Dale.Amon@FAS.RI.CMU.EDU (02/22/86)
NOTICE A RARE EVENT: We have witnessed two rather remarkable and unusual displays of leadership in the last few weeks. The first was President Reagan's choice not to focus solely on the immediate space crisis in his State of the Union Address. In addition, he chose to declare a new start on a long-term project - the aerospace plane. That shows a very rare strategic sense, sadly lacking in recent Presidents. More recently, Acting NASA Administrator William Graham announced continuation of the teacher-in-space program and extended an offer for Christa McAuliffe's backup, Barbara Morgan, to fly on the next shuttle that carries a private citizen. That took courage. Graham is also committed to more private sector involvement in space, including lots of people living and working in space. He has endorsed eventual space settlements. He also seems to be taking charge pretty strongly at NASA. Such leadership is too rare to go unapplauded. The following suggestion may do some good: some people should take the time to write a thoughtful, creative letter to President Reagan praising these and any other acts of leadership by Graham and Reagan that come to mind. Not a mass mailing, but a few high quality letters that might actually be read by Reagan's political advisors. HOT FLASH: Sen. Hollings (D-S.C.), recent Presidential aspirant, has called for Graham to step aside, accusing him of giving false information to a Senate panel. It doesn't take much to guess who gave Graham the bad information. Many NASA bureaucrats have resented Graham from the beginning, just on his resume. He isn't a member of the NASA "club." Someone at NASA has been leaking criticism of Graham to the Washington Post for the last week, even as Graham has moved to take stronger charge. Imagine: a new Deputy, thrown into the top job when his boss gets indicted, then Challenger explodes right after that. And now his staff ... Final note: Jesse Moore, who just this week moved from heading the space shuttle program to heading Johnson Space Center, comes from South Carolina and is friendly with Hollings ...