D. D. Harriman
Encyclopedia
Delos David Harriman, known as "D.D. Harriman," is a character in the fiction of noted science fiction
author Robert A. Heinlein
. He is an entrepreneur
ial businessman who masterminded the first landing on the Moon
as a private business venture. His story is part of Heinlein's Future History
.
Harriman's first appearance in print was in the story Requiem
which described his death while pursuing his dream of landing on the Moon himself. Having opened space to humankind he was, like Moses
, denied the sight of his promised land by a combination of health and legal issues. At the end of his life, Harriman decides to clandestinely arrange to go to the Moon himself. Harriman meets two spacemen, Captain James (Mac) McIntyre and Engineer Charles (Charlie) Cummings, who are down on their luck and giving rocketship rides at county fairs. He secretly hires them and pays to have an old orbital ship purchased and upgraded for a flight to the Moon. To finance this, he liquidates his financial holdings without explanation. His actions cause his nieces and nephews to take him to court for a competency hearing. Harriman fails to show up for the hearing and joins the two spacemen as they prepare the ship at a secret desert location. A deputy marshal locates them, but is knocked out by Charlie Cummings. As he comes to he sees them making a hurried departure in the modified ship. The spacemen give the old man his last wish. He barely survives the trip, and dies shortly after landing. Charlie buries Harriman's space-suited
body on the surface of the Moon and scrawls his epitaph on the tag from an oxygen bottle. It is Robert Louis Stevenson
's "Requiem", which is inscribed on his own headstone in Samoa.
Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie:
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will!
This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.
Charlie and Mac then abandon the ship and begin the thirty-mile trip to Luna City.
In the later publication, The Man Who Sold the Moon
, Harriman is in his prime. Determined to carry out his vision of a private-venture rocket to the Moon, he buys, bullies, finagles, and deceives anyone who stands in his way. His partners, who respect his successes if not his methods, think of him as the last of the old robber baron
s, or perhaps the first of the new ones. At the end of that story, published later than its sequel, he is left behind as the first colonization team leaves for the Moon.
Harriman is long married, but his marriage takes second place to his business. When raising money for his venture, he warns Mrs. Harriman that they may move out of their extensive underground apartments (built for safety during the so-called "Crazy Years") and buy a house on the surface. He also warns her that she may have to relearn the art of running a house without servants.
Heinlein's last novel, To Sail Beyond the Sunset
, consists of the memoirs of Maureen Johnson
, mother of Lazarus Long
, and thus includes considerable detail about the twentieth century of Lazarus's home timeline. We learn that Maureen was involved in Harriman's Moon project as the mistress of his partner George Strong, a director of Harriman's corporation, and a last-minute benefactor.
While the character only appears in the three Heinlein works, the name "Harriman" appears throughout Heinlein's "Future History" stories, in the names of various foundations and trusts founded by the character.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
author Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
. He is an entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
ial businessman who masterminded the first landing on the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
as a private business venture. His story is part of Heinlein's Future History
Future History
The Future History, by Robert A. Heinlein, describes a projected future of the human race from the middle of the 20th century through the early 23rd century. The term Future History was coined by John W. Campbell, Jr. in the February 1941 issue of Astounding Science Fiction...
.
Harriman's first appearance in print was in the story Requiem
Requiem (short story)
"Requiem" is a short story by Robert A. Heinlein, serving as a sequel to his short science fiction novel, The Man Who Sold the Moon , although it was in fact published several years earlier than that story, in Astounding, January 1940...
which described his death while pursuing his dream of landing on the Moon himself. Having opened space to humankind he was, like Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
, denied the sight of his promised land by a combination of health and legal issues. At the end of his life, Harriman decides to clandestinely arrange to go to the Moon himself. Harriman meets two spacemen, Captain James (Mac) McIntyre and Engineer Charles (Charlie) Cummings, who are down on their luck and giving rocketship rides at county fairs. He secretly hires them and pays to have an old orbital ship purchased and upgraded for a flight to the Moon. To finance this, he liquidates his financial holdings without explanation. His actions cause his nieces and nephews to take him to court for a competency hearing. Harriman fails to show up for the hearing and joins the two spacemen as they prepare the ship at a secret desert location. A deputy marshal locates them, but is knocked out by Charlie Cummings. As he comes to he sees them making a hurried departure in the modified ship. The spacemen give the old man his last wish. He barely survives the trip, and dies shortly after landing. Charlie buries Harriman's space-suited
Pressure suit
A pressure suit is a protective suit worn by high-altitude pilots who may fly at altitudes where the air pressure is too low for an unprotected person to survive, even breathing pure oxygen at positive pressure. Such suits may be either full-pressure or partial-pressure...
body on the surface of the Moon and scrawls his epitaph on the tag from an oxygen bottle. It is Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
's "Requiem", which is inscribed on his own headstone in Samoa.
Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie:
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will!
This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.
Charlie and Mac then abandon the ship and begin the thirty-mile trip to Luna City.
In the later publication, The Man Who Sold the Moon
The Man Who Sold the Moon
The Man Who Sold the Moon is a science fiction novella by Robert A. Heinlein written in 1949 and published in 1950. A part of his Future History and prequel to "Requiem", it covers events around a fictional first Moon landing, in 1978, and the schemes of Delos D...
, Harriman is in his prime. Determined to carry out his vision of a private-venture rocket to the Moon, he buys, bullies, finagles, and deceives anyone who stands in his way. His partners, who respect his successes if not his methods, think of him as the last of the old robber baron
Robber baron
A robber baron or robber knight was an unscrupulous and despotic nobility of the medieval period in Europe, for example, Berlichingen. It has slightly different meanings in different countries. In modern US parlance, the term is also used to describe unscrupulous industrialists...
s, or perhaps the first of the new ones. At the end of that story, published later than its sequel, he is left behind as the first colonization team leaves for the Moon.
Harriman is long married, but his marriage takes second place to his business. When raising money for his venture, he warns Mrs. Harriman that they may move out of their extensive underground apartments (built for safety during the so-called "Crazy Years") and buy a house on the surface. He also warns her that she may have to relearn the art of running a house without servants.
Heinlein's last novel, To Sail Beyond the Sunset
To Sail Beyond the Sunset
To Sail Beyond the Sunset is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1987. It was the last novel published before he died in 1988....
, consists of the memoirs of Maureen Johnson
Maureen Johnson (Heinlein character)
Maureen Johnson Smith Long , most often referred to as Maureen Johnson, is a fictional character in several science fiction novels written by Robert A. Heinlein. She is the mother, lover and eventual wife of Lazarus Long, the longest-living member of Heinlein's fictional Howard Families...
, mother of Lazarus Long
Lazarus Long
Lazarus Long is a fictional character featured in a number of science fiction novels by Robert A. Heinlein. Born in 1912 in the third generation of a selective breeding experiment run by the Ira Howard Foundation, Lazarus becomes unusually long-lived, living well over two thousand years with the...
, and thus includes considerable detail about the twentieth century of Lazarus's home timeline. We learn that Maureen was involved in Harriman's Moon project as the mistress of his partner George Strong, a director of Harriman's corporation, and a last-minute benefactor.
While the character only appears in the three Heinlein works, the name "Harriman" appears throughout Heinlein's "Future History" stories, in the names of various foundations and trusts founded by the character.