I sure hope he gets that commission.
4
A possible major turning point in American race relations would have been an FDR decision to integrate our WWII military. That was a defining moment in mid-20th century American history, but FDR had too much concern for maintaining the solid South politically to seize the moment and do the right thing. Next to the Japanese internment camps, this was the greatest blight on FDRs presidency.
3
Need the article have quoted Chuck Yeager's crabby and small-minded remark about Dwight ("Isn't it great that Ed Dwight found his true calling and became an accomplished sculptor?")? Neither Yeager at 96 nor Dwight at 86 is any longer flying fighter jets and, at his age and given his lifetime accomplishments, Yeager can surely be forgiven for an ill-judged e-mail. Better to have let the remark remain on the server, where messages written in pique and in haste belong.
4
The title of this article is somewhat misleading: we don't learn exactly *why* Ed Dwight was not chosen to be an astronaut. It's far from being an overt case of racism the way I read it. For example, it was Yeager's job to question every pilot's ability in that program and drill him hard. If harder in Dwight's case, military resentment of political interference should not be underestimated as a substantial factor. And I'm willing to bet that the other 256 men not chosen as astronauts in 1963 also never fully learned the reasons why. Unanswered questions can be a hard fact of life.
But the other 256, not to mention the 14 selected, almost certainly did not bear anywhere near the same personal pressure that Dwight did in striving to become the first black astronaut. And he came through this remarkably well by my reading: well enough to earn his certificate at Edwards, well enough to apply to be an astronaut, well enough to provide the shoulders of example upon which others stood to go eventually into space, and well enough to not allow personal resentment to overwhelm what he accomplished. Dwight's own story of incremental achievement mixed with lasting legacy is not at all unlike that of the space program itself.
5
Perhaps this has already been noted in the comments, but Yeager's denial of how he discriminated against Dwight is clearly contradicted in Robert Stone's documentary, "Chasing the Moon." Frank Borman refers to Yeager as a "piece of work" and notes how Yeager encouraged all the white pilots to ostracize Dwight.
12
What a great country we could be if we weren't so racist and backward. Where would we be with our race relations today if Dwight had been on that space shuttle
Thank you for this outstanding reporting,opening our eyes to the talent this young man had and probably so many other young people who never had a chance because of race.
In our minds and hearts Dwight walked on that moon and we celebrate him for his outstanding achievements that moved us all.
6
There can be little doubt that a primary limitation here was racism, pure and simple.
But something else seems to have mattered in the denouement.
When you go over your bosses' heads in a bureaucracy, you better be sure your higher up protector will be in place as long as you need them. Because if they go away -- as Kennedy did -- then your immediate bosses will have their revenge for a "troublemaker" who undercut their authority.
3
Dear Mr Dwight,
Please allow me, on behalf of my race to apologise for all of the mean spirited and cowardly treatment you suffered through in aspiration of your goals back then. Particularly being so close to having achieved them. I cannot imagine how soul crushing that all must have been for you to have to endure. I am deeply in awe of the courage and tenacity that you displayed and I am sure your efforts have had a huge and positive impact on the lives of all those young men who followed in your footsteps.
Thank you!
5
I'm not sure how this story is complete without mentioning Guion Bluford, Mae Jemison, or Ronald McNair, who died in the Challenger accident and has left a legacy in the McNair Scholars Program.
2
I read this knowing it would break my heart. The language used, the obstacles he faced. Of course he didn't make it in the 1960's, POC's can barely make it now and the GOP has been dedicated to taking us all backwards.
2
The constitution allowed slavery, the congress allowed discrimination after the civil war and we all allowed segregation for years . Allowed Nazi scientists to do the rockets, and we excluded qualified pilots if they were black. WE now have a president who wants more discrimination. We don't need space shots, we need to fix our own planet.
4
A recent PBS documentary indicated that the prejudice against Dwight Edwards was symptomatic of NASA yielding to political pressure of the Congressmen who held its purse strings back then, several years before the Civil Rights bill was passed. (How else would Huntsville, AL become a center of rocketry?). A terrible injustice...
On a somewhat lighter note, fan mail intended for Edwards was regularly misdelivered to Ed White (one of the three who later died tragically in a capsule fire). White read some of it, and giving it to Edwards said it made him realize how important it was for Dwight Edwards to become an astronaut.
2
@DCBinNYC
Sorry, of course it's Ed Dwight.
1
Poignant for the time we are in.
Not only did this well-researched piece uncover a fantastic historic character that history itself had overlooked, but it also told a dynamic story with great narrative.
The reminder for me: perhaps what is greater than going to the moon, is the inspiration the "Ed Dwight's" of our nation can bring another generation that can see themselves in a hard-working brilliant hero.
We may have failed Ed Dwight, but hopefully wonderful stories like this remind us to serve our current generation of hero's with real and fair opportunity. At the end of the day, maybe his story will serve a greater purpose than even he can even fathom. Thank you for telling it so well.
1
I met Ed Dwight when he was a guest speaker at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) during the African Heritage Month celebration. One of his sculpture's was displayed in the college's Fiterman Art Center. A charming and accomplished man--students and faculty were honored to meet him.
2
I'm ashamed to say that until this week I had never heard of Ed Dwight. What a remarkable man. It's certainly possible that, even without any discrimination, he might not have become one of the select few to reach the moon, but what a story it would have been. I'm delighted that he became a friend and mentor to Charles Bolden, and apparently a highly successful sculptor. The loss of him as an astronaut is more America's than his.
8
One of the best American Experience shows I've ever seen. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but the quote at the beginning by John Logsdon comparing the Apollo 11 crew to Columbus was a disservice to the astronauts. "That's like seeing Columbus sail out of port" is hardly applicable. Columbus wasn't even the first European to discover America.
2
Whether or not Mr. Dwight went into space or not, for him to have achieved the status of senior pilot flying jets in an era of legal discrimination and segregation is amazing in itself.
2
I don't think all that much of the concept of white privilege. Maybe it's because when I encounter one of the white custodians where I work, I can't think of anything white privilege gains them that I would be willing to trade for the life I have.
But there is one thing; when a white person fails (a white male anyway) that failure is a personal failure. It represents nothing else. When I've failed I've usually seen it as personal but I know of occasions where my short comings have been seen as "not represent(ing) diversity on this campus." And I know that some of my successes have been seen as representative not of my race but as exceptions to the rule for my race.
I'm old enough now and close enough to retirement not to care as much as I used to but, God help me, I still care.
6
Amazing story of Mr. Dwight - inspiring and yet sad at the same time. Had Mr. Dwight walked on the moon in 1969, the progression of racial equality in America would have been greatly accelerated.
80
@Jonathan Koerth more likely there would have been a backlash like we are currently experiencing after the election of President Obama.
6
To persevere as Mr. Dwight did, against so many obstacles and for so long, shows that he has far more of the "The Right Stuff" than most of the other astronauts.
I admire him especially for being everything they were, except that he, in addition, had the courage to speak truth to power.
Mr. Dwight is my hero. Thank you for a story that lifted me up today, even as it triggered despair over his struggle.
101
@Bohemian Sarah
Well, if he gets that commission for the art piece, that will be "two huge points" - personally I hope he does. This man is inspiring, and my kind of people.
26
The tragedy for America is the loss of talent that comes with prejudice. If we let everyone rise to the level they can attain, the country is better served.
120
@Robert Bunch So true. The suppression of people of color and women has set us back. We just keep repeating ourselves and do not progress.
We are still fighting about creationism for God's sake.
22
Very wise comment. But I fear the “racial archeology” that The NY Times is performing will have a downside as well. Apathy will occur in the black community because they will point the fingers at such articles and say there’s no point in striving to be a doctor, scientist, etc because the system is against us. The tech companies are always pushing to bring in “skilled workers” via the visa system. But what about the masses of underemployed African-Americans? The AA community should focus less on sports and entertainment careers and on professions where they have a greater probability of success and upward mobility.
7
@Schlomo Scheinbaum Your comments are well intended, but out-of-date. There are plenty of African-American teachers, doctors, lawyers, clergy people, writers, professors, musicians, artists, journalists, psychologists, nurses, administrators etc. I'm not going to talk about sports, but there's nothing impractical about focusing on the entertainment industry. There are thousands of jobs in this industry which you will recognize if you don't rush out of the movie theater as soon as you think the movie is over. Watch the credits. They go on and on and on.
20
Thank you for the story of Ed Dwight. The look of pride on the faces of his parents in that picture is telling. I just hope Ed knows that many Americans this morning are proud of his accomplishments, his standing tall for his country despite the bigotry he experienced. And I do hope he gets that commission at Fort Monroe.
