Release of Statement Postponed
The review of the draft statement went forward over the next few days in parallel with final decisions on the NASA FY1971 budget. DuBridge submitted a “revised re-draft” that had been “reviewed with representatives of the Vice President’s office, BoB, DoD, and Mr. Flanigan’s office.” As Agnew’s office reviewed the statement, it had proposed that the vice president as well as the president make remarks to the press as the statement was released. Agnew was seeking a meaningful post-STG role in space policy, and the Space Council staff had not been able to insert itself into the ongoing debates on reacting to the STG report and shaping the NASA FY1971 budget. Tom Paine sent to the White House not only comments on the draft statement but also a totally rewritten draft reflecting NASA’s hope to get President Nixon on the record as formally endorsing the recommendations of the STG, especially by initiating space station and space shuttle development immediately and setting a mission to Mars before the end of the century as a long-term goal.12
The choreographed release of the Nixon space statement was abruptly postponed just before Christmas. It is likely that the decision to take a relook at the NASA budget in late December was the proximate cause. It would have been embarrassing for the White House to release a space statement just as the NASA budget was undergoing additional reductions, and that possibility may well have become evident to the White House policy and communications staff in the December 20-22 period.
As the release of the statement was postponed, the hope was to have it available soon after the president made what were anticipated to be his final decisions on the NASA budget. After a few days’ hiatus for the Christmas holiday, the release was rescheduled for January 3, 1970. But this release was also postponed, as “Rachet 1” of the NASA budget took place over the turn of the year and “Rachet 2” seemed a possibility. On January 5, 1970, staff secretary Cole told speechwriter Keogh that “public release of this statement has been delayed indefinitely.”13