Fighting for Space

by Amy Shira Teitel

  The whole room chuckled at the idea.

  “I think this gets back to the way our social order is organized, really,” John finished with a simple summary. “The men go off and fight the wars and fly the airplanes and come back and help design and build and test them. The fact that women are not in this field is a fact of our social order. It may be undesirable. It obviously is, but we are only looking, as I said before, to people with certain qualifications. If anybody can meet them I am all for them.”

  “I think Colonel Glenn hit in his statement on the exact differences of opinion which exist here,” Congressman Joe Waggonner said, in praise of John’s analysis. “This program is developed to this point because of the differences in our social order which time has laid down for us.” The men then went back and forth passing the buck on who cancelled the Pensacola testing without reaching any conclusions.

  Congressman Walter Moeller from Ohio jumped into the fray. “If today our priority program is getting a man on the Moon maybe we should ask the good ladies to be patient and let us get this thing accomplished first and then go after training women astronauts,” he suggested.

  George agreed. “I think that even Miss Cochran yesterday in her testimony had this very same point of view, that a training program for women should in no way interfere with our program.”

  James Fulton remained the lone voice in support of Jerrie and Janey’s cause. “That means that if we are going to the Moon within this decade, it is telling these women they are going to wait ten years,” he said. “That is the same thing that has been said to women when they were interested in suffrage, or when they were interested in planes.” He tried one last time to argue that launching history’s first woman into space was a coup against the Soviet Union, but the subcommittee remained unconvinced.

  Victor finally made his recommendation to NASA on behalf of the subcommittee. “Go back and talk to Mr. Webb and Dr. Dryden and come up with some kind of a program so that you can continue to have the bipartisan support which you have always seen and enjoyed,” he said. “I want to take this last opportunity of congratulating our two great American astronauts who have demonstrated not only a great ability in the field in which they are engaged but also that they have assumed a personal responsibility, whether they like it or not, of demonstrating leadership throughout the world.” With that, he concluded the hearing.

  In the viewing gallery, Jerrie sat stunned. There was no mention of why the third day had been cancelled, and Jerrie couldn’t understand it. She’d been hoping for another day to repeat her views, for another rebuttal, to offer her scientific analysis of her merits and another look at her qualifications. The room filled with chatter as the men and women around her rose to leave. She turned to Janey and saw her own shocked expression looking back at her.

  27About $424,760 in 2019.

  Chapter 23

  After the Hearing, July 1962

  “Break loose now, the door is open,” began the telegram Jerrie sent the Lovelace women almost as soon as she left the hearing. “Now you can help further our cause. Suggest you contact everyone you can requesting they wire President Kennedy at the White House, urging immediate program for women in space.” It was her call to action. Though the House subcommittee hearing had shown that her flying credentials weren’t up to what NASA needed, she remained convinced that pushing even harder would somehow reverse the decision. With all of their names finally public, she hoped the pilots could all band together and present a united front to the president. Coupled with the expected press coverage, she believed they had a good chance of Victor’s recommendation actually nudging NASA in their favor.

  International Women’s Air and Space Museum

  “Barring women unfair, unwise, and un-American; third aviatrix urges caution.” Press coverage began the following day with short articles about the subcommittee hearing buried midway through national newspapers. They told the public the names of all the women who successfully took the medical tests at the Lovelace Clinic, that the experts’ testimonies had disagreed on key points, and that all three female witnesses were blond.

