Abstract
On October 4, 1962, President Kennedy appointed the 13 men (there were no women) charged with incorporating Comsat, raising money, issuing stock, dealing with foreign partners, and hiring staff. On October 22, 1963, the 13 incorporators met for the first time in the American Red Cross building in 17th Street across from the White House. They confirmed Philip L. Graham (publisher of the Washington Post) as chairman and elected Sam Harris (lawyer) as vice-chairman. The remaining incorporators included Edgar F. Kaiser (manufacturing executive), David M. Kennedy (banker), Sidney J. Weinberg (finance), Bruce G. Sundlun (lawyer), Byrne L. Litschgi (lawyer), Beardsley Graham (aerospace engineer), Leonard Woodcock (labor executive), George J. Feldman (lawyer), Leonard Marks (telecommunications lawyer), John T. Connor (pharmaceutical executive), George F. Killion (shipping executive): five lawyers, three company presidents, two financiers, one publisher, one labor representative, and one engineer. Only Leonard Marks had any connection to the telecommunications business and only Beardsley Graham had any engineering expertise—almost half were lawyers. Their first task was to incorporate; their second to issue stock—perhaps as much as $500 million worth.1
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
John F. Kennedy
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Notes
S.H. Reiger, R.T. Nichols, L.B. Early, and E. Dews, Communications Satellites: Technology, Economics, and System Choices RM-3487-RC, February 1963 (Santa Monica: RAND, 1963).
US Congress, Military Operations subcommittee, Government Operations Committee, Report, Satellite Communications: Military-Civil Roles and Relations, 1964, pp. 105–113.
Authorized User, Earth Station Ownership, and Thirty Circuits are discussed in Michael Kinsley, Outer Space and Inner Sanctums (New York: Wiley, 1976);
Joseph N. Pelton and Marcellus S. Snow eds, Economic and Policy Problems in Satellite Communications (New York: Praeger, 1977);
and Jonathan F. Galloway, The Politics and Technology of Satellite Communications (Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1972).
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© 2014 David J. Whalen
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Whalen, D.J. (2014). Creating COMSAT. In: The Rise and Fall of COMSAT. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137396938_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137396938_3
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