The Soviet Union’s 1957 launch of Sputnik, the world’s first satellite, was a critical Cold War moment for Dwight D. Eisenhower. What he called “a small ball” became a source of Soviet pride and propaganda and wounded him politically as critics charged the American president with responding sluggishly to the challenge of space exploration.
Dowling College historian
Yanek Mieczkowski, the author of
Eisenhower's Sputnik Moment: The Race for Space and World Prestige, argues otherwise. Eisenhower stayed calm and moved effectively in guiding the U.S. into the Space Age.
This presentation is part of the
Eisenhower 125 series co-presented by the
Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home with support from the
W.T. Kemper Foundation - Commerce Bank, Trustee.
Watch at c-span.org