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Example research essay topic: History Around The Russian Launch Of Sputnik - 1,051 words

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... omen. Who, in the case of Sputnik, reacted to a lesser degree like the rest of the public, but still with a feeling of urgency and impending doom. Some saw these events only as a sign of the eventual rule of the Russian Empire, while at the same time others met it with great political opportunism. Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri, a future advocate of government stated that unless our defense policies are promptly changed, the Soviets will move from Superiority to supremacy. If that happens, our position will become imposable.

Another leader, Congresswomen Clare Booth Luce said that the constant beeping of Sputnik is an intercontinental outer-space raspberry to a decade of American of American way of life and was a gilt edged guarantee of our national superiority. (Oberg, 1981, p. 70) This was the prevailing attitude among most of the politicians of that time. The Senate majority leader of that time, Lyndon Johnson gave a speech saying, The Roman Empire controlled the world because it could build roads. Later-when moved to sea-the British Empire was Dominant because it had shops. In the air age, we were powerful because we had airplanes. Now the Communists have established a foothold in outer space. Johnson realized something had to be done about this problem.

He opened hearings by a subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee on 25 November 1957 to review the whole spectrum of American defense and space programs in the wake of the Sputnik crisis. This group found serious under funding and incomprehensible organization for the conduct of space activities. It blamed the president and the Republican Party. One of Johnson's aides, George E.

Reedy, summarized the feelings of many Americans: "the simple fact is that we can no longer consider the Russians to be behind us in technology. It took them four years to catch up to our atomic bomb and nine months to catch up to our hydrogen bomb. Now we are trying to catch up to their satellite. " (Levine, 1994, p. 47) Without de-emphasizing the legitimacy of Johnson's concern, certainly he also recognized and exploited the political opportunity of the Sputnik crisis. The Republicans had been an opposition party in the early years of the Cold War, and had drummed on the head of President Harry S. Truman in 1949 for the ouster of Chiang Chai Shek in Nationalist China and his replacement by a communist government under Mao Zedong and again in 1950 for the invasion and near capitulation of South Korea to communist forces. (Oberg, 1981, p. 123) Wisconsin Republican senator Joseph McCarthy had used these events, as well as others of both serious and ridiculous nature, to lambaste the Democrats as soft on communism and essentially of allowing the "Red Menace" to conquer the world.

The Republicans had turned these issues into political capital that had swept Dwight D. Eisenhower into the presidency in 1952 along with a host of Republican members of Congress. Now the shoe was on the other foot and the possibility existed to defeat the Republicans on the very same issues that they had used so effectively against the Democrats, the Cold War rivalry of the Soviet Union. Even if Sputnik did not pose an extremely large threat, it should have still warranted at least a minor call to action and concern among government representatives. Ironically some of the people who should be the most concerned with satellite and missile situation were the least concerned. The outgoing secretary of state Charles Wilson flippantly called Sputnik a nice little trick.

This demonstrated Wilsons ignorance on the Russian and even the American technical goals and achievements in the space program, and his limited knowledge of research and development. At the same time Sherman Adams compared the entire sputnik operation as an outer space basketball game. (Oberg, 1981, p. 169) If one true thing can be said it is that ignorance fans the flames of fear in relation to the American Public. As today, most of the technological achievements and accomplishments of the American government were kept shrouded in secrecy. Most Americans knew almost nothing about the space program at the time, and they certainly werent aware of the progression of achievements in both countries. IF Americans had been informed on progress they would have realized that America was at least at the same technological level as the Russians, if not superior, it was just that the American scientists at that time didnt feel the need to launch a satellite as urgently as the Soviets did (Oberg, 1981, p 123). The problem was that the most Americans did not know this, so the launch of a major milestone, such as a satellite, sent ripples of fear throughout the nation.

American fear and ignorance is one of the main reasons that Dwight Eisenhower drew so much political fire at that time. He was much better informed then almost all members of the public and most of the people in power at that time. His reactions were neither immediate nor rash; something the American people wanted at that time, fast, dramatic results. He did not take these actions because he knew that Sputnik was merely orbiting the earth and emitting a beeping signal, while many in the public thought that Sputnik had the potential to harm them.

Eisenhower had become used to a level of public acceptance and agreement with his statements and decisions that has been almost been unparalleled in his this century. Eisenhower was riding the crest of the victory during WWII (Levine, 1994, p. 112). The country was celebrating its freedom and enjoying the first economic prosperity that it had seen in almost 30 years so when an interloper like Sputnik entered the American scene, This was the first time that Eisenhower had ever really found disagreements with his decisions. So in a way, Eisenhower was reeling from the shock of public disapproval, and his knowledge of the situation, so that his reactions to Sputnik werent immediate. This prompted the public to see Eisenhower as a smiling-incompetent and was commonly referred to as the golfer because of the amount of time he spent on the links. In the time leading up to the Launch of Sputnik, there was fair warning that the publics reaction would be harsh.

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Research essay sample on History Around The Russian Launch Of Sputnik

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