Eisenhower's rejection of the Gaither Report in the immediate aftermath of
the launch of Sputnik, followed by the perceived opening of a ‘missile gap’
succeeded in stirring up a nasty political debate in the closing years of his second presidential term. 52 Though Eisenhower repeatedly asserted – from late
1957 to early 1961 – that there was no ‘missile gap,’ and that the US were
vastly superior in its nuclear deterrent compared to the USSR, Senator John F.
Kennedy utilised the Sputnik shock and ‘missile gap’ argument to push his presidential campaign. 53 In November 1957, Kennedy declared that the ‘nation
was losing the satellite-missile race with the USSR because of complacent
miscalculations, penny-pinching budget cutbacks and incredibly confused management.’ 54 A few weeks later, Kennedy went on to state that the US was allegedly ‘behind, possibly as much as several years’ in the development and stockpiling of nuclear weapons. 55 In his election campaign, Kennedy called for
a ‘step up’ in US missile development in order to combat the danger posed by
the ‘missile gap.’ He also openly questioned why, in the face of the growing
danger of the USSR, the Eisenhower administration continued to balance the budget over prioritising national security. 56 Democratic Senators Henry Jackson
and Stuart Symington also raised questions about the effectiveness of
Eisenhower’s massive retaliation strategy, contending that defence budget cuts had caused the US to lag behind the USSR in nuclear capacity. 57
52 Norman A. Graebner, The National Security: Its Theory and Practice 1945-1960 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986), p.71. 53 C hristopher Preble, ‘Who Ever Believed in the Missile Gap? John F. Kennedy and the Politics of National Security ’, Presidential Studies Quarterly , 33.4 (2003), 801-827 (p.804) < https://www.jstor.org/stable/27552538 > [accessed 26/02/2024]. 54 Kennedy Assails US Missile Lag, The New York Times , 07 November 1957 < https://www.nytimes.com/1957/11/07/archives/kennedy-assails-us-missile- lag.html?searchResultPosition=1 > [accessed 26/02/2024]. 55 Preble, p.804. 56 Meena Bose, Shaping and Signalling Presidential Policy: The National Security Decision Making of Eisenhower and Kennedy (Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 1998), p.46. 57 Bose, p.46.
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