Hat tip to the O'Reilly Programming Newsletter for this one.

How recursion got into programming: a comedy of errors by Maarten van Emden

By now it is difficult to imagine that once there was a time when the utility, and even the possibility, of recursion in programming was in doubt. Yet that was true of the programming community around 1960. Even the committee that was to create Algol 60 was divided on the issue. How recursion got into the language is a story of intrigue and misunderstandings.

van Emden goes on to tell a very interesting story, full of important computer history.

Give it a read.