361. Editorial Note
During 1954–1958, the United States Government in general, and the Department of State in particular, devoted substantial attention and energies to the preparation, planning, and implementation of United States scientific programs within the framework of the International Geophysical Year.
The origins of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) go back to 1950 when the Mixed Commission on the Ionosphere (MCI) recommended to its parent international scientific body, the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), a third Polar Year similar to the Second Polar Year organized under the auspices of a number of international scientific bodies in 1932–1933 to conduct coordinated international scientific observations in the polar areas. The ICSU Bureau, the eight-member executive body of the Council, endorsed the MCI plan in January 1951 and in October of that year the ICSU Executive Board decided to create a special committee to work on plans for a third Polar Year. In March 1952 the ICSU Bureau named an eight-person committee to study the matter in detail and invitations were issued to all nations adhering to the ICSU to join the effort. The Soviet Union was not a member of ICSU, but later agreed to join the international effort in its capacity as member of several subsidiary ICSU organizations.
As more nations agreed to join the enterprise, objections were raised as to confining scientific endeavors and observations to the polar regions and it was proposed to name the forthcoming endeavor the International Geophysical Year. The special eight-person committee named in March 1952 and now somewhat enlarged met at Brussels from June 30 to July 3, 1953. Continuing to represent international scientific unions rather than national groups, this committee named itself the Comité Spécial de l’Année Géophysique Internationale (CSAGI) and it was chosen to run the IGY. May 1954 was set as the deadline for the submission of detailed national programs for the dispatch of expeditions and for observation. Thus, 2½ years lead time was available before the beginning of the IGY, [Page 785] which was scheduled to open on July 1, 1957, and run through December 1958 in order to take maximum advantage of the period of expected peak sun spot activity and eclipses.
Although the IGY was concerned with numerous scientific programs of planetary observation and evaluation including the Arctic, the equatorial region, and three selected pole-to-pole meridians along which a maximum number of tests and observations were conducted, the chief foci of all efforts were Antarctica and the exploration of outer space through the launching of various earth satellites by rocketry. Considerations of space have precluded documentary treatment of the United States Government’s strong interest and participation in all aspects of the IGY expressed chiefly through the National Academy of Sciences and the Operations Coordinating Board and, in lesser measure, through the Departments of State and Defense. However, a number of Department of State files contain information concerning planning and implementation of IGY projects plus government reaction to Soviet IGY achievements, specifically the launching of the first Earth Satellite (“Sputnik”). These files are: S/SA Files: Lot 61 D 333, filled with detailed records of United States participation in the numerous CSAGI and regional scientific meetings during the years 1955–1958; S/S–OCB Files: Lot 61 D 385, containing rich documentation on strategic and scientific planning and implementation of various IGY projects in which the United States participated; P/PG Files: Lot 60 D 661, containing information on the American Earth Satellite program; and Central Files, 031, 702.22 and 911.80, 81, and 82, concerned with scientific expeditions, Antarctica, and general scientific subjects, respectively.