Sputnik Moment II
Bill McGurn ·
Jan 28, 2011 at 7:07am
Fascinating article in National Review about the real consequences of Sputnik -- both for the USSR and the USA. One was federal aid to U.S. schools, which worried Ike. "The process of taking money away from citizens to return it to localities for special (educational) purposes," he said, "implies a centralization of wisdom in Washington that certainly does not necessarily exist.”
Author Taylor Dinerman links the Sputnik moment to the missile gap, education, and the Cuban missile crisis. Well worth a read.
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Comments :
Aug '10
Re: Sputnik Moment II
I also really liked Fred Schwartz's posting on The Corner about how Wernher von Braun was ready to launch satellites into orbit before Sputnik, but was ordered not to precisely because they wanted Russia to do it first in order to set the precedent about international freedom in space.
If the USA had been the first to put a satellite in orbit, all the other countries around the world would have gotten their backs up about the violation of sovereign airspace.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/258281/why-we-let-moscow-win-satellite-race-fred-schwarz