First Speech Since Disaster : McAuliffe Husband Asks Teacher Political Activism

The husband of Sharon Christa McAuliffe, in his first speech since her death in the Challenger explosion, urged teachers Friday to take political action to prevent the teacher-in-space program from becoming “a public relations ploy.”

Steven McAuliffe was applauded and cheered during a speech before delegates to the National Education Assn.’s annual convention.

McAuliffe, with his parents-in-law and his children, Scott, 9, and Caroline, 6, accepted a posthumous Friend of Education Award to his wife. Mrs. McAuliffe, 37, of Concord, N.H., selected to be the first “ordinary” citizen in space, died Jan. 28 along with the six other people aboard the space shuttle.

1.8 Million Members

Previous winners of the highest honor offered by the 1.8-million-member teachers union include Lyndon B. Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Hubert H. Humphrey and Thurgood Marshall.

Union President Mary Hatwood Futrell wept as she introduced McAuliffe and his family. “She was a strong association member,” Futrell said. “She filled her time with us. She exhibited the reality of a teacher’s dream.”

“One thing I’d like you to understand,” McAuliffe said. “Christa was the most selfless person I have ever met.”

He recalled his wife’s wit.

Sharp Retort

Once, after needling his wife with the saying, “Those that can, do. Those that can’t, teach,” she shot back: “Those that can, do. Those that can’t, marry lawyers.” McAuliffe is an attorney.

McAuliffe drew prolonged applause and cheers when he urged union members to stay involved in politics.

“Christa knew, as you know, that the voters want the best education and the best teachers for their children. But wishing it won’t make it so.

‘On the Sidelines’

“If I can leave you with one thought, it’s this: If you in this hall do not carry on her work, and sit on the sidelines, then her efforts will have been in vain.

“You will have turned the teacher-in-space program into a feeble substitute for desperately needed help. You will have turned it into a public relations ploy for teachers.

“With her family’s blessings, I hope you will return to your states and use Christa’s efforts and her spirit to get involved in the political arena effectively, to recruit education’s candidates, to unseat those who support education with their words, but not their appropriations, and most of all, that you stay in education,” he said.