John C. Nickerson Jr. (November 18, 1915 – March 1, 1964) was a colonel in the United States Army and a Redstone Arsenal employee. He fought in World War II and then became involved in the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. In 1957, Nickerson became the first American to be charged under the Espionage Act after leaking classified national security information to the press during a dispute about missile programs. Convicted, he briefly had his rank suspended. He spent the rest of his life in various other military roles before dying in a car accident.
Early life
Nickerson was born in Paris, Kentucky on November 18, 1915. He attended grammar school and high school in Paris and, after graduating, spent one year at the University of Kentucky studying industrial chemistry. Nickerson then moved to West Point, graduating on June 13, 1938.
After graduating, Nickerson was commissioned into the Army's Artillery Branch. He held several command positions of increasing rank inside the United States before, in December 1943, being sent to France as a lieutenant colonel. There Nickerson served as commanding officer of the 56th Field Artillery Battalion, 8th Infantry Division, participating at the Battle of the Bulge. For his service, he was awarded a Silver Star and a bronze oak leaf cluster in lieu of a second. Nickerson was stationed for a time near Cologne, where he observed German V-2 rocket launches; he later credited the experience for his interest in rocketry.
By 1955, Nickerson was based in Washington, D.C. as an ordnance officer. After helping Wernher von Braun prepare a presentation on satellites for the Army, he became involved with von Braun's rocket team, serving as the Army Ballistic Missile Agency's liaison to the Defense Department. At the ABMA, Nickerson began working on the PGM-19 Jupiter ballistic missile program.
Information leak
In 1956, United States Secretary of Defense Charles Wilson announced a restructuring of the United States' missile programs: the Army would be reduced to managing short-range missiles, while the Air Force would take over the development of intermediate- and long-range ballistic missiles. Nickerson, concerned that the 200-mile range limit on the Army's missiles would force the end of the Jupiter program, traveled to D.C. in late November to speak out against Wilson's decision, to little success.
Angered, Nickerson prepared a twelve-page document against Wilson's plan entitled "Considerations on the Wilson Memorandum." The document accused Wilson of corporate corruption in his plan to shift longer range missiles to the Air Force - despite his office, Wilson was still employed by General Motors, whose parts were used by the Air Force's PGM-17 Thor missile. Nickerson also pointed fingers at Admiral Arthur W. Radford, a confidant of Wilson whom Nickerson believed was poisoning the Defense Department against the Army. Nickerson also argued that keeping the missile program within the Army was necessary for national security and for the Army's ability to limit casualties in combat, comparing early missile tests in which the Jupiter missile had successfully flown 3,000 miles and the Thor missile had flown 3 feet. Much of the information Nickerson included in the document, including the results of the missile tests, was classified data.
With "Considerations" completed, Nickerson sent the documents anonymously, through aides and civilian employees, to select journalists and industrialists. "Considerations" reached, among others, Drew Pearson, author of the "Washington Merry-Go-Round" column; Erik Bergaust, managing editor of Missiles & Rockets; and William F. Hunt and John A. Baumann, employees of Reynolds Metal Company and the Radio Corporation of America respectively who were both involved at Redstone Arsenal. Nickerson also personally delivered the document to three members of the Alabama congressional delegation.
Pearson, uncertain if the information in "Considerations" could be legally published, took his copy of the document to the Defense Department to check, where it was promptly seized and universally classified. Federal investigation determined the document to have been produced on a type of typewriter used exclusively by high-ranking Army officers. While the document was initially traced to the ribbon of von Braun's typewriter, questioning headed by Army inspector general David Ogden turned up information that Nickerson regularly borrowed the typewriter for his own use.