  Jerrie and Janey were lauded for fighting on behalf of women everywhere. Stories focused on Jerrie’s statement that she didn’t want to slow down the nation’s space program, she just wanted women to start training so they would be ready when the time came. Many journalists agreed, editorializing that society ought to cease frowning on women who sought to combine family life with a career. The press also picked up Jerrie’s assertion that she represented the whole group who had taken the Lovelace medical tests; she and Janey were described as leaders of an “intrepid band of would-be lady astronauts,” courageous women who were taking on the space agency that had cancelled their navy tests two days before they were due to start. Other writers picked up Jerrie’s comment about Glenda the chimp and suggested that trim and tailored Jerrie “had every reason to be satisfied with what she was” and shouldn’t draw a comparison between herself and a chimpanzee. Jerrie was described as the lone invitee to a testing program that was only expanded after her successful completion of the medical phase. Robert C. Ruark wrote in the Telegram that the requirement for astronauts to be pilots was little more than splitting hairs. “I am inclined to swing along with Jerrie Cobb,” he wrote, “who is practically rarin’ to jostle a star.” The Daily Oklahoman labeled its home state hero “the Space Suffragette.”

  They weren’t the only “lady astronauts” mentioned. With their names now known, journalists tracked down the other Lovelace pilots. “I’ve been saying this for two years,” Wally Funk told the Los Angeles Times. “Just let Russia send one woman into space and the United States will launch a crash program to do the same…and I understand Russia is training women for space missions.”

  Jackie, meanwhile, was portrayed as the villain. Though every article acknowledged that she held “more speed, distance, and altitude records than any other living person,” she was criticized for her “go-slow approach in licensing women for spaceflight.” Her comment about attrition due to marriage was cited in nearly every article alongside her statement in favor of a large research program to avoid the spectacle of women falling flat on their faces. Phyllis Battelle writing for the San Francisco News Call Bulletin went so far as to suggest that Jackie was trying to keep women out of space to keep her crown as the foremost flyer in the country.

  The men’s reviews were as mixed as the women’s. George Low was described as “chivalry itself as he skated delicately around questions as to why women aren’t in the program.” James Fulton, on the other hand, was mocked for his inconsistency. “Just about every famous female except Cleopatra was brought into the act yesterday on behalf of women as astronauts,” one reporter wrote, adding that the same congressman directed his “tongue in cheek barrage” at Jackie, the best-known woman pilot. John Glenn emerged every bit the national hero, the press asserting that the Mercury astronaut “would welcome a qualified woman aboard his spacecraft ‘with open arms.’” Some articles opined that women were just trying to invade the last male frontier of space. Male and female writers were divided, some believing that there were enough men to fill out NASA’s astronaut corps and others supporting seeing women in space. Others were just pleased to know that not a dime of taxpayer money had gone to testing the women.

  None of these articles offered an honest discussion of the stark differences in background and experiences between the Mercury astronauts and the female pilots.

  * * *

  Jerrie wasn’t willing to let the hearing be the last word on her dream of flying in space. On the morning of July 20, she submitted an additional statement for the hearing’s official record; she felt compelled to do something in light of the hearing’s final day being cancelled. Then she sent a telegram to Jack Kennedy’s office: “Respectfully request appointment to discuss women in space program.”

  The telegram was routed from the White House to NASA with the request that Jim Webb acknowledge or otherwise s
uitably handle the request.

  Two weeks later, Jim’s reply told Jerrie that the president’s schedule “is such that it is impossible for him to grant you the appointment which you requested,” and furthermore the agency’s views on women in space had been thoroughly examined during the subcommittee hearing. But, Jim wrote, he would consent to discuss the matter with her further “if you think it would serve any useful purpose, and a mutually convenient time can be arranged.”

  Jerrie jumped at the chance to continue her conversation with NASA. She wrote back immediately saying she was willing to travel to Washington on a moment’s notice to “discuss, work, serve, assist, train” or do anything that would expedite getting a woman into space. In her fervor, she revealed her motivation wasn’t to start a women’s astronaut program. Her aim was purely personal; the only woman she cared about getting into space was herself. “If I went back to college and got an engineering degree and managed some way to get some jet test pilot experience, could you tell me if I’d be acceptable as an astronaut candidate then?” she asked before making another appeal. “If you would just give me a chance to work out on the simulators when they are not busy, then we would know if I needed to go back and get the degree and jet test time. I beg of you just for the opportunity to prove myself.”

