[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 83 (Tuesday, June 21, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S6907]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    GENERAL BERNARD ADOLPH SCHRIEVER

  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, it is with deep sorrow that I come to 
speak on the floor of the Senate today. The father of the United States 
Air Force space and missile program, General Bernard Adolph Schriever, 
died today of natural causes. He is survived by his wife, his three 
children, and his two step-children. I offer them my deepest 
condolences and prayers as they go through this difficult time.
  General Schriever was a great American. Born in Bremen, Germany in 
1910, Schriever's family moved to America 7 years later, where he 
became a naturalized citizen in 1923. Schriever would give 33 years of 
distinguished military service to his new home.
  During his exceptional career in the Air Force, General Schriever led 
America's charge into space. When President Dwight Eisenhower assigned 
the Nation's highest priority to the development of an Inter-
Continental Ballistic Missile, the Air Force assigned Schriever to 
manage the program. He demanded sweeping authority to accomplish the 
job, authority that Schriever's commander gladly granted him.
  The success of the ballistic missile and space programs managed by 
Schriever was phenomenal. The progression of the Thor Intermediate 
Range Ballistic Missile, from program approval to the Initial 
Operational Capability, took only 3\1/2\ years. The Atlas's development 
time was little more than 5 years, and the Titan's less than 6. 
Moreover, even as the first Titan lifted off from Cape Canaveral, 
Schriever's group was already developing the more advanced Titan II.
  The Minuteman, from start to finish, took only 4 years and 8 months 
to deploy. The first ten were on combat alert in their underground 
silos in October of 1962. Schriever's organization could rightfully 
take credit for winning the Cold War's race for missile supremacy, 
helping to ensure America's safety and security in perilous times.
  Schriever had assembled an organization with the highest educational 
level of any U.S. military organization either before or since that 
time. More than a third of his hand-picked officers had Ph.D.s and 
Master's degrees. Schriever believed that America had to develop its 
mind power if the country was to survive in the space age, a belief we 
would be well served to listen to today.
  General Schriever's legacy lives on in the men and women of Schriever 
Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. The more than 3,400 military and 
civilian employees continue to provide our Nation with an aerospace 
capability second to none. The base flies nearly all of the Department 
of Defense's satellites.
  Colorado is proud of the men and women who serve at Schriever Air 
Force Base, and we are proud of the legacy left to us by General 
Bernard Adolph Schriever.

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