When informed that I was to be a candidate for the Franklin Medal this year, I was greatly pleased but somewhat taken aback.
Being thoroughly mindful of the exacting standards which guide the Committee on Science and the Arts in selection of candidates for this high honor, I found it difficult to justify my presence in the company of such eminent former medalists as Edison, Orville Wright, Marconi, and Albert Einstein. That the Committee has seen fit to place an aircraft engineer turned aircraft and missile manufacturer in such distinguished ranks is a tribute for which I am humbly grateful.
As would have to be the case, those who have been chosen to receive previous Franklin Medals were, to a man, pioneers.
The pioneering aspects of their achevements are noteworthy and, it seems to me, fully in keeping with the long history and high traditions of The Franklin Institute.
John Quincy Adams was elected President the year after the Institute was founded. The Monroe Doctrine was only a year old and a goodly portion of the nation's peoples were pressing westward, exploring new territory, clearing the forests, turning the sod to prepare for the vast farm lands.
But in the early years of the Nineteenth Century, there were also * Delivered at the 1958 Medal Day Meeting of The Franklin Institute, October 15, 1958, in acceptance of the Franklin Medal. t Chairman of the Board, Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc., Santa Monica, Calif. (Note--The Franklin Institute is not responsible for the statements and opinions advanced by contributors in the JOVIAL) 43I