207
The article strongly implies that JFK's assassination led directly to Dwight's expulsion from 'astronaut training'. "Within weeks, Dwight’s career at Edwards ended. By January 1964, he was stationed at Wright-Patterson in Ohio. " The facts are that Dwight and the other students had been enrolled in a six month course that had always been scheduled to end in December, and ALL of them were transferred to new assignments upon graduation. They did NOT have 'careers' in flying at Edwards, they were on temporary duty as students. But this article's sloppy and misleading description of the entirely normal process seems to have confused many readers
7
@Jim Oberg
I agree.
Kennedy’s assasination didn’t stop or change much of the space program because it was really Johnson’s baby. There’s a reason Houston was chosen as Mission Control and is now known as Johnson Space Center. He almost singlehandedly muscled Congressional support and shepherded the early days of NASA.
It was business as usual for the space program when Johnson became president. And given Johnson’s historically documented commitment to civil rights, I think it’s simply wrong for this article to imply that it was his presidency that ended Ed Dwight’s chances to become an astronaut. Too many other things were happening, too many other powerful forces were at work politically and bureaucratically to blame Johnson.
5
@left coast finch - Thanks. Both Johnson and Albert Thomas in the House took credit for the Houston selection, but as we all know, politicians claim credit for sunrises, springtimes, and gentle rains. The valid requirements for the Manned Spacecraft Center were near water transport [big space hardware], near a military airfield with year-round flying weather, and near a large university for access to hi-tech staff. In the final assessment the top three sites were Oakland, Tampa, and Houston, and CA and FL were already top-heavy with aerospace contracts. Texas probably would have won no matter who was in Congress.
1
What I noticed even back then was that people were mysteriously discarded from the space program. Something was said, something happened, and they never went into space, or never went there again, and I used to wonder why.
1
As the saying goes, "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."
Sadly.
1
Thank you for a beautiful and informative story and thank you for mentioning the women too, the Mercury 13. A lot of people dreamt of reaching for the stars and only a few made it at first. The people who do make it first stand on the shoulders of so many people before them who made the road easier or even possible. Thank you for making one of those stories more widely known, for making those people visible.
1
“...had it gone differently, Dwight ‘would have had his own altar in the civic religion of American space travel.’”
I am a follower of that religion which is far nobler, science-based, and forward-looking than the Iron Age fantasy currently holding our country hostage. I’ve read several memoirs of NASA’s early days and some of its younger men seemed open to the idea of women and African-Americans not only going into space but also working in mission control and throughout the agency.
It’s been a while since I met him or read his book but Gene Krantz was one of those younger men in the grip of President Kennedy’s vision of a bolder, brighter America that included more of its diverse people than ever before. He recounts early days as a junior staffer to Kris Kraft and seemed open to anything possible, even obliquely referring to women and African Americans. However, the decisions always came down from the far-removed politics of the day. It seemed that he and the other young educated men, who remind me of my own Silent Gen father, didn’t care as much about skin color or gender as long as people were qualified to get the job done. Technocracy at its finest.
There was a generational clash playing out in the early days and the Greatest Gen was firmly in power making the major decisions, hence the white male military image of the first astronaut classes. Once that war generation faded, NASA became the more inclusive agency of today. Ed Dwight was, sadly, born a bit too early.
3
As a kid in the 90s, we learned about the space program in school. We learned about Guion Bluford and Mae Jemison but never Ed Dwight. What seems even weirder to me is my teachers (plus my parents and grandparents, who encouraged my brief obsession with space) were mostly old enough that surely they saw some of the media coverage around him. Why was he never brought up? Was the media coverage less extensive than this article makes it seem? Was his story considered too complex/not a happy enough ending for children?
The only black person I knew about who had anything to do with space in the ‘60s was the fictional Lt. Uhura on Star Trek (admittedly, she was important representation too).
I am glad Mr. Dwight’s efforts are getting their due, and I am glad for works like Hidden Figures that highlight the important work of black women for the early space program. I am glad some of the current coverage of Apollo 11’s anniversary acknowledges the relationship with the civil rights struggle going on during the same era. I just wish our history had always been so inclusive.
9
Sadly too many members of the Air Force, as is the case with all members of our society, were and are racist. We were making progress in at least causing people to conceal their racism, but now with Trump I fear the bigots will feel less constrained in expressing their racism. He is taking America back into the worst parts of our past in his effort to make America white again.
8
I'm sure that NASA had their reasons. Many whites didn't make the cut so it's not surprising that one black didn't.
7
@Ryan how naive!
14
@WD -- So what's the evidence for your theory?
1
@Ryan
Sure, out of 271 (male) candidates, all of whom were qualified pilots, its certainly possible that he simply wasn't one of the 30 best, by unbiased criteria. But even if that were true, you're missing the biggest point of the article --- that he was the single black candidate among those 271. Historical and institutional discrimination (e.g. the restriction of candidates to test pilots, the restriction of test pilots to white men during the segregation of the Air Force, etc.) contributed to an extremely, artificially narrow talent pool. And then in that final selection window, people can wash their hands and argue that simply the best candidates were chosen, without reflecting on whether they'd really seen all the best candidates.
4
When will we ever learn? Beautifully told.
9
And just like that I can cross Yeager off my list.
9
@Sharon M-- Based on unverified hearsay? AFAIK nobody's been able to find a SINGLE witness to the alleged nasty command.
1
@Sharon M
Sadly I must agree.
4
@Jim Oberg
There is a show on PBS about the space program and Frank Borman mentioned Yeager being hostile to Lt Dwight's inclusion in the test pilot class and his use of the N-word. I am guessing Borman wouldn't say it if he hadn't heard it
6
Now that I’ve shed my invective about yeager, the rest of my comment. Like the women in hidden figures, I’ve never heard of this man. My mother and uncle are the same age bracket as him and I certainly overlap with him in my own chronology. This again is a striking example of how thoroughly the American “system” (school, media, etc) erases the contributions of anyone who is not a heterosexual white male. Where to break out and be seen as a POC or woman you have to be of such superhuman talent that you overcome the gravity of the black hole whole system that is constantly trying to erase you. You have to be Muhammad Ali or MLK or Amelia Earhart, all others go straight to obscurity.
12
@Sharon M: Whereas you have heard of every heterosexual white male politician, 18th-century composer, philosopher, mathematician, etc., both those who were successful and those who didn't make the cut? You have read the stories of all of those men who enrolled in law school somewhere and then dropped out after a year? I don't believe that the fact that you haven't means that the system "erases" their stories. The world is a big place.
3
@Sharon M, can you name one of the 132 white and latino males who were not selected to move further in the astronaut program? As this story made clear, the New York Times had several articles on Mr. Dwight as he was in the process and one could argue that he receive more press coverage than any other candidate. There is no objective basis to believe that he was one of the 10 top performers (whether it was because of his busy speaking engagement schedule or not). Should we really cut out the coverage of Wounded Knee or some other aspect of american history to make sure every child memorizes Mr. Dwight's name and story?
4
This story reminds me of Ralph Ellison’s book “ The Invisible Man”. By ignoring and pushing aside Dwight, he became invisible.
9
I feel a little cheated by the headline. This article does not really answer why Dwight was not ultimately selected, and perhaps it could not. All I, and I dare say, the other commenters truly know is that after he completed the Air Force training, NASA did not select him. I don’t have any doubt that he was discriminated against in egregious ways many times, but am I supposed to assume that that is what kept him from being an astronaut?
6
What a beautifully written article. I will be following more of writer Emily Ludolph and will be making a trip to see Ed Dwight's artwork. Sounds like Yeager was bitter and jealous. A man with privilege being usurped by another man who had to work three times as hard to be seen as Yeager's equal – must've irked him.
Dwight being an accomplished sculptor (and in his 80s) is nothing to sneeze at, so Yeager's comment was a snide remark, when he stated Dwight is now is in his true element (being a sculptor). Ridiculous. Unable to give a black man his due credit. It says a lot about Yeager, regardless of his own accomplishments.
21
So Yeager, a product of pre-civilized-rural- Appalachian white society, was in a position to eliminate the equally brilliant Dwight. Times have changed, perceptibly, thank God.
14
@William Burgess Leavenworth -- "was in a position to eliminate the equally brilliant Dwight." == Uh, Yeager did nothing of the sort, whether he SAID anything nasty [or not -- nobody who was supposedly there has ever verified that quote]. Look at the historical record. Dwight completed the school just fine. He wasn't picked by NASA for its next astronaut class [just the two top guys in his test pilot class, and he wasn't one of them] but was nominated by the USAF for the next go-round. The AF sent him to a test pilot position in Ohio, exactly the kind of assignment the school had trained him for.
