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I've seen this claimed repeatedly, but no authoritative evidence, and I am not convinced. Was Proxmire really that famous as anti-space crusader by May 1961 (minus however long the story was in the pipeline – it is ironic that its publication more or less coincided with JFK's "before this decade is out" address; its description of NASA indeed fits its more modest and slower beginnings) as he became a decade or two later? His Wikipedia entry, nor anything else I've been able to Google up, does not shed any light on this.

So, I'll appreciate any details on

  1. the story's (pre)history
  2. Proxmire's early career as relates to this issue.

Fun fact: Google Books shows that the story was reprinted in 1973 NASA Authorization, Hearings Before the Committee ... U. S. House of Representatives, after it was invoked by two leaders of the "Federation of Americans Supporting Science and Technology", actually just university students. No specific reference to Proxmire was made there.

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  • Hi, welcome to SF&F. Can you cite a source for the claim that it was aimed at Proxmire?
    – DavidW
    Commented Oct 4, 2022 at 23:38
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    Hi and thanks. I hope this doesn't get me into problems here, but... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_and_the_Senator#Background as well as the sixth paragraph of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
    – Jan Vaněk jr.
    Commented Oct 4, 2022 at 23:41
  • Another one would be Academia Obscura: The Hidden Silly Side of Higher Education by Glen Wright, 2017. books.google.cz/…
    – Jan Vaněk jr.
    Commented Oct 4, 2022 at 23:46
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    Digging in to Wikipedia's source (jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/extension-cord-from-space) is likely more illuminating than linking to Wikipedia itself.
    – Spencer
    Commented Oct 5, 2022 at 14:24
  • I got to Wikipedia FROM the review; while this may not be citogenesis plain and simple, it is not particularly illuminating for my purposes. JDN is a great fan writer, but he's only human and errs all too often (like here in the story's date). To reiterate, Proxmire became a favorite target of the Niven/Pournelle generation, in the seventies when he (and they) were on the top of their respective power, and NASA's budget kept being cut. I've seen no evidence he warranted this by 1961.
    – Jan Vaněk jr.
    Commented Oct 5, 2022 at 22:45

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