Special Message to the Senate on the Astronaut Assistance and Return Agreement

To the Senate of the United States:

Today I ask the Senate to take another step toward stable peace on this threatened earth.

I am proud to transmit, for advice and consent to ratification, the Astronaut Assistance and Return Agreement.

This Agreement proves again that a divided world can and must overcome its differences. In spirit and substance it embodies the three principles¹ guiding America's quest for peace which I discussed last month at Glassboro.

¹See Item 288.

First, peace must be earned.

Peace must be built in patient steps as human trust grows to meet human need. At best, it is a slow, hard job. The Astronaut Agreement comes to the Senate after five long years of painstaking negotiation between the United States, the Soviet Union, and other members of the United Nations Outer Space Committee. It is a step--and an important step--in the hopeful journey which began in this decade with the Limited Test Ban Treaty. We marked a great milestone in this journey when we signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty last week in Moscow, London, and Washington. I hope and believe we can soon advance further on this road when we sit down to talk with the Russians about the limitation and reduction of offensive and defensive strategic weapons.

Second, the path to world peace is less difficult when the United States and the Soviet Union follow it together.

The Astronaut Agreement will serve all nations, those whose mercy may save lives as well as those whose sons will risk their lives to enrich man's knowledge of his universe. But in the last account this agreement was possible because the United States and the Soviet Union resolved to work with each other.

Third, lasting peace depends not only on healing the bitter conflicts of today, but also upon our skill and imagination in building for a brighter tomorrow.

This Agreement is a striking example of this principle. For it properly looks beyond the old divisions of history and ideology to recognize the challenge of common peril and the benefits of common action.

Only seven short years have passed since Alan Shepard and Yuri Gagarin made their pioneering flights into space. There have been moments of majestic triumph--when Virgil Grissom and John Young flew our first two-man flight aboard Gemini III in March 1965, and when Cosmonaut Leonov took the first walk in space the same month.

There have been moments of tragedy, as when the world mourned the deaths of Virgil Grissom, Edward White, Roger Chaffee and Vladimir Komarov. The new Astronaut Agreement would not have saved the lives of these extraordinary and brave men, for death came within their homelands. But we must spare no effort to ensure the safety of future space pioneers who may need help in other countries or on the high seas.

Accordingly, the Agreement provides that: --Any party who learns that an accident or emergency involving a manned flight has occurred will immediately inform the launching authority.

--A party will immediately take all possible steps to rescue an astronaut who lands in its territory and render him all necessary assistance.

--A launching authority whose astronaut makes an unplanned landing on the territory of another party will assist in search and rescue operations when its assistance will help bring about a prompt rescue.

--A party with vessels on the high seas or otherwise in a .position to do so will join in search and rescue operations for a downed astronaut.

--A party who has rescued a foreign astronaut will return him safely and promptly to the launching authority.

--A launching authority has the right to obtain the return of an object it has launched that has come down to Earth on the territory of another party.

These benefits alone recommend prompt ratification of the Astronaut Agreement. Our laws and treaties must always keep pace with our science. But the value of this Agreement goes beyond the protection it offers those who venture into space. It is also one more link in a growing chain of international cooperation which helps protect the peace of this planet.

The seven years of the Space Age began here on earth with the Berlin Wall, the harsh words at Vienna and the Cuban missile crisis. We have worked patiently and hard to improve the climate. As I said in 1966:

"Our task is to achieve a reconciliation with the East--a shift from the narrow concept of coexistence to the broader vision of peaceful engagement."

I believe our successes have been impressive and hopeful: the Consular Convention--signed in 1964 and ratified in 1968; the Civil Air Agreement--signed in 1966, with air service soon to begin; the Outer Space Treaty of 1967; the Non-Proliferation Treaty just signed on July 1; and the agreement to begin strategic weapons talks announced that day.

Many difficult and dangerous problems still lie unsolved before us. We must devote our energies to achieve a new advance toward peace. Humanity cannot wait where freedom from the shadow of nuclear war is concerned. We look with satisfaction to the achievement of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and with anticipation to the forthcoming talks on the control of strategic weapons. Surely two nations who aspire to the stars can realize the common danger and act in the common interest here on earth.

The Astronaut Agreement is an action in the common interest. It helps man's reach for peace as well as his conquest of space. I earnestly hope the Senate will give its prompt advice and consent to ratification.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

The White House

July 15, 1968