SPACE SCIENCE AND APPLICATIONS IN THE 1970"S 323 



the Space Agency to include a new Office of Applications to be headed by an Asso- 

 ciate Administrator of Applications. In this way, we may achieve a new direction 

 for our space program with appropriate emphasis on practical applications until it 

 becomes a reality. 



Although Karth did not remain on the committee long enough to see 

 the change made, NASA finally did decide on December 3, 1971, to 

 set up the very office which Karth recommended. 



Exactly a week after Karth transferred to the Ways and Means 

 Committee, Representative Thomas N. Downing (Democrat of Vir- 

 ginia) sent the following note to Chairman Miller: 



Dear Mr. Chairman: Now that Joe Karth has transferred to the Ways and Means 

 Committee, I would deeply appreciate your giving me consideration to my being 

 named as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Space Science and Applications. 



I would consider this a challenging assignment and I would very much like to 

 try it. 



Sincerely, 



/s/Tom. 



This was a little ticklish for Chairman Miller, who was a stickler for 

 following the seniority system. Under ordinary circumstances, Hechler, 

 who was next in line by seniority to Karth, would have had the option 

 to move up from his chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Advanced 

 Research and Technology to take over the Karth subcommittee, a 

 move which Chairman Miller did not view with relish. If Karth had 

 been a troublemaker by using the Applications issue, there was no 

 telling what would happen if the subcommittee fell into the hands of 

 a real maverick like Hechler. And as if there weren't enough problems, 

 Fuqua asked Miller whether it would be possible to split the old Karth 

 subcommittee and pave the way for Fuqua to become chairman of a 

 new Applications subcommittee. 



Chairman Miller decided to cool it for a few months. After all, no 

 hearings were scheduled until January of 1972, and the situation might 

 work itself out if there were some delay. Informal soundings were 

 made to see whether Hechler intended to insist on his seniority rights, 

 which would have produced a sticky situation. Hechler surprised his 

 colleagues by opting to stay exactly where he was, thus paving the 

 way for Downing to chair the old Karth subcommittee. Chairman 

 Miller then told Fuqua that since there was one line item in the 

 NASA authorization bill for Applications, that it would probably be 

 best to keep Space Science and Applications together in one sub- 

 committee. Delay had served the useful purpose of eliminating the 

 potential conflict among competing aspirations. Miller did not an- 

 nounce his decisions until the new session of Congress convened in 

 January 1972. 



