Dr. C. G. Abbot -- 5
My reason is that this rocket work is being made almost a national issue in Germany, a novel having been written, playing upon race feeling, in which Germany is urged to support the development of a German liquid-propelled rocket, which, the readers are given to understand, is a German idea. Nearly every day, I am in receipt of requests from Germany for information and details.
Another point is that Science Service is very anxious to secure statements from a number of authorities regarding the importance of this rocket work in time for publication when any announcement is made by the Smithsonian Institution. I assume that the Institution would not be averse to notifying Mr. Watson Davis when to gather his material, inasmuch as the Institution is represented by you on the Board of Trustees of Science Service.
I am enclosing an enlargement made from a film taken at the time of the test of March 16, which I might entitle "The Empty Frame," inasmuch as I had been working to make a liquid-propelled rocket leave a frame since 1920.
Very truly yours,
[signed] R. H. Goddard RHG:E
