Statement by the President in Response to a Report on the Supersonic Transport Program.

Note: The statement was part of a White House release announcing that the President had received the first Interim Report of the President's Advisory Committee on Supersonic Transport (14 pp., May 14, 1964), and that he had also received a memorandum on the program from the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency. The statement added that the President had approved the Committee's recommendations and the contractors proposed by the Administrator.

The Committee recommended that the Federal Aviation Agency be authorized to place contracts for component development and performance demonstration with manufacturers;. that economic studies be made to determine the size and type of plane that would be most profitable; and that sonic boom studies be carried out under the guidance of the National Academy of Sciences.

In making its recommendations the Committee noted that the project was one of high technical risk, and that financing the supersonic transport would require huge sums, would involve unusually heavy commercial risks, and would necessitate major participation by the Government.

The Committee was established by Executive Order 11149 of April 1, 1964 (29 F.R. 4765; 3 CFR, 1964 Supp.). Government members appointed to the Committee were Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of Defense, Chairman; Douglas Dillon, Secretary of the Treasury, Luther Hodges, Secretary of Commerce, John A. McCone, Director of Central Intelligence, James E. Webb, Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Agency, and Najeeb E. Halaby, Administrator, Federal Aviation Agency. Civilian members appointed were Eugene R. Black, Director, Chase Manhattan Bank, New York; and Stanley de J. Osborne, general partner, Lazard Freres & Company, New York.