mail by missile
TRANSCRIPT
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Mail by MissileNancy A. Pope, Curator of Postal Operations
Smithsonian National Postal Museum
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National Postal MuseumThe National Postal Museum is located in the old Post Office building next to Union Station in Washington, D.C.
The museum is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., except December 25.
Admission is free.
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America in 1959
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America in 1959
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America in 1959[The Soviets will be]
dropping bombs on us from space like kids dropping rocks onto cars from freeway
overpasses.Lyndon B. Johnson,
US Senate Majority Leader, 1957
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The Idea
Arthur E. Summerfield, U.S. Postmaster General
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The Idea
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The Idea
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GroundworkSeptember 16, 1958
Regulus II fired from the U.S.S. Grayback (SSG-547)
May 1, 1959
Regulus I land launch, California
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The Regulus I
Photograph courtesy of Ronald Phillipi
Loading Regulus missile aboard USS Barbero at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 1960.
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The Regulus I
Loading Regulus missile aboard USS Barbero at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 1960.
Photograph courtesy of Ronald Phillipi
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USS Barbero
Regulus I missile onboard the USS Barbero
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How it Worked
Lt. Cdr. Carlos Dew, Captain of the USS Barbero and Postmaster General Summerfield watch as the Regulus I missile mail is loaded aboard the submarine.
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How it Worked
One of the two Regulus I missile
containers used on the June 8, 1959 flight.
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How it Workedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLrA8_5K_Dc
Or
http://tinyurl.com/n2rl4l
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Guidance
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Red Bird Lands
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Postmaster General Summerfield, flanked by Navy Capt. Arnold Schade, Lt. Cdr. Carlos Drew, and Deputy Postmaster General Edson Sessions.
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Success!
Postmaster General Summerfield and Deputy Postmaster General Sessions
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Success!
Front and back of one of the missile mail envelopes.
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Delivery
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Collectors Get AngryI have been collecting First Day Covers for the past 10 years . . . Being a taxpayer and financing in part, at least, this historic firing, I feel that I should be given the opportunity to obtain one of the First Day Covers along with the other 2,999 people.
John Gagliardi, Lyndhurst, NJ
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Collectors Get Angry
My good friend Arthur Godfrey tells me he is quite sure if I write you personally, I would get one.Wm. C. Notmeyer, San Francisco, CA
I have enclosed 20 cents to purchase one of these covers. If that is too much money, please keep the rest as my donation to the efforts.David Skerry, Medford, MA
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Substitutes
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I believe we will see Missile Mail developed to a significant degree before man has reached the moon.
Guided missiles may ultimately provide a solution to problems of swifter mail delivery for international mails, as well as a supplementary high-priority service to big population areas.
Arthur E. Summerfield, Postmaster GeneralJune 6, 1959
Big Dreams
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Harsh Reality
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Mail by Missile
www.postalmuseum.si.edu