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Spaceflight and the Myth of Presidential Leadership
Setting the tone for the collection,
NASA chief historian Roger D. Launius and Howard McCurdy maintain that
the nation's presidency had become imperial by the mid-1970s and that
supporters of the space program had grown to find relief in such a presidency,
which they believed could help them obtain greater political support and
funding. Subsequent chapters explore the roles and political leadership,
vis-à-vis government policy, of presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy,
Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
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About the author
Roger D. Launius
32 books3 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Dr. Roger D. Launius earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in history at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge (American frontier and military history).
Dr. Launius was a civilian historian with the United States Air Force, and became Chief Historian for the Military Airlift Command. Since October 1990 he is Chief Historian for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He is also Senior Curator at the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
He is also involved in the study of nineteenth century history and the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church).
Dr. Roger D. Launius earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in history at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge (American frontier and military history).
Dr. Launius was a civilian historian with the United States Air Force, and became Chief Historian for the Military Airlift Command. Since October 1990 he is Chief Historian for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He is also Senior Curator at the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
He is also involved in the study of nineteenth century history and the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church).
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 23, 2021
Fantastic book.
I’ll start with the one potential criticism which is that the theme of the book sets up a straw man argument and then each chapter tries to knock that straw man down. Specifically, I don’t think anyone who works in policy or understands how the US government works actually believes that the president has near total control / leadership over space exploration. The White House and Congress are diverse organizations with many competing interests; while the president is relatively powerful, they are one among many people in the mix.
With that out of the way, the book does a damn fine job of making those kinds of points and providing a lot of political context related to major historical decisions in crewed space flight.
What was SecDef McNamara’s real motivation for supporting Apollo? Why did president Johnson let Apollo die after forcefully arguing for it from 1957-1963? Why did Nixon and Congress approve Shuttle? Did Reagan even care about space? Why did Bush fail to get funding for SEI? What institutional issues at NASA have led the agency to consistently over promise and under deliver on major human space flight efforts? If these kinds of questions interest you, then you should read the book.
I am a space technology and policy analyst and I learned a lot. Grab a pen, because you’ll want to take notes.
I’ll start with the one potential criticism which is that the theme of the book sets up a straw man argument and then each chapter tries to knock that straw man down. Specifically, I don’t think anyone who works in policy or understands how the US government works actually believes that the president has near total control / leadership over space exploration. The White House and Congress are diverse organizations with many competing interests; while the president is relatively powerful, they are one among many people in the mix.
With that out of the way, the book does a damn fine job of making those kinds of points and providing a lot of political context related to major historical decisions in crewed space flight.
What was SecDef McNamara’s real motivation for supporting Apollo? Why did president Johnson let Apollo die after forcefully arguing for it from 1957-1963? Why did Nixon and Congress approve Shuttle? Did Reagan even care about space? Why did Bush fail to get funding for SEI? What institutional issues at NASA have led the agency to consistently over promise and under deliver on major human space flight efforts? If these kinds of questions interest you, then you should read the book.
I am a space technology and policy analyst and I learned a lot. Grab a pen, because you’ll want to take notes.
Want to read
March 23, 2016This one comes off the wish list as it arrived today, and I'm happy to have it.
Here is an interesting book about space policy--surprisingly it's almost twenty years old already as of this date--presenting a thesis that the president is typically not the leading figure of American space policy.
All US presidents since Eisenhower have made speeches, proclamations, and sometimes grandiose challenges, extolling the virtues of the American space program, but the truth is that the president rarely drives space policy from the front of the bus--in fact, a good argument can be made that John Kennedy was the only president to do so.
I had glossed over the fact that this book was edited by--not entirely written by--NASA's chief historian Roger Launius. That revelation provided some pleasant surprises. The contributors here include Robert Dallek, author of two well-reviewed LBJ biographies; Michael Beschloss, who has spent much of his career covering the JFK administration; and John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University and author of two significant books about space policy: The Decision to Go to the Moon: The Apollo Project and the National Interest, and John F. Kennedy and the Race to the Moon. Eminent talent on display here in this book, and I'm looking forward to reading it.
Here is an interesting book about space policy--surprisingly it's almost twenty years old already as of this date--presenting a thesis that the president is typically not the leading figure of American space policy.
All US presidents since Eisenhower have made speeches, proclamations, and sometimes grandiose challenges, extolling the virtues of the American space program, but the truth is that the president rarely drives space policy from the front of the bus--in fact, a good argument can be made that John Kennedy was the only president to do so.
I had glossed over the fact that this book was edited by--not entirely written by--NASA's chief historian Roger Launius. That revelation provided some pleasant surprises. The contributors here include Robert Dallek, author of two well-reviewed LBJ biographies; Michael Beschloss, who has spent much of his career covering the JFK administration; and John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University and author of two significant books about space policy: The Decision to Go to the Moon: The Apollo Project and the National Interest, and John F. Kennedy and the Race to the Moon. Eminent talent on display here in this book, and I'm looking forward to reading it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews