Editing Boeing 2707 (section)

=== Government funding cut ===
In March 1971, despite the project's strong support by the administration of President [[Richard Nixon]], the U.S. Senate rejected further funding. A counterattack was organized under the banner of the "National Committee for an American SST", which urged supporters to send in $1 to keep the program alive.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,904898,00.html |title=Supersonic Counterattack |magazine=Time |date=May 22, 1971 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824112348/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C904898%2C00.html |archive-date=August 24, 2013}}</ref> Afterward, letters of support from aviation buffs, containing nearly $1&nbsp;million worth of contributions, poured in. Labor unions also supported the SST project, worried that the winding down of both the [[Vietnam War]] and [[Apollo program]] would lead to mass unemployment in the aerospace sector. [[AFL–CIO]] President [[George Meany]] suggested that the race to develop a first-generation SST was already lost, but the US should "enter the competition for the second generation—the SSTs of the 1980s and 1990s".

Despite this newfound support, the House of Representatives also voted to end SST funding on May&nbsp;20, 1971. The vote was highly contentious. [[Gerald Ford]], then Republican Leader, shouted Meany's claims that "If you vote for the SST, you are ensuring 13,000 jobs today plus 50,000 jobs in the second tier and 150,000 jobs each year over the next ten years." [[Sidney Yates]], leading the "no" camp, offered a then-uncommon motion to instruct conferees<ref>{{cite web |title=House Foes of SST Seek Voiding of Endorsement |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/12/05/archives/house-foes-of-sst-seek-voiding-of-endorsement.html|date=December 5, 1970|website=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> and eventually won the vote against further funding, 215 to 204.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944291,00.html|title=The Nation: Showdown on the SST |magazine=Time |date=May 29, 1971 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221203832/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944291,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 21, 2008}}</ref>

At the time, there were 115 unfilled orders by 25 airlines, while Concorde had 74 orders from 16 customers.<ref name="airways">{{cite journal |author=Thomas, Geoffrey |title=The New 747 |year=2006 |volume=13 |issue=122 |pages=16–22 |url=https://airwaysmag.com/|journal=Airways}}</ref> The prototypes by Boeing and Lockheed were never completed. Due to the loss of several government contracts and a downturn in the civilian aviation market, Boeing reduced its number of employees by more than 60,000. The SST became known as "the airplane that almost ate Seattle." As a result of the mass layoffs and so many people moving away from the city in search of work, a billboard was erected near [[Seattle–Tacoma International Airport]] in 1971 that read, "Will the last person leaving Seattle – turn out the lights".<ref name="historylink">{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History |title=Turning Point 7: A Bumpy Ride: Seattle's Economic Booms, Busts and Comebacks |url=http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=9301 |access-date=March 7, 2011}}</ref>