[On July 6th,
1963, President John F. Kennedy’s
Executive Order establishing the Presidential Medal of Freedom
went into effect. So this week I’ll AmericanStudy a handful of the Medals
recipients, leading up to a weekend post on the most recent, most controversial
honoree yet.]
On two 1985
recipients who embody two very distinct visions of scientific progress.
Ronald Reagan
awarded a ton of Presidential Medals of Freedom across all eight of his years
as president, but 1985 was a particularly striking year (perhaps in part as it
was the start of his second term), as it included one of the 20th
century’s most recognizable and influential figures (Mother Theresa) and two of
20th century America’s most beloved cultural icons (Frank Sinatra
and Jimmy Stewart). Those three stood out most among the year’s 16 recipients,
but for this post I want to focus on two others: the French scientist, conservationist,
explorer, and filmmaker Jacques
Cousteau; and the American aviator, flight commander, and test pilot Charles “Chuck” Yeager. Both men began
their careers in the military and in similar roles and eras (Cousteau as a
French naval officer in training to be a pilot in the 1930s, Yeager as an Air
Force pilot during World War II), but the similarities mostly end there;
indeed, I would argue that the two men reflect profoundly different ways of
thinking about the relationship between science, nature, and the nation.
The word that
best sums up Jacques Cousteau’s vision of science and nature would have to be “discovery”:
his groundbreaking first book and film were titled The
Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery and Adventure (book 1953, film 1956); in the 70s
he published an 8-volume series of books collectively titled The
Undersea Discoveries of Jacques-Yves Cousteau; and in the years
following his Medal of Freedom he released a new documentary TV series entitled
Rediscovery of the World,
to cite just a few examples. When it comes to Chuck Yeager, I would say that
the word which best sums up his aviation and scientific achievements would be “barrier”—Yeager
remains most famous as the first person to officially break the sound
barrier, reaching Mach 1 during an October 14th,
1947 flight in the experimental Bell X-1 aircraft; and for much of the next
decade he took part in numerous other record-breaking flights and attempts,
individually and with partners such as Jackie
Cochran (the first woman to break the speed of sound) and Jack
Ridley (his lifelong friend and an engineer without whom Yeager would
likely never have broken those barriers).
I highlight those
two words because they can help us think about a couple layers to the two men’s
careers and meanings. Cousteau seems to have approached the natural world as a
mystery to be explored, and science thus as both the process of exploration and
the understandings that can be developed through that process (but both of which
never end). Yeager, on the other hand, reflects a view that the natural world
is an obstacle to be overcome, and scientific advancement thus as both the
process of overcoming and the technological marvels that can be produced once
that process succeeds. Relatedly, Cousteau’s work has consistently been treated
(by himself and
by his audiences) as for the whole world, which would explain why a
lifelong Frenchman would receive a US Presidential Medal of Freedom; while
Yeager’s work consistently took place within the aegis of the US military and
scientific establishments, which would explain why he continued to fly and
command numerous military missions through the Vietnam War.
There’s a place and a role for both ways of thinking, but it will come as no
surprise to readers of this blog that I especially admire and value Cousteau’s
vision of a world without barriers (whether between man and nature or between
nations).
Last Medal post
tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What do you
think? Other honorees you’d highlight?
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