Addressing the graduating class of the U.S. Air Force Academy last week, President Kennedy dropped into his speech a new section that had not been in the text issued the day before. Said the President: "I'm announcing today that the United States will commit itself to develop a commercially successful supersonic transport superior to that being built in any other country in the world."
Advised by Lindbergh. Though a presidential decision on the SST had been expected, Kennedy's timing was obviously triggered by what he called "competition from across the Atlantic." Only the...