1
Anyone would assumed a person reading the NYT would be intelligent and have the capacity to admit the well hidden stains of the American experience. There is no better example than this one. The overt aspect, being denied hotel rooms, eating in restaurants, renting apartments, segregated public places is undeniable isn't it? My hope is the Commission is rewarded to this gentleman in remembrance of the first human beings sold in this country to be future slaves. At present we live in very dangerous times as the President of this country, who is the direct opposite of the definition of a gentleman, is roaring and rallying White Nationalist to continue the cruelty and injustice that has been perpetuated for generations in the insecure minds and souls of those who feel superior because their skin is white. The common denominator for all people is the color, red, which pumps through our veins despite our outwardly appearance.
23
The key phrase in this article is that the emphasis was on who could most reliably pilot the vehicle. This should be the criteria for all endeavor. The space race was a sometimes desperate attempt to achieve the impossible and NASA learned early in the Apollo program what can happen if any factors of this endeavor are left to chance, essentially death and failure. The fact that the structure of the military at that era was not diverse is not a reason to relax the standards of NASA in choosing astronauts when every decision had to be correct to insure the success of Kennedy's challenge. America has an evil past in history, with its treatment of indigenous and immigrant populations and the existence of slavery, but to lay this issue at the feet of NASA as some kind of implied racism is completely off base.
1
William Stuber, if you could only get past your inbuilt conviction of believing that race or the skin color of people makes them superior to the other you would not have written what you did...this entire race issue is so insidious and subliminal, people are numb to hurting others with no feelings of guilt
10
@William Stuber the article states that vehicle was being piloted from the control center at NASA , not the astronaut. There was no excuse for not choosing this brilliant American.
11
@Tess "the article states that vehicle was being piloted from the control center at NASA , not the astronaut. " == Yes, it does so state, and it was 100% wrong.
3
Sadly, this story is common among African Americans. Like the devil, racism kills, steals and destroys the dreams and lives of African Americans.
17
@professor I just read this on Wikipedia about Ron McNair, the African-American astronaut tragically killed in the space shuttle accident: Born October 21, 1950 in Lake City, South Carolina, McNair, in the summer of 1959, refused to leave the segregated Lake City Public Library without being allowed to check out his books. After the police and his mother were called, he was allowed to borrow books from the library, which is now named after him.
24
So sad that this exemplary young man was cheated from the opportunity to become an astronaut because of the color of his skin, and even more sad in light of today’s legal decision to not prosecute the police officer who caused the death of Eric Garner. How far have we really come? Not nearly far enough!
14
Yeager like many others of the original MAGA kind, lied to about their greatness in the book of White American Male mythology- continued to cut their noses to spite their faces. America was never great and will never be because its hatred and fear of the "Other". Systemic and institutionalized until this pathology is leeched, America will continue to be a delusional place of freedom.
16
There is irony in that the program was headed by Wernher von Braun https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun
@Cheryl R Leigh -- Ironic you should think so. Please get a clue.
von Braun headed the Saturn-5 rocket program, one component of Apollo -- just being a stickler for accuracy. And his V-2 project saved millions of lives by wasting scarce German hi-tech on inefficient weapons.
1
For more on Ed Dwight's ordeal, I highly recommend American Experience's Chasing the Moon (minute 1:16:00): http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/chasing-moon/#part01
8
@Cheryl R Leigh Yes, I had no idea this had taken place until I watched the PBS special. Shocking and sad. Highly recommend every American watch this series, for many reasons.
6
@Terry Abrahamson -- What exactly did NASA do wrong, I'm confused?
1
Yes, you seem to be very confused, as evidenced by your many comments denying the reality of the role racism played in this shameful episode. And I said nothing about NASA.
8
i dont remember where i was when the moon landing took place.....needless killing was going on at the time in Viet Nam, civil rights workers were being murdered, cities in the urban areas were burning, i found those issues more compelling than walking on the moon
5
@dixie j
Yes, but with all due respect, I don't think you had been training to be the first black astronaut...
3
@Butterfield8 -- What does NASA have anything to do with this? Wasn't that a USAF school?
1
The Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs were built in our culture of the 50’s and 60’s. With all its limitations and issues.
It was a white male military culture. Simple.
If you want a more in depth fun analysis or ( more accurately) story of this. With the accomplishments and the bruises and failures. “ Space” by James Michener is a pretty good history based fiction that focuses as much on the racial and sexual issues as well as the hypocrisy salesmanship in presenting the astronauts to us. White, religious, “ Good Americans” all the wives to be perfect homemakers, and if not hidden.
I still honor the gumption, skill and drive of those involved, but it sure was a interesting world.
13
@HJR Thanks for recommending the Michener book. Sounds interesting.
3
Y'know, it's really ironic that in an article about how a black man was basically robbed of his chance to go to space, there isn't so much as a word about the black *woman* who was largely responsible for recruiting Guion Bluford and Mae Jemison and Sally Ride and so many other members of that diverse space shuttle class: Nichelle Nichols, the actress best known for playing Lt. Uhura on Star Trek. After her career petered out in the early 70's, she took a position with NASA to recruit minorities and women for the space program, and she did an absolutely stunning job.
So why isn't she mentioned in this story? Why isn't Guion Bluford? Did Emily Ludolph even bother to look up what has been common knowledge for about forty years????
9
@LJ Evans-- Nichelle Nichols deserves far more than a side comment, she warrants books and biopics and a statue -- maybe somebody should commission Ed Dwight to do one! I'd contribute!
10
They were all also sexist. Jerry Cobb (and 12 other women)passed (and in Jerry’s case, surpassed the men) all of the “astronaut” tests given to the male pilots, had thousands more flying hours, and was backed by William R. Lovelace, who played a key role in the selection of the astronauts. Lovelace believed women would make better astronauts for several well documented reasons: weigh less, consume less oxygen and food, more radiation resistant, less prone to heart attacks, less susceptible to monotony, loneliness, heat, cold, pain and noise.
The women were set to complete testing at NASA but their program was shut down by plain old sexism. Jerry , tho shy, pushed for consideration and in 1962, there was a congressional hearing to ascertain whether or not women were qualified to be astronauts at which John Glenn stated, “this gets back to the way our social order is organized. It’s just a fact. The men go off and fight the wars and fly the planes and help design and build and test them. The fact that women are not in this field s a fact of our social order.”
We all know the outcome. She’s an amazing human. Ive met her. She has spent the last five decades flying food and supplies to indigenous people in the Amazon in her own small plane.
It’s heartbreaking and infuriating that, historically, those most qualified and deserving have been shut out of almost every (traditionally) highly valued aspect of culture and society by prejudice and sexism.
36
@L.M. --Glenn: "The men go off and fight the wars and fly the planes " … and get maimed and killed at much MUCH higher rates than women pilots were. It was a quaint and now obsolete notion of 'protecting', without asking permission of the protectees, who often didn't want it. Now the women die alongside the men in airplanes and spaceships and nobody flinches because everybody understands the hazards. We've grown up.
LM, without googling it, can you even name all the women who have been killed on space flights?
2
For the record, the first African-American astronaut was Robert H. Lawrence Jr., who was selected in 1967 to be a member of the third group of astronauts for the new-largely forgotten Manned Orbiting Laboratory program run by the Air Force. Lawrence was killed in an F-104 accident on Dec. 8, 1967. The MOL program was ended by the Nixon administration on June 10, 1969. Some of the MOL astronauts were absorbed by NASA.
2
@Mark - *That's included in the story, near the end.* Did you not read the whole thing?
5
I thought it was of interest that the first black astronaut was appointed y the Air Force’s MOL program, not NASA.
1
@Mark Bloom -- Where did NASA get it wrong in that period, in recruiting and assessing astronaut candidates? What would you have preferred?
In retrospect, if JFK had been more careful about going to Texas, that coven of extremists, this fellow might have stepped on the moon first -- and we also probably wouldn't have been all in in Vietnam under LBJ, who couldn't read.
History is littered with such turning points and missed opportunities -- as anybody who reads, knows.
8
@frankly 32
And Harvey Milk was assassinated in San Francisco, that coven of extremists. Malcolm X and John Lennon were killed in New York City, that coven of extremists.
What is the logical conclusion you are attempting to come up with based on location bias?
Not exactly understanding the attack on Texas. Many figures in history have been assassinated, some by enemies, others by former followers. The location has played a part in most, but to paint an entire region of America is lending itself to emotional reasoning on the thinker's part.
8
@ArthurinCali
If you read the AP book on the assassination, or Jim Bishops', or Manchester's, or Robert Caro's on LBJ's life, you learn about a unique microclimate of extremism in Texas at that time.
Oswald shot at General Walker, a right wing zealot, before he aimed at Kennedy. (and he missed the stationery target from 100 feet)
The publisher of the Dallas paper mocked Kennedy at press conferences, said he rode on Caroline's tricycle, questioned his patriotism and allowed full page ads denouncing Kennedy to be in the paper on the day of the parade.
