Lewis Center Director Abe Silverstein holds Recruiting Press Conference

Abe Silverstein, new Director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Lewis Research Center, holds a press conference to announce that the center was hiring over 600 new engineers, scientists, and technicians. President John F. Kennedy’s renowned “Urgent Needs” speech to Congress in April 1961 pledged to send a man to the moon during the 1960s. Silverstein was serving at Headquarters at the time and helped brief Vice President Lyndon Johnson on NASA’s capabilities in preparation for Kennedy’s speech. NASA Lewis began expanding both its staff and its facilities to meet the new challenges of space. Nineteen facilities were built or reassigned for space-related testing. The Lewis recruiters sought young graduates who wanted to participate in the space program. By the time of this November 1961 press conference, the center had hired 135 new staff members, interviewed over 700 prospects, and had over 300 applications on file. The number of new staff members would increase to over 2000 by the mid-1960s. Silverstein started at Lewis in 1943 as head of the Altitude Wind Tunnel. After World War II, he was named Chief of the Wind Tunnels and Flight Division. Silverstein was put in charge of all research at the laboratory in 1949, and named Deputy Director in 1952. He was brought to Headquarters in early 1958 to help construct the NASA agency and was soon named chief of space flight programs. Silverstein directed mission planning, spacecraft design, launch operations, manned space missions, and unmanned probes. The press conference served as Silverstein’s official return to Lewis after his Headquarters assignment. During his eight years as Center Director, Silverstein played a prominent role in the Centaur Program and reestablished Lewis as an aeropropulsion center in the late 1960s as the space program was diminishing.