country,’ were now presented as ‘stern, dedicated, industrious and unified.’ 49
Editors of Life magazine called for more missiles and courage from political
leaders in the wake of the Gaither Report, stating that if Khrushchev was ever
going to start a war, ‘now is the time he would find the US divided and unnerved.’ 50 Major publications like the Times or Life magazines, alongside
Eisenhower’s subdued reaction to Sputnik significantly intensified public
pressure on the president and party members. For months, the American public
was driven into a panic, living with growing fear, tensions, and anxiety over
Russi a’s perceived nuclear superiority.
There were of course articles that offered balanced accounts of Eisenhower’s
responses to Sputnik. The influential military commentator Hanson Baldwin
agreed with the president that the US still retained definite superiority to the
USSR in overall military power. However, despite this reassuring assessment,
Baldwin felt the President was not doing enough to protect American security.
He stated that Eisenhower had been too intent on ‘balancing the budget’ and
believed that ‘the US no longer retained the margin of power over other nations’ that they once had at the end of World War II. 51 Subsequently, Eisenhower’s
weak reaction to Sputnik and the perceived ‘missile gap’ led to an incredible
erosion of faith in the President, significantly contributing to growing tensions
and fear amongst the general public and political right.
Political Right Reaction
49 Ryan Boyle, ‘ A Red Moon over the Mall: The Sputnik Panic and Domestic America ’ , The Journal of American Culture , 31.4 (2008), 373-382 (p.377) < https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1542-734X.2008.00684.x > [accessed 24/02/2024]. 50 Ibid, p.376. 51 Divine, p.176.
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