Preparing President Nixon for the Shuttle Meeting

As President Nixon prepared for his meeting on the space shuttle deci­sion, he was reminded of the overall situation with respect to California employment. Rose, in a January 3 memorandum forwarded to the president through Flanigan and Weinberger, reported that “a combination of actions set in motion by OMB, the Domestic Council, and this project [the White House California Employment Project] should produce at least 100,000 incremental jobs by November 1972,” in time for the presidential election. One element of this job creation effort, Rose reported, was “a ‘go’ signal on the NASA shuttle (1600 California jobs and a tremendous lift for aerospace industry).”22

It was standard practice in the Nixon White House to provide Nixon with detailed briefing material in advance of a scheduled meeting; this was the case with respect to his meeting with Fletcher and Low. Late on the after­noon of January 4, the Nixon aide who managed presidential meetings, Alex Butterfield, gave Nixon a briefing paper that had been prepared by Flanigan, including suggested talking points and a draft of the statement that would be issued to the press after the meeting. Butterfield noted that the state­ment reflected the selection of “Space Clipper” as the name for the shuttle, but that “John Ehrlichman and others have expressed some [unspecified] reservations with regard to this particular name.” Butterfield also gave the president as part of the briefing package Flanigan’s January 4 memorandum that listed three alternate names for the shuttle.

The briefing paper indicated that the president’s meeting with the NASA leaders was scheduled to last 15 minutes and its purpose was “to indicate your involvement in the decision to proceed with the development of a space shuttle.” This was another sign that Nixon had not been previously involved as the final decisions on shuttle configuration were made. The paper reminded Nixon that “you have decided that NASA will continue a man in space program, the next step of which is the design and manufacture of a space shuttle. (Dr. Fletcher will show you a model.)” It noted that “there has been considerable debate between NASA and OMB as to the proper size of the shuttle, with OMB driving for a substantial cost saving, but NASA get­ting the size it wants.” Also, “this program will greatly stimulate the aero­space industry.” Flanigan suggested that Nixon might “wish to ask Fletcher to describe the various scientific, earth applications and military missions for which the shuttle can be used” and that Nixon “should tell Fletcher the name you have chosen for the shuttle system.”23