Do you really think that our two faux hero presidents, responsible for ground troops in Vietnam and the Iraq debacle, both of whom dodged combat, LBJ and W Bush; or Halliburton, or the Kennedy assassination could have as easily happened in Vermont, Iowa or North Dakota?
After you immerse yourself in Texas history, you can see the lone star state's DNA written all over them.
Shortly before Kennedy went to Dallas, Adlai Stevenson was attacked by a mob there and spit on, sparking a debate in the White House over whether JFK should even go.
But Kennedy, being a Kennedy, could never give into to fear -- it was not how Joe raised his boys. And so like the brothers closest to him, he died a violent death in the service of his country.
9
@frankly 32 "if JFK had been more careful about going to Texas, that coven of extremists, this fellow might have stepped on the moon first " -- I'm not following you. The astronaut selection in question [Dwight said it would have been 'his class'] was made in September 1963, 14 men [4 of whom walked on the moon, 4 others were killed]. How did JFK's death cause Dwight not to be in that class?
Think how far advanced we'd be as a nation, both intellectually and technologically, if black people had not been denied access, education, and opportunity at every turn during Jim Crow. Even despite the obstacles we still produced Ed Dwight, Katherine Johnson, and Percy Julian, among others. We certainly would have been to Mars and back by now.
16
@AB Yes, the prejudice was a lasting stain on our country. But do you have a single fact in support of your theory that "We certainly would have been to Mars and back by now."
“Isn’t it great that Ed Dwight found his true calling and became an accomplished sculptor?”
Like other people who've commented, I found this remark striking. To me, it's a very backhanded compliment. I don't know Dwight or Yeager, but based on this one remark, I'd say Dwight's version of events is much closer to the "truth" than Yeager's.
47
As somebody who read both the Right Stuff and Chuck Yeager's autobiography, this piece for me provided a valuable "other side of the story" from the one I remember reading about.
Yeager, in his autobiography, was extremely adamant that Ed Dwight just could not "cut it", both academically or in the air.
I do remember Yeager specifically mentioning another black pilot that he flew with in his squadron (don't recall his name) that he felt would have been very qualified to be in the ARPS school.
At the time, I took him at his word because he came off as a very "meritocratic" individual, not one to take into account somebody's skin color, only their abilities.
Based only upon what I've read, it would seem to me that Yeager was more miffed that he was put in a position that he had no say in, in that he was told upfront that this guy was going to pass and that was that.
Yeager was not a natural "bureaucrat" and really didn't enjoy playing those games. His own career stalled out at Brigadier General despite his legendary status. He did things "his way", which did not endear him to the "brass".
If Yeager did call Mr. Dwight "boy", and basically had it out from him from day one, this would not be a surprising or unbelievable account from Mr. Dwight's perspective.
It also doesn't necessarily make Yeager a stone cold racist.
Yeager was an extremely principled and stubborn man, and I would suspect the real truth of all this lies unfortunately somewhere in the murky middle.
7
Your “no say” comment is very insightful, and I imagine that this aspect of the situation fueled Yeager’s hostility. How sad, though, that Dwight’s career was marred by what appears to be an irrational dislike, no matter what its cause.
7
@JayK This perspective is very necessary for any "discussion" we're going to have about Ed Dwight (or Chuck Yeager) and the larger issue of integration in America.
While I support the idea of affirmative action in principle, quotas or actions intended to produce a pre-determined outcome are grossly unjust and unfair--to all involved. Walter Murrow was right--it would have been useful to have a black astronaut in the 60s. But the heavy-handed involvement by the White House arguably doomed the project from the start.
As the article notes, when not training, Dwight was being paraded around as a celebrity; meanwhile Washington lawyers and Civil Rights lawyers were poking around Edwards.
Not only would this be the EXACT type of thing Yeager would hate, but it would be impossible for his fellow test pilots not to at least consider that he was there because he was black.
I'm sure among some, racial prejudice played a part of their skepticism. Perhaps with Yeager, too.
4
@JayK
So, let me get this straight, you envision that Yeager would possibly oppose Mr. Dwight's ascension because Yeager had "no say" in the matter? Not acceptable for a lifelong military man to find ways to run around a directive from the brass. It is part of his fiber to execute orders from his superiors. He doesn't have to agree nor like it.
Yeager is petulant, still after all of this time and unbecoming of an officer.
6
This is exactly why I no longer watch any of the movies about Apollo or moon landings. They gave no credit to the women who supported them and now more racist stories.
8
The story reminds me of one the most significant figures in my life, an African-American helicopter pilot, James A. Darden, who I served with at Homestead Air Force Base, FL. He had been cited for heroism in his rescue of flood victims in Italy, his six-foot-plus frame dangling from the end of a rescue cable attached to an HH-43 above as he carried them, one at a time, in his embrace from slivers of high ground surrounded by rushing water.
Darden was given The Cheney Award for airmanship -- Google it; it's not to be confused with any political figure. He had also flown this same helicopter, an HH-43, in combat search and rescue missions in Vietnam. This is a small, wooden-bladed aircraft that you'd think could be brought down by a slingshot. Only the most courageous would fly it into enemy fire.
That's the back story. At peaceful Homestead AFB, Florida, in 1969, he remained a captain and was about to be forced out of the Air Force for failure to make the next officer grade. As I remember, he was all but packed for return to civilian life. Only after a Pentagon-based general officer became involved did Captain Darden receive promotion to Major. The general made clear, and all those familiar made clear, that Darden was the victim of racism.
I was a young white man, new to the Air Force, and looking for role models. I found one in James Darden. I'm sure many others, whatever the color of their skin, found one in Ed Dwight. Count me among them.
Thanks for this great story.
141
@vsr Thanks for your great story.
5
I have always admired Chuck Yeager for his accomplishments. How dispiriting to learn of this. That fact that Ed Dwight graduated at all is a testament to his character and grit.
16
I watched the American Experience video Chasing the Moon and there is a video clip there where Ed Dwight weighs in on the fact that no one had even bothered to tell him he wasn't among the 14 selected to go to the moon. He was so graceful in how he responded to the off-camera interviewer's questions about the ordeal-it really says a lot about his character-he was so disappointed, but his good character prevailed. I have felt sad about the video and about how the protestant boys club kept people (women, minorities) in their place -outside of wealth, power, opportunities for professional achievement (and continues to, to this day).
39
Loved the article! Learning more about this man to me, Mr. Dwight is an True Amazing American hero regardless if he had made it to the moon or not. I have much respect for him. God bless you sir!
22
Duh. Because Yeager was a racist, and Dwight was black. End of story.
20
@Slann== Based on unverified hearsay? AFAIK nobody's been able to find a SINGLE witness to the alleged nasty command.
What a bright and shining soul this man is. Thank you NYT for telling the story. (And a big raspberry to Yeager for his ugly spite.)
34
Ed Dwight had too much class for NASA.
11
@william madden -- What did anyone at NASA do wrong, I thought the story was about mistreatment in the USAF?
This story is a sad parallel of the many black American soldiers who, after returning to America after fighting Nazis, were beaten by white southerners. Any realist will conclude that racism is a poison that will probably cause America’s decay.
26
@FilmMD
Racism is causing America's decay - look around at the current circumstances.
7
I am in awe of the passion, dignity and tenacity of Ed Dwight, in the face of the hubris, entitlement and arrogance of Yeager to proclaim that Dwight’s true calling was to be a sculptor - as if Yeager had any right or qualifications to declare as much. Perhaps Dwight is working on a sculpture of Yeager that will portray the detractor in less than flattering light - a euphemistic phrase I am using to respect NYT urging to keep comments civil.
11
Thank you for this write-up of a highly accomplished American. The photos add so much to the story. Unfortunately, boors like Yeager, and they aren’t always male, continue to be a presence in the careers of many black people despite the EEO laws. The goal is to maneuver around them, leaving them fuming in your rear-view mirror - sometimes you are successful, sometimes not. Anywho, great write up. I am enjoying the space series.
7
I love that the photos from Edwards AFB were taken on my birthday, Sept. 6, 1963!
2
Ed Dwight is an American hero and a role model for us all.
Mr. Dwight is all the more special for having overcome his treatment at NASA to become a revered sculptor.
Mr. Dwight, I salute your character, resilience and brilliance. Very few of us have your artistic talent or your physical and intellectual prowess, but we are all in need of your ability to conquer new heights in the wake of setbacks beyond our control.
16
@ANetliner... "having overcome his treatment at NASA"... Did we read the same article? When did NASA mistreat him? Serious question.
Yes, perhaps the whole story is not being told but only perhaps. Ed Wright is a terrific person. It’s a shame he was not selected.
