The Protracted Conflict

My comments a few months ago on the SST project evoked, or provoked, a lot of letters, the majority of them anti. Most were both literate and thoughtful; they proved, at a minimum, that the anti-SST lobby has done a first-rate job. Some of the arguments were serious enough; some, indeed, I agree with, for, though I am pro-, very strongly pro-SST, I do not pretend that the case is open-and-shut.

However, I want to turn away from the economic and technical to the historical dimensions of the SST issue: to see the SST as symbol. The House passed the $290-million appropriation required to get the SST through its next phase by a bare thirteen-vote margin. It will have a rough time in the Senate, which is expected to vote within six weeks or so. In my judgment, that Chamber has seldom confronted a more momentous decision.

My comments a few months ago on the SST project evoked, or provoked, a lot of letters, the majority of them anti. Most were both literate and thoughtful; they proved, at a minimum, that the anti-SST lobby has done a first-rate job. Some of the arguments were serious enough; some, indeed, I agree with, for, though I am pro-, very strongly pro-SST, I do not pretend that the case is open-and-shut.

However, I want to turn away from the economic and technical to the historical dimensions of the SST issue: to see the SST as symbol. The House passed the $290-million appropriation required to get the SST through its next phase by a bare thirteen-vote margin. It will have a rough time in the Senate, which is expected to vote within six weeks or so. In my judgment, that Chamber has seldom confronted a more momentous decision.