Remarks Upon Accepting the Robert H. Goddard Trophy.

Mrs. Goddard, Dr. Pickering, Mr. Webb, Mr. Vice President, Congressman Miller, distinguished guests:

I have been visiting with our Ambassador from France, who has just returned. We were just watching the space shot and wondering how Jim Webb was making out. We didn't realize that we were going to detain you.

Mrs. Goddard, we know this is a very happy occasion for you. Back in 1926 your husband, with you at his side, launched the world's first liquid-fueled rocket on his Aunt Effie's farm in Auburn, Massachusetts.

I have always felt that we have at least some things in common. My wife has always been at my side in every endeavor of any moment that I have ever undertaken. And we had our Aunt Effie, and she had just come back from her farm in Alabama that week.

So today, exactly 40 years later, you and the billions of people of the world could see this morning, just a few moments ago, another vindication of the great hopes and the great dreams of that great man to whom you were married.

I sat there with the Secretary of State, and the former Secretary of State, Mr. Acheson, and others, as we saw this rocket, based upon the principles that he discovered, launch men into a new space adventure.

I never see one of these shots without crossing my fingers and saying a prayer for Jim Webb and the men in his organization, because we never know what the outcome will be.

I think if I were writing my own epitaph this morning I perhaps would prefer to be remembered, for the period that I was Vice President, more by this one thing than any other. President Kennedy asked me to attempt to organize and give direction to the Space Agency. I interviewed about 19 men throughout the United States and finally selected Jim Webb, and I prevailed upon him to come and begin this undertaking.

I remember calling President Kennedy from my office in the Capitol, and I said, "I think we have the man. His name is Jim Webb." He said, "Well, bring him on in and we will announce it in a few minutes."

Within 15 minutes from the time I called the President originally, Jim Webb was out here being announced as the new Space Administrator. I have been very proud of that announcement every moment since.

Your modesty and your humbleness, your great executive ability and your great courage, your Marine spirit and determination have made us the envy of all the world, Mr. Webb, and we salute you publicly.

Dr. Goddard was a great prophet, a true prophet. To some it seems almost incredible that a year before Lindbergh had even flown the Atlantic he was dreaming and working to take us up into the stars. Like so many prophets, he was long without honor in his own country, but he never lost faith because his faith was founded on fact. He could turn aside the rebuffs of the shortsighted; he could laugh at the jokes of his detractors.

I just wish this morning that he could be here with us to observe what we have just seen. I don't think he would be the least surprised by the progress we have made. I think that he would be very proud.

This is a very proud moment for me, too, Mrs. Goddard, and you have helped make it so. I never had the scientific vision that your great husband had. I did not foresee the space age nearly as early as he did. And I am rather glad I didn't, because I was the subject of enough rebuffs and talks about basketballs and things like that that I did many years later. But when it did become apparent that the space age was upon us, I did, with the help of Congressman Miller and the Vice President and others, try to do something about getting this Nation interested.

I was looking at some of the columns the other day written by our leaders in Government commenting upon our meeting of the Democratic caucus where we devoted our entire caucus to the subject of space and its future. I remember how complimentary they were about that particular meeting. They still are being published, too. They appear in the papers every now and then, these same people.

We said to our Senators, then, that we had to make up for a lot of lost time--time that was lost, in part, because this Nation wouldn't listen to your husband. We haven't wiped out all the deficiencies in our program yet, but we have caught up and we are pulling ahead.

In accepting this award this morning, I want to declare once again that so long as I am in public office, I am going to do everything within my power and my capability to prevent us from falling behind. We intend to land the first man on the surface of the moon and we intend to do this in the decade of the sixties.

The whole Nation now understands the true significance of America's space efforts. The story of man's advancement down through the ages is, of course, the story of his victories over the forces of nature. The health and comfort he enjoys, the leisure he possesses, the abundance of the food he eats, all of these are the result of his unending determination to probe the secrets of the world around him.

In 1958 when we introduced the legislation to create the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, I said in the Senate at that time, "I believe that the development of the space age will bring the beginning of the longest and greatest boom of abundance and prosperity in the history of man."

Well time is bringing out that belief. The future belongs to those of faith and daring and vision. I am proud this morning to be in the presence of the men who represent that future and who have come here to be with us on this occasion: Vice President Humphrey, who has given great seriousness and vital leadership to our space program in the Nation; Congressman George Miller, who from the very beginning has been in on the first launch; Senator Anderson, who is not with us; Congressman Albert Thomas, who left us just a few days ago.

All of these men had the faith, the daring, the vision, and the spirit of adventure that has brought us where we are.

Dr. Picketing, I believe this is the real meaning of the space age which we are in. I thank you and Mrs. Goddard for making this event possible.

Now as we return to our schedule for the rest of the week, I know that each of us is saying a silent prayer for Scott and Armstrong. May God be with them and you.