Sputnik
The United State's Viewpoint
Made by Brenna Nelson and Amanda Nelson
What Was Sputnik?
Welch Daily News
coalwoodwestvirginia.com
A Work in Progress
ecuip.lib.uchicago.edu
Sputnik 1
en.wikipedia.org
America's Response
The United States had thought that the Soviet Union was far behind in technology. But they had replicated the atomic bomb, created the hydrogen bomb, and now were the first nation to send a satellite into space. This concerned many Americans, including President Eisenhower. If they could send a satellite into space, they couldn't be too far off from nuking the U.S. Even though Eisenhower called Sputnik, "a distinct surprise," he later commented at a press conference that the satellite "did not raise [his] apprehensions one iota." However, the general public--along with the media and political figures--expressed their concern for being behind in technology, and so the space race began.
The Space Race
Impact on the Decade
By sending the first satellite into space, the Soviet Union spurred the world into innovating technology. The United States, keen on being ahead of the Soviets, created NASA to step up their game in the aerospace field. Our main focus was shifted to space. The space race motivated scientists to advance technology at uncanny rates. The Soviet Union and the United States both made ground-breaking discoveries. However, this was no friendly competition. Tensions increased drastically over the course of the decade and beyond. A rebirth of the Red Scare sprouted, the alliances of World War II long forgotten. Now, Americans were constantly uneasy with the Soviets neck-in-neck with their technology. This seed of uneasiness would play a part in America discarding its old ways of isolationism, and reinventing itself as the policeman of the world.
Connection to Today and Solutions for the Future
Resources
Amy, M. (2001, May 07). The space race. Junior Scholastic, (18), 16, Retrieved from http://elibrary.bigchalk.com
Cold War: Sputnik. (2001). In J. S. Baughman, V. Bondi, R. Layman, T. McConnell, & V. Tompkins (Eds.), American Decades (Vol. 6, pp. 189-191). Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3468301900&v=2.1&u=park99813&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=e87e452642a4b502241440c27dbb600a
The New Frontier. (2001). In J. S. Baughman, V. Bondi, R. Layman, T. McConnell, & V. Tompkins (Eds.), American Decades (Vol. 6, pp. 418-419). Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3468302095&v=2.1&u=park99813&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=5b8aba5ccd17818e87b66d878d21b2f4