Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

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[1]
Document I-10
Mr. F. R. Kappel
President
American Telephone and Telegraph Company
195 Broadway
New York 7, New York
Dear Mr. Kappel:
THE HISTORY OF SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS
April 8, 1961
Thank you for your letter of April 5th. I will be happy to see you whenever you plan
to be in Washington. I am appearing before the House Committee on Science and
Astronautics on Monday morning, April 10th, and am engaged all day on Tuesday, the
11th, with the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, which is having
its first meeting. Otherwise, I will be glad to reschedule my appointments so we can meet
at your convenience.
In order that you may understand, perhaps more fully than a report in the Wall Street
Journal, the questions and answers at my press conference on the budget, I am enclosing
the release. You will note, on page 3, my statement is as follows:
“In order to take full advantage of the potentialities of the communications satellite
for both industry and governmental uses, industry financing of research and
development costs is postponed and full governmental financing is provided.
Ten million dollars is added for this purpose.”
[2] On page 8, you will note my statement that:
“The basic change is simply to postpone, until we know more than we know
today, the real decision as to how this new result of space sciences and technology
can be most usefully applied.”
Again, on page 9, you will note Dr. Dryden’s statement that:
“. . . the program is the same, John (Finney), the program of four flights that you
have heard outlined in great detail. This is merely an estimate as to whether the
Treasury would recover money. It seems to be such an uncertain thing at this time
that we prefer to have the money in hand, to carry it forward to the test program.”
Further, in answer to the question as to whether the addition of the ten million dollars
to the budget represented any modification of policy, I stated:
“It represents a policy decision to have a good hard look at this before making
commitments.”
Since you have referred to the discussion in my office with Dr. Fisk and Mr. Dingman
of your company, I suggest you ask them if the above does not represent what I told them
was going through my mind as the only sensible way to approach a decision of such magnitude
and significance far beyond the communications industry, as well as long-range