scientific efforts abroad. One of the most active international- 

 ists on the committee — and one of the best-traveled — was Congressman 

 Victor L. Anfuso (Democrat of New York). Anfuso, accompanied by 

 several other committee members and staff, toured Europe in the fall 

 of 1959, spreading encouragement wherever they went, and in particu- 

 lar at the 10th Annual Congress of the International Astronautical 

 Federation in London. Congressman Anfuso, after visiting a number 

 of European scientific research facilities, issued a call for closer United 

 States-European collaboration in scientific research and development. 

 He also asked Chairman Brooks and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon 

 Johnson to call a special joint meeting of the House and Senate com- 

 mittees in the fall of 1959 to chart a cooperative course. The ambiva- 

 lence in the twin goals of American preeminence versus cooperation 

 was expressed this way in Anfuso's letter: 



The Soviet outer space race offers threat that discoveries may be diverted to war 

 purposes, thas endangering the whole world. * * * We should only engage the 

 Soviets in special projects such as cooperation in the peaceful exploration of outer 

 space to determine whether coexistence is possible. (We must) determine direction 

 and money needed to unite exploratory research and development programs in space 

 sciences under a single head, avoid unnecessary duplication, and to surpass the 

 Russians. 



Chairman Brooks threw cold water on Anfuso's proposal for a 

 joint meeting, responding: 



I wish to call to your attention the fact that you are the only one who has indi- 

 cated an interest in such a meeting. None of the other committee members has indi- 

 cated an interest, and, frankly, I am not prepared to go along with you in this proposal. 



Speaker Sam Rayburn was even blunter in his response to Anfuso's 

 gesture, and answered the New York Congressman in this way: 



We must get on our toes and stay there unless we are to be swamped by Russia. 



Undaunted, Anfuso issued an enthusiastically optimistic sub- 

 committee report entitled "Outer Space — the Road to Peace" which 

 was published in I960 as a committee print. He entitled several public 

 addresses his own "Crusade for Peace" through international coopera- 

 tion in space. 



