1951

We're a little surprised at the lack of flak over the special issue and our nomination of '51's "gifts." At the very least I expected to hear from somebody's mother berating me for slighting by omission. Not a word! Now, after reading other classes' contributions, I would like to have had a second chance. A more thoughtful list would have surely included all who served in the nation's armed forces and related work. Of course, space limits obliged a final, painful cut of a few names, names I'd rather not reveal. You can always entertain the delusion that you were in that group.

Dick Barnes and Toni made Madison the stopover during their annual trip from Washington, D.C., to the Maine coast, where they have long summered. Still with NASA, Dick brought me news of Paris, where both of us were fortunately assigned for non-overlapping four-year stints. Dick tells me that Bob McCabe, still with that fabulous journal, The International Herald Tribune, has the most remarkable seventh- floor apartment in the Seventh Arrondissement. He overlooks Sacre Coeur, Les Invalides, and other magnificent sights. Dick and Toni bought a small place in the Marais (a neighborhood of Paris) for what now seems an almost modest sum. This allows them to return to Paris fairly frequently, whether NASA needs them there or not.

Dick had recently returned from two weeks in Russia, where he and a NASA team had gained unprecedented access to space facilities and a variety of scientists, engineers, and managers. They were assessing the conversion of the Soviet aerospace program to whatever it will become in the context of the new federation. Dick's observations would not have been possible a few years ago, and even today his four-page de-briefing makes a reader feel like closing the doors and drawing the shades.

Back in Washington, Dick frequently sees Lloye Miller, a lobbyist (in the best sense of that word, of course) for the aerospace industry, and, from time to time, Dick Halloran.

The Barneses left me the August issue of the Washingtonian, a glossy news magazine for those inside the D.C. Beltway. MikeHeyman's ascent to the secretariat of the Smithsonian is described in excruciating detail. (Many of you had sent me press clippings from around the country.) More than just another appointment, we are talking about "one of the most prestigious posts in American cultural life," and one always held by a scientist, which Mike is not. The selection process was complicated by Vice President Gore, an ex-officio member of the board, who, while not opposed to Mike, had his own candidate. Gore, along with some others, wanted a scientist, and this rival candidate had launched a powerful PR campaign involving political powers and influential supporters of the Institute. However, at the final vote of the board, Heyman was the choice of a substantial majority. Gore graciously joined in a motion to make it unanimous. Mike will be dealing with a huge public-private hybrid faced with declining revenues and always ambitious goals. He was introduced to the press as "a man of intelligence, warmth, charm, courage, resilience, good judgement, and the leadership qualities the job demanded." We wish him well.

If you read your DAM immediately upon delivery—as you should—it may still be possible to join about 51 '51s in Hanover for the Yale game, the bonfire, the laughter and the tears. Hope to see you. Stay well; talk to me.

48 Webster Point Road, Madison, CT 06443; Compuserve 73524,2707

Dick Barnes and a NASA team gained unprecedented access to space facilities and scientists in Russia. BILL BROOKS '51