  * * *

  The press’s tone in covering the hearing irked Jackie. All the articles read as if the writers didn’t understand the dangers of spaceflight, the experimental nature of Randy’s medical program, or that forcing a crash program would do the women more harm than good. She was particularly irritated with Phyllis Battelle for her unfair piece that overlooked the fact that she, Jackie, had funded the women’s medical testing and was footing the bill for Pensacola, too.

  Even Floyd was aggravated, not only with the media’s unfavorable portrayal of his wife, but also with some of the things Jerrie had said in the hearing. Reading the transcript of her statement, he penciled a list of questions on scratch paper he’d like to ask her on the record. “Were you selected as an astronaut officially by NASA or by any other official body? Who requested you to take the medical test at Albuquerque? Who paid for the tests? Did you sell a story to LIFE magazine based in large part on such tests? Do you have any present arrangement with LIFE magazine or any other magazine as to future publicity concerning yourself or the subject of women in space?”

  Jackie was more concerned with making sure she hadn’t misunderstood Jerrie’s role in all this. She called Randy, who confirmed over the phone that not only were some of Jerrie’s statements poorly worded, a number of them were not factual. At no time had he and Don Flickinger planned to test only one woman, and though he hadn’t overseen it himself he knew the three girls who had done psychological testing hadn’t done the correct tests. As far as he knew, the girls had neither met as a group nor agreed to put Jerrie forward as their spokeswoman as she implied in her testimony. Confirmation on this last point left Jackie dismayed. She couldn’t understand Jerrie’s audacity in presenting herself as the group’s spokeswoman. She knew opinions among the women varied; Gene Nora’s letter to Jackie saying “I’m on your team” was evidence enough that Jerrie didn’t speak for everyone. She decided to see for herself what the women had to say.

  Eisenhower Presidential Library

  “As you probably know, there were some hearings before a House Committee of Congress last week on the subject of whether women have been or are being discriminated against in the astronaut program.”

  Each of the Lovelace women got the same letter from Jackie in the first week of August. She told them that she, Jerrie, and Janey had testified, and since she had sent them all her March 23 letter to Jerrie, her inclosure of a copy of her letter to the counsel for the committee didn’t tell them anything they didn’t know. “I spoke only for myself without claim to represent any of the women who passed the Lovelace tests,” she told them. “Miss Cobb stated she was the spokeswoman for all of the ten not present. I am satisfied this is not true as to some who had already expressed their views to me. Was she authorized to act as spokeswoman to you? I’ll be glad to hear from you.”

  B Steadman was shocked when she read Jackie’s testimony. She knew full well that no one had promised them a flight in space, but she was nevertheless disappointed that Jackie hadn’t taken advantage of a room full of congressmen to stand in defense of women’s abilities. “For Heaven’s sake, Miss Cochran,” B wrote in her reply to Jackie, “if this Space Program has meaning, why don’t you grab the reins and get it going. It needs one leader with wisdom, understanding and the ability to get people to work together. We are without this type of leadership now.” She then asked for some resolution on the future; she had an aviation business to run, so if nothing was going to come from this testing she wanted to get back to her regular life.

  Janey, of course, wasn’t surprised; she had read Jackie’s statement and heard her testimony. She’d long had a hunch that Jackie, too old to go into space herself, was attempting to control the program lest one of the other women eclipse her. But she also recognized that Jackie had funded their little experiment. Regardless of their opposing opinions, Janey also felt the press had misinterpreted their statements, taking their words out of context and focusing as much on their hair color as their flying skills. As such, her reply to Jackie was marked by the grace befitting a senator’s wife. “Knowing how busy your schedule is, I am one who can appreciate the effort you made to appear in Washington at the hearing. Isn’t it amazing what a flavor the press can put into a story? I am going to try to get the transcript into the mail as soon as they are corrected and printed. In the unlikely event you have not gotten yours I will be delighted to supply you.”