6
What a thoroughly heartbreaking story. And Yeager's quote about Mr. Dwight's artistic ability over his aerodynamics ability was despicable. Talk about another person of color who has made lemonade from all the lemons thrown at him. And we're still at it.
25
Great article. Two thoughts.
1. Chuck Yeager needs more appreciation of the arts and artists.
2. Can't wait to see the film.
4
I am a brain in a bucket. My bucket happens to be white and of Italian ancestry. But your bucket might be the result of ancestors from other latitudes and in different sizes, colors, gender and other physical characteristics.
But there is absolutely no evidence that your brain is different than mine, other than some handicaps, that your potential and capabilities are the the same as almost everyone else on this planet.
Through cultural and societal events and experiences , we acquire biases, attitudes and beliefs. Time to use more of what makes us, our brains, to correct these false ideas and notions.
We have serious problems to solve that require many and paraphrasing the saying...”a ‘brain’ is a terrible thing to waste.
4
There is no excuse for not correcting past mistakes by insuring the next American crew to set foot on the Moon includes both an African American and a woman. Going back to the Moon is all about symbolism and an ability to correct injustices.
The best answer of all is for an African American woman astronaut to be the next human to step on to the Moon.
3
@AH2 That's assuming we need to send people to the moon at all. I was reading about Ron McNair who died in the space shuttle tragedy in 1986. According to the Wikipedia entry, in 1976, McNair received a Ph.D. degree in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the guidance of Michael Feld, "becoming nationally recognized for his work in the field of laser physics." He died 10 years later at the age of 35. (Which means he got his Ph.D. at the age of 25.) In retrospect, those space shuttle astronauts - and that lovely teacher who went with them - would have been better off making their contributions to humanity on the ground.
4
We’re proud of Ed Dwight. Thanks for this excellent piece.
19
Thanks so much for this fantastic article. I'm a 59 year old black man, so I grew up during the Gemini and Apollo missions. I was a certified space "nerd", building models of spacecraft, following each launch, and staying awake until nearly 11 pm on 20 July, 1969 to watch Armstrong and Aldrin set foot on the Moon. When I would tell my mom that I wanted to be an astronaut, she would say "maybe you'll be the first, but remember what happened to Ed Dwight." I shrugged her off, knowing that I could achieve my dream of going into space. As usual, my mom was right. America simply wasn't ready for Dwight in the 1960s, which is a shame, but that's reality.
6
@Maryland Chris That's the destructive ripple effect of discrimination. People look at one person who was unjustly thwarted and reasonably conclude that their own (or family members') aspirations will meet the same fate.
2
@Ellen Freilich Years ago I learned to face reality when it came to my race. Facing reality served me well in my ultimate profession: intelligence analyst.
2
I'm glad to see some of these recent documentaries exploring some of the unpleasant facts surrounding our space program. If not for his extraordinary expertise in rocket science, Wernher Von Braun might've found himself on trial for war crimes instead of being heralded as the man who built the Saturn V. None of this diminishes the sense of wonder I felt as a child watching it all unfold. I just wish that men like Ed Dwight had been given a chance to be part of it.
6
A great article and a testament to how life does go on, and fully, in the face of adversity.
I'll never quite understand how people find the energy to hate. I can only imagine how exhausting it is.
7
Just amazing; was familiar with Ed Dwight the (brilliant) sculptor but had no idea of his background.
4
Just amazing; was familiar was Ed Dwight the (brilliant) sculptor but had no idea of his background.
Fantastic article. What an awesome man. Smart, brave, and artistic. Many interesting points in the read but one sentence stuck with me and that was every move of the space craft is made from earth, how frightening in that big sky environment.
8
@BeetleStop--Which is why NASA couldn't pick him, because they knew the astronaut was often -- even usually, in those days -- out of contact and he needed the skills and knowledge to handle both routine and emergency conditions on his own. And any pilot who would think he would always be able to call home for advice wouldn't bother to study and practice enough.
1
@Jim Oberg - Ed Dwight clearly had the skills, personality, and comportment to be a fine astronaut. This country was then and is now extremely racist...as your comment makes abundantly clear.
18
@Jim Oberg
Come on.
5
The best reading of the day. Brilliant man with a very American story we needed to know on a day of remembering a pivotal moment in history.
16
I was fascinated with this article appearing today. Mr. Dwight's name was mentioned last evening when I attended the premier of a film, "People of Apollo", created by the Florida Today newspaper which featured a panel discussion. Until his name was mentioned (with a reference to the fact that he'd been the first African American to be an astronaut-in-training) I'd never heard about him. I truly enjoyed reading the full story and I'll never think positively about Chuck Yeager ever again. Thank you, Mr. Dwight, for blazing a trail that others continued. I hope you get that sculpture commission.
37
@flaprof "I'll never think positively about Chuck Yeager ever again." == Read the article again. Dwight claims he heard the comments from another classmate, but the different classmate that the NY Times tracked down had no memory of it.
You are in no position to opine as to what is factually correct or whether Yeager did or did not say what is alleged. A jury would examine Yeager's documented pejorative statement, what actually happened to Mr. Dwight, and the established racist practices at the time, and conclude that he was discriminated against, unless proven otherwise. Since you clearly have an unjustified ax to grind againt Mr. Dwight, I can reasonably conclude that your motive is racist.
4
@AR -- "A jury would examine Yeager's documented pejorative statement," == We all should read such a documented statement. Uh, where is it documented?
1
Great story! I so enjoyed reading this even tho it made me feel wistful and sad. The multi-talented, resilient & resourceful Ed Dwight. I am so happy he got to fly and went on to become a successful sculptor. Amazing life. Amazing story.
32
What a great story, if he had the opportunity to go to space, that would have been a greater step for mankind!
16
We Americans need to see our true history and accept it and learn. We need to stop telling ourselves how great we are and how we are admired and loved. We need to see reality and change our ways.
It began with our very imperfect compromised constitution made by 1/2 slave owners. Then the civil war and the fact the South still refuses to accept the conclusion. Then the many born again preachers spreading their myths and falsehoods throughout the nation,
Then there is the multiple foreign actions to overtake the countries and install our own "leaders" to support us at the expense of the people. Now we see what wehave become with trump leading the country. Its ugly folks but we can change, we must.
25
@RichardHead I agree, but I would start out with how America was first declared, including the massacres of millions of the original land owners, and the still-existing reservations and pueblos.
4
Chuck Yeager has rough edges, is blunt spoken, opinionated and no doubt carries biases common for his age group. He didn't respect anyone just because they had a diploma and was well known for demeaning many of the astronauts, including Neil Armstrong. You can blame that on jealousy, as some commenters here have, or see Chuck's side of it - that a piece of paper doesn't make the man. Will Rogers once quipped: "There is nothing so stupid as the educated man if you get him off the thing he was educated in." Being tough on recruits is a fact of life for the military and especially so during the training period for the early space program. It was unknown ground.
Dwight is a remarkable man to have persevered through all that that was thrown at him. To say he was passed over only because he was black is an oversimplification. He consistently went over the heads of his superiors to shore up his support. There is no better way to cause resentment in any organization. He was having marital issues. This was not the image that NASA wanted for their poster boys. The American image had to be that of a happy family with the little woman in full support standing one step behind her man.
More than anything, 14 men were chosen out of 271 candidates. That means 257 other men were passed over as well. Could Kennedy have forced the inclusion of Dwight had he been alive? The question is should he have? Would that have been affirmative action or exploitation?
12
@B Dawson
No JFK couldn't have and maybe Mr. Dwight wasn't one of the chosen but we will never know will we? Not really. But we do know he was made to feel different and he had to "perform" in ways the others did not.
11
@B Dawson -- I agree. Re the nasty comment attributed to Yeager, Dwight claims he heard the comments from another classmate, but the different classmate that the NY Times tracked down apparently had no memory of it. As an AF vet of the 1960s I concur that the surest way for any officer to earn the contempt of his associates is to flaunt 'connections' and high-ranking friends with pull.
@B Dawson" This was not the image that NASA wanted for their poster boys."
Most folks know the "image" NASa wanted to portray and it had nothing to do with his qualifications.
7
What an extraordinary person. I'd love to meet Mr. Dwight. The rest of this story makes me sick.
14
If astronauts had been selected on the basis on looks, Ed Dwight would have been the first man on the moon.
10
Ed’s lack of selection had more to do with being light on flight test experience (Read that none) and not having been a fighter pilot. Multi-engine test pilots were persona non grata for years at the astronaut office after Scott Carpenter bungled his Mercury mission.
If anybody would like to see what type of test pilot candidate NASA hired, look up USAF astronaut Robert Lawrence, a superlatively qualified African American officer who would have gone on to fly the shuttle had he not been killed teaching in the NF-104.
