On New Frontiers
I met an American Idol this week. Actually, he is more of an American Icon: Gene Kranz. He was the Flight Director during the golden age of American space exploration that included all of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions. He led the flight control team for the first lunar mission when Neil Armstrong landed with just 17 seconds of fuel to spare. And it was he who heard the famous words uttered by Jim Lovell, Mission Commander of the ill-fated Apollo 13: Houston, we have a problem. And it was he whose determined leadership and team spirit provided the ultimate response: Failure is not an option.
Mr. Kranz and I shared breakfast together and talked like two old pilots are wont to do, using our hands as much as our mouths. We swapped stories. His were far more interesting than mine. There is no mission more interesting to debrief than Apollo 13. His story was succinct and captivating. If you are of my age, you probably remember it well from memory or from the movie of the same name so I won’t go into detail here.
What I want to talk about are his comments regarding spaceflight, our national will and our tolerance for risk and reward. Let me start by reading the wonderful inscription that Gene Kranz wrote for me in his book.
“Inspired by a brash, young and articulate President, we rose to the challenge and won the war for space.”
That brash, young and articulate President was John F. Kennedy. He said,
“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”
That war was fought by engineers who averaged 26 years of age; using a hundred “computers,” real people with slide rules and graph paper instead a laptop; designers who invented new alloys and developed new metallurgy to carry man into space; and intrepid explorers who all risked their lives and some who lost theirs in an effort to fulfill the destiny of mankind to seek new frontiers, this one in space.
President Kennedy committed us to meet not only the challenge of space but the “other things,” too. They were different times back in 1962. We were in Cold War with the Soviet Union; we were at the precipice of expanding the war in Vietnam; the Cuban Missile Crisis was just in front of us; and we had successfully led the planet from the rubble of a World War. We had the best and we had the brightest talent in the world upon whose shoulders we could support an entire nation and lead an entire world. There was a lot on our plate.
We met great challenges with the courage and confidence that springs from a determined national leadership, a strong national identity and a frontier spirit. Each challenge is measured in terms of risk versus reward. America was a risk taker and a reaper of great rewards.
I told Mr. Kranz that I became a Navy pilot in hopes of becoming an astronaut. He wondered aloud, “what will we become if our children can’t dream of being an astronaut?”
What has become of us? We are no longer risk takers. We have traded our frontier spirit for the living room couch. We shield our children from competition: no dodge ball; no tag; no losers. The richest among us no longer create things of value. The poorest among us no longer have to work.
In the absence of a manned space program, we are shutting down large chunks of our space infrastructure. We are discarding thousands of engineers and interrupting the steady stream of knowledge and experience that we toiled so long and hard to earn. We are abrogating the highest of high technology to other countries whose own sense of national identity calls for bold and brash leadership. We beat the Russians to the moon and now we hitch a ride into space from them.
These times call for brash leadership in America. If we are ever to reemerge as the preeminent power on this planet and resume our leadership of the free world, then we must stake our claim on new frontiers and new challenges that inspire a generation to work hard and to engage our very best talent in its successful pursuit. Lofty goals and high ambition must be met with the sweat of our brow with our shoulders to the wheel. America’s destiny has always been to lead.
Gene Kranz is no longer the brash, young and articulate man of 30-something who led mission control during its’ finest hour. But age has not diminished his message that bold leadership and accountability mitigate risk and leads to ultimate reward.
Are you listening Mr. President? America, we have a problem and failure is not an option.
Press on.
Filed under Essay, Uncategorized
On Scandalous Behavior: A Radio Essay for June 11, 2011
There were a lot of headlines this week from which to choose the subject of this week’s essay. A continuing war in Libya that is escalating in cost; a secret war in Yemen involving US forces; the US economy nearing free fall; Presidential hopefuls who have declared themselves to be “in;” those who have declared themselves to be “out;” and those who said they were “out” but who really mean that they’re “in.”
As compelling as those topics are, I found myself nearly obsessed with the Twitter scandal of the Congressman from New York City, Anthony Weiner. Please let me explain. This is not about the sordid details of the transgression, once denied but now admitted. Many, but certainly not all, of the facts are now in evidence. This is not intended to be a psychological analysis of what drove him to his actions. I will leave that to the long discussions he will have with his analyst.
Rather, this is intended to be a discussion of what is relevant to the conversation we are having about the future of our Republic. Every day, we slide deeper and deeper into debt to nations that do not have our best interests at heart. Every day, we make financial gifts to unstable foreign governments. We write checks against borrowed money. Every day, we are undermining long standing relationships and alliances with nations who have been our only friend in regions of great turmoil. Every day, we add fuel to the fires of the Arab Spring cum Summer that will have outcomes in the transference of power that, once again, do not have the best interests of the United States in mind, much less that of Israel.
Gas prices hovering near $4 per gallon; food prices skyrocketing; engagement in 3 military conflicts that snatch the treasures of our youth; the US Dollar depreciating against all currencies, including the Yen! (One would think the one country we should have an advantage against is one whose industry has been ravaged by tsunami and earthquake and radiation.) Home mortgages underwater in record numbers; State and municipal budgets in shambles; the 2011 Federal budget the product of a continuing resolution and the 2012 budget not yet proposed by the President.
There is a lot on our plate. And what dominated the conversation in Washington? A photograph did. A self-portrait, if you will, of the member of a Member of Congress, and the deceitful behavior that followed. While Rome burned, Congressman Weiner was chatting it up with hotties across the country whom, supposedly, he had never met, exchanging sexual pleasantries as if they were his with his wife. His wife. Did I mention that he has a wife?
So, now Congressman Weiner joins a long line of recent reprobates from government: Elliot Spitzer, Bill Clinton, John Edwards, and Wilbur Mills to name a few. I could go far back in time to other notables but these will suffice.
Call me a Pollyanna but I really do love the Jimmy Stewart/Frank Capra classic movie, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” It premiered in 1939 and remains quite relevant to contemporary times. Mr. Smith was tempted by fame, fortune and femme fatales but managed to cling to the roots of what made him the man that he was.
Ultimately, the real Mr. Smith prevailed. It was a happy ending. I hold out less confidence for the current crop of long term incumbents in Washington. The problem is this: I cannot trust them: not with my finances; not with my liberty; and, certainly not with daughters!
I am astounded that so many people remain un-offended by Congressman Weiner’s actions. Imagine if it were your daughter on the receiving end of the photo texts or intimate telephone chats. Imagine if it were your daughter were an intern in the Clinton White House. I, for one, cannot separate public performance from personal behavior. They are linked.
There was a time when serving as an intern or page was nothing but prestigious. Now, it is tainted with scandal by self-serving narcissists who think that government is them. We are the government and we deserve better. I want to hold my Congressman in high esteem. I want them to behave in the best possible manner. I want them to be a reflection of a society that I believe is good, true and moral.
Jerry Springer Nation has arrived in Washington. If they won’t resign on their own, let’s do it the old fashioned way. Vote the bums out.
Press on.
the american century 