  Some of the other women were more upset with Jerrie than with Jackie. K Cagle, for one. “In your letter you asked if I had authorized Jerrie Cobb to be my spokesman,” she wrote to Jackie. “No ma’am, I have not.” K had assumed that Jerrie had been appointed their leader since they had all been asked to direct their questions and correspondence to her. In truth, K trusted Jackie’s judgment. “You are asking for what we CAN get, Jerrie Cobb is asking for the impossible. I am on your team.”

  Eisenhower Presidential Library

  Jan Dietrich remained as devoted to Jackie as ever and told her that “Jerrie did not ask permission to represent me at the hearing.” She was angry that Jerrie had appeared before Congress as her spokeswoman without permission, giving the press a false view of where she stood on the matter. She wanted to see the testing continued, but she was worried that the antagonism brought on by the hearings would prove more of a hindrance than a help. Marion echoed her sister. “I believe Jerrie thought it necessary for her to represent the whole group,” she told Jackie. “She did not speak to me about this.”

  Irene Leverton didn’t mince words. She was angry, angry that she only heard about the hearing after the fact and hadn’t been asked to submit her views for the record. “Miss Cobb is not my spokesman, officially or unofficially. I disagree with many of her views although, I do want a continued program.” She felt the overall media coverage was bad for their possible continued testing. “To beat Russia with a female astronaut was very poor thinking on Jerrie’s part, I’m afraid the idea hurt us all a lot,” she wrote. “I’m sorry that a statement by each of us wasn’t read at the hearings. Perhaps sometime in the future we women will start pulling together.” Irene was mad enough to wire Jerrie after the hearing to express her anger. She also wired George Low and George Miller. She wanted it on the record that Jerrie did not speak for her. She also granted interviews to journalists, as did Jan; they both felt compelled to set the record straight after Jerrie’s misrepresentation. Both Jean Hixson and Rhea Hurrle—now going by her married name of Rhea Allison Woltman—were less reactionary. Both replied to Jackie that they simply wanted to see their testing continued.

  At the end of the month, the Lovelace women got yet another “Dear FLATs” letter from Jerrie. After asking each of them to send
Janey a “candid and glamorous” photograph of themselves “not in pants” for an upcoming article in Town and Country magazine, she addressed the issue of representation. “So that we can stick together as a group there should be a central contact for all publicity on a national level. I will handle it from here if you want me to,” she offered. She was still holding on to the notion that this group of pilots who had never met were some kind of cohesive group, and that their very varied opinions could somehow be brought into line with her own. “Also, there should be one spokesman for the group and I would appreciate your views on that. As my prepared statement before the subcommittee pointed out, I assumed that role more or less by default, and because I have worked three years getting this program started.” Her pleas and appeals for the other women to help promote her personal ambitions were becoming increasingly desperate.

  * * *

  On August 12, the Soviets scored another first. Vostok 4 launched to join Vostok 3 in orbit, marking the first time two missions with two cosmonauts flew simultaneously. The next day Jerrie sent another telegram to Jack Kennedy. “Hope in light of new Russian space achievement you will reconsider my request to discuss with you United States putting first women in space.”

  Again, the White House rerouted her request to NASA asking Jim Webb to deal with her. Jim reiterated that the president couldn’t see her before explaining that “the Soviet space activities of the past week do not warrant, in my judgement, a reappraisal of this agency’s policy with respect to the utilization of women astronauts at this juncture in our program.”

  Though she was getting the brush-off from NASA at every turn, Jerrie still had some media support. That month’s issue of LIFE magazine named her among the 100 most important young movers and shakers in the country, labeling her an “astronaut in training.” The international media, too, was still keen on her story, mailing requests for official press pictures to go along with their stories. Every so often she sent copies of these requests to Jim. “Just a short note to accompany enclosures which might interest and amuse you. I hope you don’t mind if I keep trying ’cause this means more to me than life itself. All I can do is keep working, trying and praying.”