Excellent reporting on Chuck Yeager. Anybody who’s ever met the guy knows what an absolutely horrible human being he is. Add racist to his “qualities.”
25
@Dan Your remarks about Ed Dwight being light on flight test and not having been a fighter pilot makes sense to me. You pick the most experienced people. I paused and then wondered how many fighter pilots were black? Was Ed given the same opportunities to excel as white pilots? If not, this is an example of racism.
4
America is racist...Always was...Always will be.
22
Yeager was someone I once looked up to. Now, he makes me ill.
30
I am appalled by Yeager's callous and snide remark (via email) about Mr. Dwight's having found "his true calling and becoming an accomplished sculptor".
I'd like to attribute it to his advanced age and possible resultant cognitive impairment, but sadly, it appears that Yeager has thought and behaved in such a malicious manner throughout his entire life.
56
What an incredible story. Now, this is the type of journalism I miss at the NYT; thhe exposure of information and people most of us have never heard about. Please provide readers with more-of-this and move the rest of the daily "filler" off the front page.
19
proving yet again that people of color can be at least 100 times better and more qualified yet still can't get ahead. White people really aren't sending their best.
9
Yeager sounds like a perfect fit for the Trump administration.
Also, by the sounds of SEALS abusing Afghanis and others, killing Green Berets, making stupid decisions and then getting Medals of Honor after getting their team and themselves killed, it appears our military still exalts out of control louts like Yeager.
Good thing the military is under civilian control. Sad that Dwight never got the opportunity he deserved because of shifts in civilian leadership after the Kennedy tragedy.
How many other Dwights are out there, in our military and out of it?
BTW, how many of our SEALS are black? If athletic ability, ability to control emotions, deal with pressure and think creatively under the most stressful conditions, are criteria for selection, it is unimaginable that blacks do not dominate SEALS selection. The only explanation? Racism.
Sorry Dwight. Too much has not changed since your days in the Air Force.
15
@AJ
The drive to recruit minorities into the special warfare community has been ongoing in intensity for over twenty years. Calling it racism when certain groups, occupations and preferences does not represent all is not helpful. The NBA doesn't have a good representation of Native American or Japanese players, yet this is not indicate the the NBA recruiting policy is racist.
http://nation.time.com/2012/02/24/navy-seeks-a-darker-shade-of-seals/
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Aug/19/mn/mn01a.html
@ArthurinCali
Can we agree to call that over 20 year purported recruitment "campaign," a stupendous failure?
The best athletes in America, very often are black. The fields they do not dominate, often are ones where they have not had sufficient opportunity (we see what happens to any sport like women's tennis and golf when they do).
That these highly motivated, highly capable, mentally strong, intensely working and team oriented men somehow wash out of SEALS or other special ops training, is preposterous. They do not have the chance. They are not sought out. They are not encouraged. And they don't help our country in the multiple ways they might. The loss is theirs and ours.
BTW, while tangential, wasn't it two white SEALS who recently murdered a black Green Beret?
5
Thank you for telling some of Ed Dwight's story. He is an inspiration... I'm a better person to have learned of this great man.
40
I doubt we'll ever know the truth about any of this as there are so many conflicting accounts.
It is worth noting that many who applied to be astronauts were turned down including some, such as Michael Collins, who were initially rejected and then later accepted.
I am bothered by Dwight's claim of, as the article notes, unlike pretty much every other adult in the country, not being able to recall where he was when the Eagle landed. I can understand if he was so embittered that he chose to ignore the event but perhaps there was also something about him, one of those "subjective" things Deke Slayton mentioned, that kept him out of the astronaut corps.
And as far as Yeager's quote about there not being any flying in Project Mercury, it should be noted that some of this may have been sour grapes. One of the reasons Yeager wasn't chosen as an astronaut because he didn't have a college education and probably the other most famous test pilot and with whom Yeager kept exchanging speed records, Scott Crossfield, wasn't chosen because he was a civilian.
7
It's a great story but I wonder about the accusation that Yeager didn't want him because he was black. My father was a fighter pilot, a naval aviator. He was at one time in the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force. When he was a test pilot in Patuxent, MD our next door neighbor was John Glenn.
Although I can't speak for Yeager or other pilots, my father was a devout supporter of racial integration in the military. When he was on exchange duty with the Air Force at Nellis, he worked with General Ferguson, one of few, if not the first, black generals in the Air Force. He and his family lived across the street from us in on base housing at Nellis. A picture of my father and the general was proudly displayed in his office and later our home.
Pilots were and maybe still are a touchy bunch when it comes to who they fly with. If you have the stuff then you are in the club. It's very possible that Yeager didn't feel that Ed was up to the challenge and resented having a pilot that he didn't think was qualified thrust upon him. The mission comes first.
13
@J.I.M. You lost me with your reference to your father being a devout supporter of racial integration. What does his devotion have to do with Yeager's alleged actions? I don't get it.
What I do get is that this country has a long history of making excuses for certain people, starting with the nation's founding fathers.
9
This is a sad but very important story to relate during these times when we are trying to "Make America White Again". For people of color the "good old days" were terrible times. That they survived and moved on is a testimony to how resilient they were. Thank you for this story!
23
An excellent piece. A vignette of the African American experience, here in their own country, America: inclusion and exclusion, all in the same breath.
16
Only skin color, folks; yes skin alone; since the day whites encountered whites in Africa, the white man’s thinking about a dark skin has always been the same: blacks are not equal to whites; my take is this: after reading this article, does it sound like hard work alone can get everyone to where the want to go? Nope . imagine a wild where everyone is black, brown or white; can you imagine what world it would be: would it be a world of fairness, a world of love and a world where individuals can complete in encumbered by others’ prejudices.
15
@John T
In a world where everyone is the same hue, fairness and love would abound? This is a falsehood and has been proven as such.
Many historical examples are available to disprove the notion that sharing the same pigmentation equals utopia:
1. Mayan wars in South America
2. Native American tribes constant warfare against each other.
3. European Wars.(Too many to list.)
4. African genocides. Hutus, Tutsis, Darfur, Zulu wars, etc.
5. Chinese rebellion and civil wars.
6. American Civil War.
7. Polynesian wars.
What do these all have in common? No differences in skin color, only differences in custom, tradition and common ancestry. It didn't take different pigmentation to start the wars. This tired trope that skin color is holding us back from a brave new world needs to be put to rest.
6
@ArthurinCali So in essence. There is no hope for mankind. Sad thought.
1
@ArthurinCali
You should also add to this the Catholic vs. Protestant violence in Ireland. They hate each other and have killed each other for centuries. Stand them side by side naked and they are impossible to tell apart.
5
Thanks to the Times for publishing this story. Ed Dwight should be an inspiration to all of us.
42
After reading a large portion of today's news, it is both ironic and uplifting to read this story thus week. Thank you Mr. Dwight for your efforts to help create the space program as an American, a Gentleman, Air Force Officer, and Test Pilot. NASA has done well and the numerous advances and successes were due to courageous and smart individuals like yourself. It is regretful and un-American that due to racist views that you were not given more opportunity as you were "the right stuff" then and now. This week we celebrate the 50 year anniversary of the moon landing, remain confident and resolute that you also succeeded in that achievement. What remains today is for the other test pilots in many fields to carry on despite a minority of Americans that yet exist that denied your opportunity then and are trying to do so today. It doesn't matter that a racist general denied you or that a prejudiced president is trying to do so today - the progress and success will march on and leave petty generals, presidents, and bigots in its tracks. Well done Airman!
26
Ed Dwight is a real American hero.
56
Well, the good news is that everyone can be an astronaut now.
2
At the same time Ed Dwight was trying to become an astronaut, I road a bus with other white army kids from Fort Monroe to a segregation academy co-founded by the wife of a NASA engineer working at Langley Air Force Base. That’s where the women of “Hidden Figures” were making their contributions to the space program. Several of my classmates were children of NASA scientists and engineers. All white, of course.
Living at Fort Monroe we learned that the ironclads Monitor & Merrimack had battled right there, and that Jefferson Davis had been imprisoned there. We never heard anything about those first enslaved Angolans, nor did we hear that the Union fort was a refuge for thousands of slaves fleeing nearby plantations early in the Civil War.
I hope Ed Dwight gets that commission.
94
Nice to know that Yeager, a man that overcame his back woods ignorance wasn’t able to overcome the racism that went with his racism. He also had a problem with women. Some “hero”.
54
It figures that it would take the Russians to send the first black man into space (Cuba's Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez, in September 1980), and not America, the country where all (people) are created equal.
