Space Race

Space Race Changes United States

HIST 365 6015 2155

Jacob Miller

Space Race Changes United States

HIST 365 6015 2155

Jacob Miller

2015

2015

There have been several movements in both world and American history that have changed the arc and path of society and culture forever. A few recent examples would include the emergence of the World Wide Web in the 1990’s, social media more recently as well as the general progress made with the automobile and other modes of transportation. However, the one technological arc in the last century that has perhaps changed things more than anything else has been the so-called Space Race. Indeed, with the launching of the Russian Sputnik, President Eisenhower enacted the Space Race and this would forever change the landscapes of education, politics and economics for the United States for many decades.

When Russia rendered its major accomplishment that was Sputnik, they certainly reveled and celebrated the fact that they had beat Western countries like the United States and Britain to space. One account of the aftermath of Sputnik’s success came from a British perspective. It is noted that the reaction included “an initial outpouring of surprise combined with celebration of humankind’s achievement”. However, it was noted that there was also “a sense of loss of national prestige, due to Britain’s lack of an equivalent space program and the decline of her empire”. It was revealed in future months and years that it impacted the “British society and understanding of national identity in the 1950’s with imperial superiority, religion and perceived decline being recurring themes”. Similar thought patterns and feelings emerged in the United States over the same time period.

Of course, the man who spearheaded the American response was then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Noted professor Yanek Mieczkowski asserted that the launching of the Sputnik satellite was a “defining episode” in the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower....