<--PREV Doc #779  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #781 Document #780; July 19, 1958 To Neil Hosler McElroy Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series ; Category: Confidential The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIX - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace Part V: Forcing the President's Hand; June 1958 to October 1958 Chapter 12: America Invades the Mideast   Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense: I hereby approve the advanced space project set forth in your letter to me of July 11, 1958 concerning a large inflatable satellite.1 I do so with the understanding that when the new civilian space agency comes into operation, this project will be subject to review to determine whether it will remain under the cognizance of the Department of Defense or pass to the cognizance of the new agency.2 My approval is subject also to the provision that the complete funding for this project will be provided by ARPA, without addition of Service funds. I desire that the identity of this project as an ARPA project be maintained throughout.3 1 Eisenhower was referring to a memorandum written by McElroy's deputy, Donald A. Quarles (AWF/A). Quarles had asked the President for advance approval of this project for the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). Presidential action was necessary, Quarles wrote, in order to meet production schedules that would allow the launch of a 100-foot inflatable satellite in the late spring of 1959. The highly visible sphere, which would become the world's first communications satellite, was designed to reflect radio, television, and microwave transmissions sent from the surface of the earth (see Donald C. Elder, Out From Behind the Eight-Ball: A History of Project Echo, AAS History Series, ed., R. Cargill Hall, 17 vols. to date [San Diego, Calif., 1977 - 95], vol. 16 [1995]). On February 6 Congress had passed H.R. 9739 (P.L. 325), an appropriations bill for special (one year) defense spending that had authorized the Secretary of Defense or his designee to engage in advanced projects essential to the Defense Department's responsibilities in the field of basic and applied research and development pertaining to space projects designated by the President (see Congressional Quarterly Almanac, vol. XIV, 1958, p. 238; Eisenhower, Waging Peace, p. 257; and Watson, Into the Missile Age, pp. 189, 191, 362, 385, 392). 2 Eisenhower had requested Congress to establish a National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) in April. On July 29 he would sign the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (P.L. 568), which would create and fund a civilian agency to direct scientific activities relating to all non-military aspects of outer space. NASA would begin operating officially on October 1 (Congressional Quarterly Almanac, vol. XIV, 1958, pp. 160 - 64; Eisenhower, Mandate for Change, p. 257; Public Papers of the Presidents: Eisenhower, 1958, p. 573; Levine, The Missile and Space Race, pp. 70 - 71, 102 - 4; and New York Times, Oct. 2, 1958). 3 As it turned out, on October 1 the President would sign Executive Order 10783, which authorized him to transfer to NASA specific ARPA projects relating to space activities. Among the transferred projects were lunar probes, scientific satellites (including inflatable satellites), and superthrust boosters (see Federal Register, vol. 23, no. 194, p. 7643; T. Keith Glennan, The Birth of NASA: The Diary of T. Keith Glennan, J. D. Hunley, ed. [Washington, D.C., 1993], p. 9; Glennan to Eisenhower, "Accomplishments of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 1958 - 1960," Dec. 28, 1960, AWF/A; and Watson, Into the Missile Age, pp. 362, 385; see also New York Times, Sept. 11, 12, 1958). For developments on the space program see no. 1414. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Confidential To Neil Hosler McElroy, 19 July 1958. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 780. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/second-term/documents/780.cfm <--PREV Doc #779  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #781

Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission 1629 K Street, NW Suite 801 Washington DC 20006 Phone: 202.296.0004    Fax: 202.296.6464