19
I had never heard of Ed Dwight. What a story! If he had been one of the astronauts to land on the moon he would have inspired African American children for generations. Instead, we’re left with “what if?”. It’s upsetting to know that Chuck Yeager put an end to Mr. Dwight’s dreams all because of the color of Dwight’s skin. Even now Mr. Yeager’s racial animus is still apparent in his comments about Mr. Dwight finding his calling as a sculpture. I don’t think Mr. Yeager deserves any of the military honors that were bestowed upon him. I think there should be a movement to strip him of these.
152
@Marilyn
Yeager denies this. Unless you have evidence proving that he did, which apparently neither the author nor anyone else has, we have conflicting recalls. You can believe what you want but that's different from proof.
Whatever you think of Yeager's civil rights record, he was a war hero and also put his life on the line many times as a test pilot, an occupation with a high mortality rate. The only reason for stripping a military hero of his honors is if they were awarded based on fraud. As far as anyone knows, Yeager did shoot down 11 German planes including 5 in one day, and was the first to fly faster than the speed of sound.
25
@Steve "Unless you have evidence proving that he did, which apparently neither the author nor anyone else has, we have conflicting recalls. " == The 'recalls' are not even of equal weight. Wright says he HEARD somebody say Yeager said it. Yeager says he never said it [or acted later as if he had]. And note that the NYTimes found another man in Wright's class who apparently had no memory of it either.
2
@Steve
And the whitesplaining never ends...
26
Sad and inspiring at the same time. I'll never hear Yeager's name again without cringing about what he did. Shameful.
44
Many many astronauts were disappointed and not picked
7
What a noble person, he must be remembered long after Yeager and his ilk are forgotten.
24
why do have they not ever made space suits for women?
3
@JD You would think by now they would have. Recently, the female astronauts at the International Space Station were planning a group space walk, but there were no suits to accommodate them. Somehow, no one thought about breasts.
@Norma
I think that is not correct. As I recall, two women were to do a space walk repair mission, but one of the EVA suits of the proper size had a malfunction or had not been properly set up for use. So one of the men who fit one of the available suits took that spot.
“You did not get ‘into’ a fighter. You strapped it onto your ass and it became an extension of your physical body.” Anyone who has gotten a visceral thrill out of going fast in machines—even much more mundane ones than the ones he piloted—will appreciate this description.
10
What a handsome and talented American man.
20
The adorable twinkle in his eye, the captivating lilt of his smile, I would have had to read this article even if it had been about endogenous variables in macroeconomic modeling. Dwight's story broke my heart, made me mad, and also inspired me. Thank you Mr. Dwight and Emily Ludolph.
35
Everyone has implicit biases. When there are no clearly articulated qualifications and measurement criteria for a position, there WILL be bias.
A very doable antidote is to make selection criteria clear and decision making transparent.
But to this day, most organizations don't do that. (Including my own.) It does serve their own interest NOT to do so.
5
@Pat,
no that is definitely NOT the answer. that alone perpetuates bias since you cannot know what someone overcame to reach that point- traits that are much more qualifying than on paper.
1
@Pat
As soon as you clearly and publicly define the metrics, there will be those who game the system. By keeping the criteria opaque you keep candidates guessing, encouraging them to just be themselves.
It doesn't surprise me that Yeager would deny ever having treated Dwight the way he did. In James Hansen's excellent biography of Neil Armstrong, "First Man", he cites several instances of Yeager making a number of basic errors and inaccuracies in the stories he has told (including his autobiography, "Yeager") about his years at Edwards.Yeager had a big chip on his shoulder having never been selected as an astronaut because of his lack of a strong technical background, and often bad-mouthed many of the more educated test pilots at Edwards, including Armstrong, for their supposed lack of real flying skills. Most telling about Yeager, though, is that Hansen mentions in his book what most of the old-timers at Edwards had to say about Yeager and why he was chosen to fly the first supersonic test flights. To paraphrase, "It's not because Yeager was the most skilled pilot to break the sound barrier, it was because Air Force leadership considered him the most expendable of all their test pilots."
119
@Roger
So those in charge of the X-1 project cared so little about success that they let a pilot not especially esteemed for his flying skills to participate in it and to be given the first crack at breaking the sound barrier.
It sounds like they couldn't have been taking the project very seriously.
And why didn't they choose the Mercury astronauts on a similar basis. Perhaps they did and NASA thought all of them were the most expendable of all those who applied for the project.
2
@Roger -- If Yeager had said it, why didn't the other classmate of Dwight's interviewed in the article have heard it?
3
This story presents the "right stuff" in outlining the trials many minorities faced in the military, and possibly face today.
Dwight is one who could have broken the "white ceiling" many years ago, but, the country then, as now, is still not ready.
23
@Dan
How right you are, couldn't agree more.
5
@Dan, And you know he was qualified, how? He could have failed one the many tests that these test pilots did.
1
In celebrating "Man on The Moon" we celebrate all of those that contributed to the space program.
Yes, indeed, Dwight had the right stuff, and still does as I can see; as an artist you have a different perception of things and attitude to what surrounds you.
23
In the absence of written records of selection criteria and performance ratings, the specific reasons for Mr. Dwight’s de-selection from the astronaut program are unknown. However, from the article it seems highly likely that racial bias was involved.
It is also clear that Dwight’s initial selection for astronaut training was a direct result of President Kennedy’s Executive Order establishing affirmative action as official US policy, as well as Kennedy’s desire to recruit—and display to the world—a black astronaut.
It was a much greater problem, one that would have been totally unacceptable to his superiors and fellow officers, that Dwight could break the chain of command and take his case directly to Pentagon officials and, apparently, even President Kennedy.
This point is confirmed by the fact that Dwight’s Pentagon and executive branch support suddenly disappeared upon Kennedy’s death and he was assigned to the US equivalent of Siberia.
I was happy to see that Dwight moved on beyond his setback and is now enjoying a productive career as a sculptor.
27
This history has to be told over and over again to keep awareness of racism and taking positive action in our minds, hearts and deeds. Both small and large actions, together with hateful and hurtful words, have a detrimental impacts on the lives of the oppressed and the witnesses who feel paralyzed to intercede. Vigilance and pushback are required for our democracy to succeed. They require attention, training and courage to counter those who want to tear democracy apart and reconstruct it into special and privileged segments. Keep telling the stories, please, and help us to take positive action.
32
Thank you, Emily Ludolph, for this beautifully written and deeply poignant article on Ed Dwight.
An unnamed artist wrote -- Every time an artist makes a piece of art, a piece of evil is taken out of this world.
I admire Mr. Dwight's perseverance in preserving history through his bronze works. I hope he receives the commission commemorating the start of the slave trade in Virginia. And I hope the NYTimes will report on it.
Good luck, Mr. Dwight.
73
Even in the 70s there were very few minority AF officers who flew as pilots or navigators! In my B-52 squadron of 100 officers there were no Black pilots and 2-3 navigator/EW officers.
The Air Force is a very rigid society and moving upward is positively biased by military academy attendance, being a pilot, and having high ranking sponsors. Ed Dwight appears to not have been treated fairly, but his superiors did not appreciate his calls to DC and him currying favor from politicians and Pentagon supporters.
As might be expected Mr. Dwight landed on his feet and succeeded in life. I salute Mr. Dwight and thank him for being a early trailblazer and for his service to our country.
27
@EDH
No matter how qualified he was, having all that political weight behind him made it all the harder for him to get through.
So many of us are so proud of you Sir!
It is an honor to know your story. Some day I hope to shake your hand. You are a real American hero in every sense.
71
@Ultramayan maybe if the superior had behaved with grace, courtesy and FAIRNESS those call wouldn’t have been necessary. Stop victim blaming- it’s ugly.
2
Well done, NYT. Just like the reporters found Dwight a year later (after he’d vanished from the national astronaut-in-training pool) and asked the tough questions. Thank you for this illuminating story. Our story. Our American story. We’re better when we see the whole of it in living and loving color. Your journalism is such a big piece of this as you flesh out our history. So, this morning I’m grateful for both Ed Dwight’s courage and the NYT’s tenacity and commitment. Carry on, beautiful warriors.
62
A terrific piece of American History that should be mentioned in any class cirriculum. A man who was talented beyond the ordinary, on the path to make a history that he didnt get the chance to make, and still through it all he became a success in life by anyone's measure.
I hope he gets the commision to do that artwork in Virginia.
57
Thank you NYT for the article. What an incredible milestone it would have been for us all, and for the world, if Dwight had made it up there with Armstrong or others. He certainly deserved it.
As much as I respect Yeager for his achievements in breaking the sound barrier, it's clear that his behaviour was/is pure frustration for not having a diploma, and thus being grounded on the Apollo flights (or other).
There are no heroes in this, that's Hollywood or Marvel stuff. What we need is to recognise and celebrate all those that have contributed to the space program.
