Gerald Ford: From Project Nike to NASA and Beyond

Most of the media coverage surrounding the death of President Gerald R. Ford has focused, understandably, upon Watergate and the Vietnam War – twin events which lead many observers to view the past through a lens, darkly. While leaving the broader, brighter scope of Gerald Ford's legacy to others, I would like to invite readers of "The Y Files" to consider the President's presence on matters of science and technology. From Project Nike to the birth of NASA and beyond, Gerald R. Ford was there from the beginning.

Elected to Congress in 1948, Gerald Ford was a 35-year old Navy veteran who rose from membership on the House Public Works Committee to chairman of an important House Appropriations subcommittee on defense spending. During the 1950s, Congressman Ford watched tests of Project Nike, a U.S. Army program which developed America's first operational anti-aircraft missile. Back in Washington, Ford's legislative support ensured continued funding for the program during a period of inter-agency squabbling between the Army and the Air Force. Later, NASA modified the first-stage of the Nike-Ajax solid rocket booster for upper atmospheric research, an important step on the space agency's path to the moon.

Although Ford eventually lost his Congressional chairmanship, he was named to the Select Committee on Astronautics and Space Exploration in 1957, after the Soviet Union stunned observers with the launch of Sputnik I. With Ford's help, the Select Committee hammered out the details of landmark legislation that President Dwight D. Eisenhower eagerly signed into law. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) completed its first lunar landing in 1969, an event which prompted then-President Richard M. Nixon to remark that "any culture which can put a man on the moon is capable of gathering all the nations of the earth in peace, justice, and concord."

Nixon's legacy, the "long national nightmare" of Watergate, provided Ford with the first of many challenges upon assuming the presidency in August 1974. Along the way, however, the new president earned front-row seats to happier events. In July 1975, President Ford spoke with American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts aboard the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, a joint mission between the Cold War rivals. A year later, President Ford watched Viking I land on Mars, a mission which prompted him to remark how "in the span of a single lifetime, the exploration of air and space has grown from the dreams of a very, very few individuals to such a massive cooperative reality." The successful landing of Viking II and the launch of additional interplanetary probes prompted President Ford to further praise space exploration as "a major contribution to our quality of life and economic growth".

Ford's years as President bridged the gap between the end of NASA's Apollo program and the beginning of the Space Shuttle era. In addition to supporting continued funding for the shuttle, Ford attended the rollout of the first test orbiter in September of 1976. Although America's first reusable space vehicle was supposed to be named Constitution, President Ford deferred to the thousands of Star Trek fans who sent letters to the White House, asking for the new ship to be named Enterprise. Americans also enjoyed President Ford's presence when he attended the opening of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, calling the new facility "a perfect birthday present" for the nation.

Rest in peace, President Ford.

Steve Melito - The Y Files