Mercury 13 Page #5

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A hundred years ago,

it was quite inconceivable

that women should serve

as hospital attendants.

Their essentially frail

and emotional structure

would never stand the horrors

of a military dressing station.

Finally, it was agreed

to allow some women to try it,

provided they were middle-aged and ugly,

ugly women presumably having

more strength of character.

I submit, Mr. Chairman,

that a woman in space today

is no more preposterous

than a woman in a field hospital

a hundred years ago.

Mrs. Hart,

youre the mother of eight children.

Do you think itll be difficult for

a woman astronaut to also have a family?

In which order? Uh...

- Well, Im asking you that. Which order?

- Um...

Well, Ive accomplished

the production of eight children

and am in the process of raising them,

and Ive still been able to acquire

2,000 hours of flying time

and considerable aeronautical experience,

and also to help my husband, uh,

in his campaigns and so forth.

So this indicates that Ive been able

to make constructive use of my time

outside of... of, uh having the children.

And I dont think that the family life

has been sacrificed one bit.

You should probably ask the children this

and see how they feel about it.

For her, if she can have eight kids

in ten years and make it work,

the idea of going to space,

I think, was not that great a challenge.

They once asked her, Why would you wanna

go to the moon? This was in the paper.

And she said, "With eight kids,

youd want to go to the moon too."

All right, Miss Cobb. Do you have

a prepared statement? Miss Cobb: Yes.

We women pilots

who want to be a part of space exploration

are not trying to join

a battle of the sexes.

We seek only a place

in our nations space future

without discrimination.

We ask as citizens of the nation

to be allowed to participate

with seriousness and sincerity

in the making of history now,

as women have done in the past.

No nation has yet sent a female

into space.

We offer you 13 women pilot volunteers.

Miss Cobb, do you think women

are being discriminated against

in the space program?

I dont think necessarily

theyre being discriminated against.

I think that the rules

have been established

to where it makes... it makes it impossible

for women to meet

the qualifications of astronauts.

The most hyped-up

qualifying catch-22, of course,

was that all of them were test pilots

and jet-certified pilots

and fighter pilots, in most cases.

So they had that qualification

that no women had.

But of course, they couldnt,

because they werent allowed

to become jet fighter pilots.

There was a law.

Eisenhower had put a law in

that for women to fly military aircraft,

they had to be men.

I dont think they should

become astronauts because, uh, uh,

I dont... men are more mature than women.

I think they should. I think that women

should have an equal right with men,

and if they would qualify and like to go,

they should be trained and sent.

Yes, I do. Because theyre, well,

theyre lighter, and small, and

Well, I just think they ought to be.

- And what about your opinion?

- No, I disagree. I think that, uh...

I dont think women are physically fit

to be astronauts.

I certainly do think

women should be astronauts.

If theyre physically fit, mentally alert,

theyre not any different than men are.

In fact, there are less women

going to psychiatrists than men,

so that gives you some idea

as to their mental capabilities.

The people who held the hearing,

they were in such awe of the astronauts

who came and spoke and testified.

Scott Carpenter and John Glenn

gave their point of view.

John Glenn was the hero. He was God.

Space God.

Oh, John Glenn. Yes.

Not one of our familys

favorite characters,

certainly not Mothers.

John Glenn made his statement.

Its just a fact.

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 the women

are not in this field

is a fact of our social order.

He said that," If the women can prove

they're better than the men,

then well welcome them with open arms

to the cheers of the multitude."

Yeah, right.

But if you could find women

better qualified than yourself,

how would you welcome them in the program?

They would be very welcome.

Can you imagine a woman flying a jet

or flying a dangerous aircraft?

Oh! Goodness gracious, no.

But Jacqueline Cochran had flown the jets.

Shed shattered all kinds of records.

She had access to the jets

because her husband, Floyd Odlum,

was building the jets now

for the air force.

So she proved that the women

could fly the jets.

When it finally came down to the hearing,

the congressional hearing, she testified.

Of course, Floyd Odlum and Jackie Cochran

were large supporters

of the Lovelace Foundation.

So I didnt give up hope.

This is great.

Oh, boy.

All right. So Im reading

from the testimony of Jacqueline Cochran.

The manned spaceflights

are extremely expensive

and also urgent in the national interests,

and therefore, in selecting astronauts,

it was natural and proper

to sift them from the group of male pilots

who had already proven,

by aircraft testing

and high-speed precision flying,

that they were experienced,

competent, and qualified

to meet possible emergencies

in a new environment.

From all I have been told

by the newspapers,

that we do not want

to slow down our program,

and you are going to have to,

of necessity,

waste a great deal of money

when you take a large group of women in,

because you lose them through marriage.

I find this stunning.

Why? Why had Jacqueline Cochran done this?

She had basically knocked down

the women of the space program.

How she stomached it then, I dont know.

The most shocking thing

about the hearings was that

we felt like Jackie turned against us.

Janey and Jerrie counted on Jackie Cochran

supporting them.

And Jackie Cochran did not do

what they thought she was gonna do.

- That was a shock. Yeah.

- Yeah, it was much of a shock.

Jacqueline Cochran sort of

Now, she had always

worked with the military.

And so Jackie was convinced by the brass,

by these generals,

if she tried to push this now,

that it was going to have a bad effect

on the program.

In fact, it might even stop the program.

Well, I think thats ludicrous,

but she bought in.

And they took my testimony.

I sent it around and got

what I was going to say approved

by the chief of staff of the air force,

the chief of naval operations,

and the army,

and with a little note that said,

This is what Im gonna say.

But if you dont agree with it,

Ill try to avoid testifying

and I wont say anything.

Jackie Cochran was not a feminist.

In my mind, the definition of a feminist

is someone who really champions

and promotes women.

Jackie was a champion of Jackie.

I think if Jackie had been

one of the 13 in that program,

her entire demeanor, her entire testimony,

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