Good morning, it's Friday, July 29, 2022, the day of the week when I pass along a quotation intended to be uplifting or enlightening. Today, I have two of them, one from Dwight Eisenhower and another from an anonymous NASA press aide who worked in the waning days of the Johnson administration. Both concern the early days of the Space Race and evoke a time when those who worked for the United States government were still respected by its citizens, and around the world.
July 29 happens to be a milestone day in the technological advancement of our country. On this date in 1914, the Cape Cod Canal opened as a privately operated toll waterway. The locals were delighted -- they had won their informal race against the Panama Canal by two weeks -- and a "Parade of Ships" through the channel included the U.S. Navy destroyer McDougall carrying the assistant secretary of the Navy, one Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
But a quieter, and ultimately more significant, demonstration of what future President Franklin Roosevelt would call "American know-how," had taken place that very day, July 29, 1914 -- one that would truly make the world smaller. In his offices in New York, Theodore Newton Vail, the president of AT&T, placed the first transcontinental phone call, dialing from New York to his office manager in San Francisco.
It's not an exaggeration to say that from that day forward, Americans assumed that they lived in the world's most technologically advanced society -- right up until October 4, 1957, that is, when the audible "beep, beep, beep" of a diminutive 184-pound Soviet satellite called Sputnik drew attention to itself as it orbited the Earth.
"Never before," wrote historian Daniel J. Boorstin, "had so small and harmless an object created such consternation."
One of those who was most consternated, if that's a word, was Dwight D. Eisenhower. The president demanded that his science advisers explain how such a thing could happen, and a grilling by Ike was never a pleasant experience. To complete the circle, less than a year later -- yes, on July 29, 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act.
"The enactment of this legislation is an historic step, further equipping the United States for leadership in the space age," Eisenhower said in a written statement issued at the White House. "I wish to commend the Congress for the promptness with which it has created the organization and provided the authority needed for an effective national effort in the fields of aeronautics and space exploration."
In our day, the most remarkable aspect of this story may be the part where a president of one political party commends a Congress controlled by another party for its prompt action. But I'm thinking this morning of another illustration of government competence, one brought about by the simplest example of a bureaucrat's ingenuity.
One of the architects of the legislation creating NASA was Paul G. Dembling, who at the time of Sputnik was general counsel for the forerunner agency known as the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA). On the occasion of NASA's 50th anniversary, Dembling reminisced about the agency's founding. His recollections added to the historical record, while serving as a reminder of NASA's heady early days.
One of his favorite memories concerned the media coverage of Apollo 8. On Christmas Eve of that 1968 flight orbiting the moon, Frank Borman and his crew read aloud -- in transmissions sent back to Earth -- the first 10 chapters of the book of Genesis.
"We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you," astronaut Bill Anders began. "In the beginning, God created Heaven and Earth…"
That night, Dembling recalled, a NASA public relations official at Cape Canaveral received a call from a Japanese reporter.
"We heard they read something," the reporter said. "Can we get a transcript?"
"Where are you calling from?" asked the NASA press aide.
"From my hotel," came the reply.
"Open the drawer," said the NASA official, "and you will find a book -- and the words are there."
"Ah," the impressed foreign correspondent replied. "NASA thinks of everything!"
And that's our quote of the week.
Carl M. Cannon is the Washington bureau chief for RealClearPolitics. Reach him on Twitter @CarlCannon.