Hats off to Dwight for keeping cool.
20
Thank you NYT for a very interesting look at the life of Ed Dwight. It was rather frustrating to read that even after doing what was necessary for training and education, he was still denied an opportunity to realize his dream of being an astronaut. I like reading that he is now a successful sculptor. The article also stoked my admiration for Edward R Murrow. Though his recommendation to the Kennedy administration was a practical one, he was at least forward thinking.
34
Thank-you for this excellent article.
The sting of intolerance can be so subtle at times it feels overwhelming to the victim, yet sounds and exhibits soft words and slight body language in the method of direct hits. Those of us who have felt discrimination of many kinds know it.
An American hero like Ed Dwight felt, and lived through the sting of racism while striving toward his goal of becoming an American Astronaut.
This article illustrates the many levels and gradations of Dwight's life story. As space flight becomes a mixture of private and government programs let us remember this person's history and what has been overcome as people from many backgrounds and from many countries venture forth from our home planet to explore other worlds and places in the quest of human adventure and discovery.
17
Thank you for this history. I admire Ed Dwight, his endurance amidst many, many challenges and the art he is creating today. Tremendous last line of the essay: "It is because of that first that all the other firsts are necessary."
19
The mere fact that Ed Dwight could endure the ignorance of people like Chuck Yeager and stay focused on the rigors of the astronaut training program proves he could certainly have become one. This guy had/has strength of character and amazing gifts, and I’m so glad that The NY Times and PBS in its recent series have told his story.
288
@Katherine Reed "The mere fact that Ed Dwight could endure the ignorance of people like Chuck Yeager and stay focused on the rigors of the astronaut training program proves he could certainly have become one."
I greatly admire Dwight's ability to do so and hate that he was forced to do so, but Jackie Robinson endured far more and far more virulent racist hatred and stayed focused on the rigors of being a great baseball player for 154 games (more when they made the World Series)--do you believe he "certainly" could have been an astronaut?
The competition was brutal among far more extremely qualified candidates than there was room for--I wish Dwight had been given the chance to compete on a level playing field, but you have no factual basis to be so certain he would have prevailed, just as no one could be certain he would have failed.
3
@Katherine Reed
Dwight's biggest problem was that he was be force fed to the Air Force and NASA. All the media and politics can make people wonder just how good he really was.
@Katherine Reed
In the absence of written records of selection criteria and performance ratings, the specific reasons for Mr. Dwight’s de-selection from the astronaut program are unknown. However, from the article it seems highly likely that racial bias was involved.
It is also clear that Dwight’s initial selection for astronaut training was a direct result of President Kennedy’s Executive Order establishing affirmative action as official US policy, as well as Kennedy’s desire to recruit—and display to the world—a black astronaut.
It was a much greater problem, one that would have been totally unacceptable to his superiors and fellow officers, that Dwight could break the chain of command and take his case directly to Pentagon officials and, apparently, even President Kennedy.
This point is confirmed by the fact that Dwight’s Pentagon and executive branch support suddenly disappeared upon Kennedy’s death and he was assigned to the US equivalent of Siberia.
I was happy to see that Dwight moved on beyond his setback and is now enjoying a productive career as a sculptor.
2
Chuck Yeager had, and still has, a tendency to badmouth other pilots, including Joe Walker (a consummate X-15 test pilot who died in a midair collision with the XB-70 in 1966), Scott Crossfield (the first X-15 pilot, who died in a crash of his private plane), and even Neil Armstrong (whose airplane got stuck in the mud on a supposedly dry lake, with Yeager in the back seat). I cannot say whether Yeager was jealous because he didn 't get into one or another of these programs, but he could easily have interfered with Mr. Dwight's Air Force career (he has said in his book "Yeager" that Dwight was unqualified, but no one else seems to have thought so).
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@Pat O'Hern
Yes, Yeager has an incredibly funny anecdote about the time Neil Armstrong and Yeager flew a "scouting mission" to see if the landing lake beds were dried out enough to land on.
Yeager told Armstrong not to "touch down" because the landing gear would get stuck, but Armstrong insisted, saying that he would just "touch and go".
Well, as Yeager related, "We touched, but we sure as heck didn't go!" Their landing gear got stuck in the mud and had to radio for help to get them out.
3
I've not yet read the full article, but I can say this; Mr Dwight is still with us, and I how he's honoured.
Today, when the words 'hero' is used a ridiculous amount, Mr Dwight is most definitely one, and deserves the recognition.
27
To suggest that only White males were the ones with the “right stuff” to become an astronaut is statistically impossible and ultimately proven false through history. To suggest that political correctness was and is responsible for any non-White heterosexual males succeeding in the military, business, politics is similarly statistically impossible. Given this, to deny that racism, sexism and homophobia is still not holding back people who are significantly more qualified than their non-people of color, female and LGBTQI+ colleagues is similarly statistically impossible. To think that Trump won anything over the profoundly more qualified Hillary Clinton wasn’t due, in a large part, to sexism is farcical. His illegitimate election due to Russian interference also, obviously, played a huge part, from the cataclysmic disruption of the Democratic National Convention to the 2016 presidential election. Over the course of my life, I have watched the disadvantaged and advantaged parts of my identity play out in real time. I have experienced over and over discrimination and marginalization for being female while observing the preferential treatment I enjoy because I’m White. I have also observed and experienced so-called reverse discrimination due to race. The scale doesn’t budge when I compare all that I have been afforded due to being White to the one or two times of (possible) reverse discrimination. We don’t live in a meritocracy, unless you are White, male and straight.
120
I want to add a possibly more controversial comment. If you identify as LGBTQI+ and are not advocating against racism, you should be. The reverse is also true: if you identify as a person of color and are not advocating against homophobia, you should be. The racism and homophobia found in LGBTQI+ and communities of color is similarly disgraceful. (Both of these can also be found in feminist communities as well, to our shame.) I recognize there are problems with “telling” anyone who has a disadvantaged identity what they “should” be doing. However, the attitudes, cultural traditions and belief systems maintaining the psychosocial phenomena of racism, sexism and homophobia found in the above communities are absurd. We are all, ultimately, fighting the same monsters: The sentiment and cultural forces keeping us marginalized, discriminating against us, all come from the same place. Our causes share more similarities than differences. And those social forces set against us? They don’t want us marching together, united. They want to divide and conquer. That minister that is preaching to his congregation of color should not be deriding homosexuality or transsexuality. That minister should be telling his congregation about how LGBTQI+ identified individuals and communities are getting the same bad end of the same bad stick as people of color, historically and today. Like NASA/the military’s actions found in the article, there can always be found an argument to justify exclusion.
13
@SMcStormy, The "right stuff" was a distillation of many, many men. That Dwight didn't make the cut wasn't a surprise. Most men failed.
13
@Ryan Yes, but to suggest that racism wasn't likely involved in why he failed is at the very least, naive. I'm confident he was judged FAR more harshly, that his mistakes were emphasized, remembered, recorded/noted where, if he was White, he likely would have enjoyed some kind of “pass.” I’m similarly confident that he experienced overt, daily racism, perhaps even violence. I remember reading an official military memo arguing against integrating the armed forces during WW2 noting that separation was necessary to avoid a situation where a White enlisted soldier might have to salute an officer of color because that would be, “obscene.”
That said, one of the ways racism manifests (similar to sexism and homophobia) is that the rules, guidelines and practices in place are strictly enforced when it comes to disadvantaged cultures and identities whereas identities of privilege enjoy routine, subjective discretion to their advantage. I know because I have enjoyed such while observing colleagues of color more harshly judged, their mistakes emphasized and noted/recorded, their wins and successes minimized, not recorded or noted. I have seen them overlooked for promotions and positions of importance where there were more opportunities for advancement. I have been witness to this for decades. I have protested when I could, though there are likely many situations where I didn't, but should have, especially when I was younger. Though, I was fighting my own similar battles as a woman.
34
Great read, thank you for "giving us" Ed Dwight's life story, and Thank Mr. Dwight for sharing his story, photos . . . and himself!
45
I wish our society could more more quickly towards equality but thank all the individuals, including Ed Dwight, would patiently push forward with their individual efforts and sacrifice.
63
Thank you for sharing this story. I never knew about this part of history and it warms my heart to see people who look like me fight for inclusion in all aspects of society. Keep these stories coming, NYT!
108
The Air Force had its own astronaut program during the 1960s, with Robert Henry Lawrence, and African-American among them. Lawrence might have joined Dwight at NASA, but was killed in an aircraft accident in 1967.
32
@Kevin Blankinship
A tragedy when a promising person dies and just as tragic when a promising persons dreams are deliberately destroyed by hatred.
Think that if there had been two African Americans to step on it would had a different outcome?
6