A DAY of great achievement in space was marred by news of the death of Dr. William R. Lovelace II. His life was too short, although his legacy to space medicine will endure and will be a resource of assurance to future astronauts whose names and deeds are yet unknown.
Note: The statement was read by Bill D. Moyers, Special Assistant to the President, at his news conference at 4:50 p.m. on Thursday, December 16, 1965, in his office at the White House. It was not made public in the form of a White House press release.
Dr. Lovelace was killed in a plane crash near Aspen, Colo., on Sunday, December 12, 1965. The wreckage of the plane was discovered on Wednesday, December 15, the day of the rendezvous of Gemini 6 and Gemini 7. Dr. Lovelace had served as Director of Space Medicine for Manned Space Flight in NASA since April 20, 1964.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President on the Death of Dr. William Randolph Lovelace II. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/240879