The Nation: Cape Mcintire

Despite the astronauts’ success. Cape Kennedy is economically depressed. Now the Rev. Carl Mclntire, the right-wing Fundamentalist, plans a dual revival—fiscal and spiritual—for the ailing area. He will construct his version of heaven at the space center. His real estate purchases in recent weeks amount to an estimated $25 million and include the Cape Kennedy Hilton, a convention hall, office buildings, apartments and undeveloped land.

Mclntire wants to turn the Cape into a combination retirement village, college and convention center for supporters of his anti-Communist gospel. He has closed the bar in the Hilton and plans to impress the lessons of the Scriptures on visitors by converting buildings once owned by space contractors into replicas of biblical scenes. There will be a kitsch re-creation of King Solomon’s

Temple, complete with 15-ft.-high cherubim. He also hopes to organize tours of the space center, shuttling the customers on double-decker buses between his own celestial shop and NASA’s.