Shepard remembered for dedication to freedom
Commentary
By Charles L. Overby
Chairman and CEO, The Freedom Forum
08.15.98
The Freedom Forum lost a valued friend and trustee with the death of Alan Shepard.
As a trustee of The Freedom Forum and the First Amendment Center, he shared our commitment to a free press.
Everywhere he went, people wanted to talk to him, to be near him, to see what he was like.
At our forums around the country and the world, I watched people approach Shepard. Heads of state were as reverential toward him as schoolchildren. They didn't have to be. He acted the same toward everyone.
At dozens of Freedom Forum events, I saw him take time to answer questions about his exploits in space, even though he must have been asked the same questions for four decades. Shortly after he joined The Freedom Forum board, I asked him a typical question: Were you ever afraid on your mission to the moon?
He smiled and said: "No. The only time I was really afraid was when I was landing a jet at night on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean."
Shepard enjoyed people and did not use his celebrity status as an excuse to come to an event late and leave early. He looked people in the eye and didn't shift from foot to foot looking for an escape route. He never looked around to see if someone more important might be nearby.
He didn't have to. He was always the most notable person in the room. But he didn't act that way.
His astronaut friends remembered him for his swagger and confidence. One former astronaut said, "There wasn't a humble bone in his body." That may have been true for Alan Shepard the astronaut but it didn't carry forward to his dealings with average people while he was a Freedom Forum trustee.
He maintained an intense interest in education. On a Freedom Forum trip to Costa Rica to talk about free press issues in Latin America, he took time to visit with schoolchildren to talk about the importance of education. He is pictured with some of those children on page 2 of this issue. He seemed to enjoy the visit as much as the children.
Shepard encouraged discussion about coverage of the space program through an annual lecture series named for him and funded by The Freedom Forum. His early space exploits were chronicled by the media as a result of an open press policy by NASA, and he never wavered from that commitment to a free press.
After he retired as an astronaut, Shepard became a successful businessman and did not seek the limelight. Therefore, with the passage of time, he was not generally recognized immediately when he attended Freedom Forum events. But as soon as his name was mentioned, people began to buzz about his presence and flock toward him. His name had international recognition, even if his face didn't.
That was probably the best of both worlds.
He was generous with his time and his resources. That was evident at a gala auction hosted by The Freedom Forum to mark the opening of the Newseum and to benefit National Public Radio. Shepard contributed a small flag that he took to the moon and brought back. It was the most valuable item of the evening.
Tim Russert, Washington bureau chief for NBC and host of "Meet the Press," served as auctioneer. When the bidding failed to bring what he thought it was worth, Russert raised the bid himself and then bought the flag. Shepard signed the flag and handed it to him as the crowd roared its approval of Russert's purchase and Shepard's willingness to hand over such a beloved memento.
For the next century and beyond, Alan Shepard will be remembered for his space exploits. His legacy also should include his commitment to freedom around the world, including freedom of the press.
Donations in memory of Alan Shepard can be made to the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, 6225 Vectorspace Blvd., Titusville, FL 32780.