significantly increased tensions between the US and the USSR from 1957 to
1961, bringing both countries closer to nuclear Armageddon than ever before.
Political Left Reaction
The launch of the Sputnik programme initiated a major defence controversy
which shaped US defence policy discussions through to the Kennedy
administration. According to Snead, from 1956, the Eisenhower administration
found itself having to deter not only the Russians but also the political right,
who sought to make political gain from the perceived weakness in the country’s defence expenditure. 40 Eisenhower’s ‘New Look’ strategy, which sought to
reduce conventional military capacity and increase the preponderance of nuclear
weapons was quickly negated by major Soviet advances in nuclear weaponry and missile technology. 41 The Sputnik shock proved this, and the US found
itself in danger of a potential Soviet attack.
President Eisenhower initially seemed unphased by the Soviet space
programme and to have underestimated the depth of the Sputnik shock in US
politics and the wider society. The lack of an immediate response by the
President was quickly met with criticism by stern Eisenhower critics, as in their
view, more needed to be done to accelerate the country’s defence programmes against the growing Soviet threat. 42 The Gaither report, for example, called for
action, recommending a $44 billion programme to improve America’s offensive
40 Steven L. Rearden, ‘Reassessing the Gaither Report’s Role’, review of The Gaither Committee, Eisenhower, and the Cold War by David L. Snead, Diplomatic History , 25.1 (2001), 153-157 (p.153) <
https://www.jstor.org/stable/24913828 > [accessed 24/02/2024]. 41 Ibid, p.153. It was the idea of ‘getting more bang for your buck’.
42 Andreas Wegner, ‘Eisenhower, Kennedy, and the missile gap: Determinants of US military expenditure in the wake of the Sputnik shock’, Defence and Peace Economics , 8.1 (1997), 77-100 (p.80) < https://doi.org/10.1080/10430719708404870 > [accessed, 23/02/2024].
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