The Race Begins
Following President Truman, General Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected President of the United States on the slogan, “I like Ike.” He was a five star general in the United States Army during World War II and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe. He then served as Chief of Staff for President Truman. President Eisenhower’s wife was Mamie Eisenhower. She was a kind lady who was famous for her haircut with bangs. Women and girls all wanted to wear Mamie Eisenhower bangs.
At the end of World War II, the two countries that emerged as super powers of the world were the United States and the Soviet Union. Both countries, at different points in time, almost engaged in a war that would have probably led to a third world war. The tensions between the two countries led to a Cold War. The Cold War was a time of no particular war between the Soviet Union and the United States, but the two countries did compete in other ways. Some ways they competed included an arms race and a space race.
Eisenhower knew the infrastructure of the United States was in poor shape because so much money and attention had been focused on World War II. By this time in the United States, cars and trucks were very popular. Most people had one, or two cars, and trucks were depended upon as much as the railroads to deliver goods from one part of the nation to the other. President Eisenhower believed a highway system was badly needed so in 1956 he passed the Federal Interstate Highways Act. With the Act, asystem of super‐highways was built across the United States for the purpose of moving goods and people efficiently from one community to another. Along the highways developed another system of convenient “filling stations” where people could service their cars or trucks, buy gasoline, or tires, and even take a rest stop to enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner. While railroads were still important and popular, they were no longer the only business in town for commerce. Life in America changed.
In 1957 the Soviet Union was first to successfully launch a satellite called Sputnik into space. Americans did not like to be second. Mainly, as Americans watched Sputnik orbit the earth, they became worried that Russia was spying on the United States. There was great concern of a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States. People built bomb shelters and practiced nuclear bomb drills. In schools the children were taught “duck and cover” drills where, at the sound of four bells, they scrambled under their desks, covered down and covered their head with their arms.
An important focus in schools as a result of Sputnik was the focus on advanced classes in science and math. If students were channeled into strong science and math programs, perhaps America could catch up and even get ahead of other countries in the “race for space.” Federal money poured into science and math programs in public schools and universities.
Directly related to the pressures of national defense and the engagement with the Soviet Union in the Cold War, in 1958, President Eisenhower launched the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, for the purpose of space exploration and as a means of assuring America’s advancement in technology. It worked. The United States launched the first satellite, Explorer 1 in 1958 and they began a series of scientific missions to the moon and planets beyond. America was the first to land on the moon and for an astronaut, Neil Armstrong, to be first to walk on the moon.
The space program has continuously advanced technology in America and in the world. Space missions have influenced and advanced communications, medicine, and computer technology.
At the end of World War II, the two countries that emerged as super powers of the world were the United States and the Soviet Union. Both countries, at different points in time, almost engaged in a war that would have probably led to a third world war. The tensions between the two countries led to a Cold War. The Cold War was a time of no particular war between the Soviet Union and the United States, but the two countries did compete in other ways. Some ways they competed included an arms race and a space race.
Eisenhower knew the infrastructure of the United States was in poor shape because so much money and attention had been focused on World War II. By this time in the United States, cars and trucks were very popular. Most people had one, or two cars, and trucks were depended upon as much as the railroads to deliver goods from one part of the nation to the other. President Eisenhower believed a highway system was badly needed so in 1956 he passed the Federal Interstate Highways Act. With the Act, asystem of super‐highways was built across the United States for the purpose of moving goods and people efficiently from one community to another. Along the highways developed another system of convenient “filling stations” where people could service their cars or trucks, buy gasoline, or tires, and even take a rest stop to enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner. While railroads were still important and popular, they were no longer the only business in town for commerce. Life in America changed.
In 1957 the Soviet Union was first to successfully launch a satellite called Sputnik into space. Americans did not like to be second. Mainly, as Americans watched Sputnik orbit the earth, they became worried that Russia was spying on the United States. There was great concern of a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States. People built bomb shelters and practiced nuclear bomb drills. In schools the children were taught “duck and cover” drills where, at the sound of four bells, they scrambled under their desks, covered down and covered their head with their arms.
An important focus in schools as a result of Sputnik was the focus on advanced classes in science and math. If students were channeled into strong science and math programs, perhaps America could catch up and even get ahead of other countries in the “race for space.” Federal money poured into science and math programs in public schools and universities.
Directly related to the pressures of national defense and the engagement with the Soviet Union in the Cold War, in 1958, President Eisenhower launched the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, for the purpose of space exploration and as a means of assuring America’s advancement in technology. It worked. The United States launched the first satellite, Explorer 1 in 1958 and they began a series of scientific missions to the moon and planets beyond. America was the first to land on the moon and for an astronaut, Neil Armstrong, to be first to walk on the moon.
The space program has continuously advanced technology in America and in the world. Space missions have influenced and advanced communications, medicine, and computer technology.