Persuasive Essay On The Sputnik Crisis

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Following the conclusion of the Second World War, the United States and the Soviet Union made it a priority to outdo each other in every possible facet from arsenals of missiles to international alliances and spheres of influences. Yet when the Soviets launched Sputnik on October 4th, 1957, the world changed forever. The first manmade object was fired into space, and it appeared that American technology and science had fallen behind. Yet, the public feared that not only were they now technologically inferior to the Soviets, but also deduced that if a satellite could be launched into space, a nuclear missile could just as likely reach the mainland United States. Less than a month later, the Soviets pushed the bounds of technology yet again by …show more content…

Meanwhile, the Soviets continued to expand their space programs by sending up more satellites and animals. The world was shocked at the lack of strength the United States had in space compared to the Soviet Union. This came to be known as the Sputnik Crisis. The media in the United States reacted hysterically to this, with newspaper headlines saying things such as “Are We Americans Going Soft?” and many others demonstrating their frustration with the disparity of strength in space between the Soviets and the Americans. The United States ' pathetic responses caused many to wonder whether the United States should even be considered a global superpower, when the Soviets were seemingly so far ahead of them. In agreement with the media, a journal article in the magazine Science, published a mere two weeks after the success of Sputnik, explicitly questioned the current governmental approach to space saying, “The Soviet accomplishment has had a significant impact on both international and domestic affairs” and “there have already been demands in the press for a Congressional investigation of our missile program.” The United States was under pressure to come up with a formal governmental response, and Dwight Eisenhower and the Congress of the United States seemed to have found the …show more content…

Kennedy had realized that the only way to overtake the Soviets after falling so far behind, would be by putting the first man on the moon. The US morale had taken a serious blow following Sputnik and the first cosmonaut in space, Yuri Gagarin. On September 12th, 1962, Kennedy delivered his famous speech, saying “We choose to go to the moon.” Kennedy knew that it was essential to gather support behind a manned mission to the moon from the American public. Although many argued that it would be easier, and more efficient to send an unmanned mission to the moon, it was more about the morale boost and the message a man on the moon would send to the

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