Download e-book for kindle: Eisenhower's Sputnik Moment: The Race for Space and World by Yanek Mieczkowski

In a severe chilly warfare second, Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidency all of sudden replaced whilst the Soviet Union introduced Sputnik, the world's first satellite tv for pc. What Ike referred to as "a small ball" turned a resource of Russian satisfaction and propaganda, and it wounded him politically, as critics charged that he spoke back sluggishly to the problem of area exploration. but Eisenhower refused to panic after Sputnik-and he did greater than simply remain calm. He helped to steer the U.S. into the gap Age, even supposing americans have given higher credits to John F. Kennedy for that achievement.

In Eisenhower's Sputnik Moment, Yanek Mieczkowski examines the early background of America's area software, reassessing Eisenhower's management. He information how Eisenhower licensed step forward satellites, supported a brand new civilian area organisation, signed a landmark technological know-how schooling legislation, and fostered greater kin with scientists. those feats made Eisenhower's post-Sputnik years now not the flop that critics alleged yet a time of outstanding growth, while he persisted the setbacks of recession, clinical affliction, and a humiliating first U.S. try and release a satellite tv for pc. Eisenhower's principled stands enabled him to withstand excessive strain to spice up federal spending, and he in its place pursued his priorities-a balanced price range, filthy rich financial system, and durable nationwide safety. but Sputnik additionally altered the world's strength dynamics, sweeping Eisenhower in instructions that have been new, even alien, to him, and he misjudged the significance of area within the chilly War's "prestige race." in contrast, Kennedy capitalized at the factor within the 1960 election, and after taking workplace he instructed a manned challenge to the moon, leaving Eisenhower to grouse over the younger president's competitive approach.

Offering a fast paced account of this chilly battle episode, Mieczkowski demonstrates that Eisenhower outfitted a magnificent list in area and in the world, all of the whereas supplying warnings approximately America's stature and strengths that also carry actual today.