Abstract
Theodore Sorensen recalls that “it is no secret that Kennedy would have preferred to cooperate with the Soviets” in space rather than compete with them.1 In light of his soon-to-be-made decision to enter a space race in competition with the Soviet Union, it is worth noting that JFK’s initial priority on becoming president was to make space an area for U.S.-Soviet cooperation. Kennedy came into the White House believing that science and technology could be used as tools to advance foreign policy interests and to reduce international tensions, and hoping that the habits of cooperation developed in sectors such as science and technology could spill over into areas more central to security interests. As a presidential candidate, Kennedy had said that “wherever we can find an area where Soviet and American interests permit effective cooperation, that area should be isolated and developed.”
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Notes
See Sorensen’s interview, September 19, 1995, in Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali, One Hell of a Gamble: Khrushchev, Castro and Kennedy, 1958–1964 (New York: Norton, 1997), 121.
Interview with John F. Kennedy published in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, November 1960, 347. Even as he discussed cooperation with the USSR, Kennedy also emphasized matching the Soviets in rocket thrust.
John F. Kennedy, “Annual Message to the Congress on the State of the Union,” January 30, 1961, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=8045&st=&st1=.
This point is made in Dodd Harvey and Linda Ciccoritti, U.S.-Soviet Cooperation in Space (Washington, DC: Center for International Studies, University of Miami, 1974), 64.
For an account of the origins of NASA’s cooperative efforts, see Arnold Frutkin, International Cooperation in Space (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice- Hall, 1965). Frutkin was the NASA official in charge of international affairs during the period covered by this study.
The work of the task force is described in Harvey and Ciccoritti, U.S.-Soviet Cooperation, 66–74 and Eugene B. Skolnikoff, Science, Technology, and American Foreign Policy (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1967), 32–34.
For background on the Kennedy-Bolshakov interactions, see also Michael R. Beschloss, The Crisis Years: Kennedy and Khrushchev, 1960–1963 (New York: HarperCollins, 1991), 152–157.
Sergey Khrushchev, “The First Earth Satellite: a Retrospective View from the Future,” in Roger D. Launius, John M. Logsdon, and Robert W. Smith, eds., Reconsidering Sputnik: Forty Years Since the Soviet Satellite (Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 2000), 276, 281–282. Khrushchev added (282) “from the perspective of today this was definitely a mistake. A combined lunar project would not only have saved face for us and saved a bundle of money, but it might also have been a turning point in the relations between our two countries.” It is worth noting that Sergey Khrushchev is not always a reliable source of specific historical information; for example, it is unlikely that his father consulted Korolev in the twenty-four hours between the two Kennedy-Khrushchev luncheons.
NASA’s philosophy is spelled out in Frutkin, International Cooperation, 32-36. For Wiesner’s position, see Eugene Skolnikoff, Science, Technology, and American Diplomacy, 35–37 and author’s interview with Skolnikoff, June 5, 2001.
Department of State Policy Directive, “Initial Technical Discussions of U.S.- Soviet Space Cooperation,” March 19, 1962, Vice Presidential Papers, 1962 Subject Files, Box 183, LBJL.
Philip Farley, Memorandum for the Record, “Meeting with Under Secretary McGhee Concerning US-USSR Cooperation in Outer Space Activities,” April 24, 1962
Dean Rusk, Memorandum for the President, “Bilateral Talks Concerning US-USSR Cooperation in Outer Space Activities,” May 15, 1962, NSF, Box 334, JFKL.
George Ball, Memorandum for the President, “Bilateral Talks Concerning US-USSR Cooperation in Outer Space Activities,” July 5, 1962, NSF, Box 337, JFKL.
McGeorge Bundy, National Security Action Memorandum No. 172, “Bilateral Talks Concerning US-USSR Cooperation in Outer Space Activities,” July 18, 1962.
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© 2010 John M. Logsdon
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Logsdon, J.M. (2010). Early Attempts at Space Cooperation. In: John F. Kennedy and the Race to the Moon. Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230116313_11
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