Office of the Historian

120. Memorandum From the Deputy Director, Policy and Plans, United States Information Agency (Sorensen) to the Director, Motion Picture Service1

Washington, April 25, 1963.

Mr. Murrow asked me to suggest to you a treatment for a film on the Negro astronaut candidate.2 How about something along these lines:

Introduce the entire group of new candidates, and then examine in detail a couple of the newcomers, one of whom would be the Negro candidate.

First of all, the film would describe the personal qualities, experience and abilities the successful candidates had to possess in order to win their appointment to the Astronaut program. This would provide the opportunity for a presentation of highlights of the candidates’ family and professional histories.

The film would next present highlights of the taxing training program, not only suggesting the exceptional calibre of men chosen for our space program but also forcefully presenting the thoroughness and sophistication of the U.S. program. The two chosen candidates would be shown going through some of this training, ranging from such requirements as the three day hike through a desert without water, to that of mastering the use and control of complicated instruments.

This film, tactfully spotlighting the Negro candidate, would have an additional value as a kind of counterpoise to the Russian use of a woman Astronaut, if indeed such a launch occurs and succeeds.

Thomas C. Sorensen3
  1. Source: National Archives, RG 306, DIRCTR Sub Files, 1963–69, Bx 6–29 63–69: Acc: #72A5121, Entry UD WW 257, Box 9, Government Agencies—NASA 1963. No classification marking. Drafted by Brooke. A copy was sent to Murrow. In the upper right corner of the memorandum, Murrow wrote his initials, “ERM.” Above Murrow’s initials, Harris wrote his own initials, “RH,” and the date, “4/26.”↩
  2. Air Force Captain Edward J. Dwight, Jr. was the first African-American selected for the Aerospace Research Pilot School in March. See “First Negro Picked for Space Training,” The Chicago Tribune, March 31, 1963, p. 14.↩
  3. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