A Letter of Worse Case Scenario if Armstrong and Aldrin Were Stranded on the Moon...

I came across this today while looking through the internet. I am not sure if it has been on ATS before, but I thought it of interest regardless of whether you believe in the first moon landing or not....

Apparently, ‘On 18th July 1969, as the world waited anxiously for Apollo 11 to land safely on the surface of the Moon, speechwriter William Safire imagined the worst case scenario as he expertly wrote the following sombre memo to President Nixon’s Chief of Staff, H. R. Haldeman. Its contents: a contingency plan, in the form of a speech to be read out by Nixon should astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become stranded on the moon, never to return, followed by some brief instructions relating to its broadcast. Luckily for all those involved, the memo was never needed.’

This proposed speech has come up from time to time on various Moon Hoax threads. The Hoax proponents generally discount it. They do not understand the propaganda value of martyrs.

It is not at all unusual for presidential communications people to have at least two statements prepared for events such as this. They don't want to be scrambling during the emotional aftermath if something DID go wrong.

It wouldn't surprise me if they had a worst-case scenario statement mostly prepared for the mission that killed Osama Bin Laden. There was probably a draft of a statement that dealt with Bin laden getting away, and all or some of the American SEAL team getting killed or captured. They just simply want to be prepared.

if this is real it sounds like they were willing to kill the astronauts if they didn't keep quiet about some of the things they saw. LOL probably came to an agreement

Originally posted by NaturalBornLeader
if this is real it sounds like they were willing to kill the astronauts if they didn't keep quiet about some of the things they saw. LOL probably came to an agreement

It Is definitely real, and on display by the National Archives.

However, as I said above, it is normal procedure to prepare more than one type of speech (speeches in praise of the achievement for a positive outcome, and in bereavement after possible tragic outcome) for an event like this.

The idea being that they want to be prepared in the event of a disaster, and don't want to be scrambling around trying to write this after the event happens. They want the president to be ready to say something meaningful in a timely manner if an undesired outcome was to occur.

Like I said above, it would not surprise me at all if President Obama had at least two speeches prepared for the mission that got Osama Bin Laden -- the speech we heard, plus another he did not need to read that dealt with Bin Laden getting away again, and the SEAL team getting killed in the process. They need to be ready for that potential outcome.

The letter is real, and it is NOT something they are hiding. In fact this letter is a prominent piece of American history. Here is the official website of the National Archives, where this letter regarding a possible Apollo 11 disaster is featured (scroll down to the bottom of the linked page).

www.archives.gov...

reply to post by NaturalBornLeader

if this is real it sounds like they were willing to kill the astronauts if they didn't keep quiet about some of the things they saw. LOL probably came to an agreement

Interesting. Your immediate reaction to a message of condolence is that it means that the bearer was willing to commit murder. Then you laugh at the prospect. Then someone gave you a star. Both of you need to do some reflection.