Description
Book SynopsisIn a critical Cold War moment, Dwight D. Eisenhower’s presidency suddenly changed when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world’s first satellite. What Ike called "a small ball" became a source of Russian pride and propaganda, and it wounded him politically, as critics charged that he responded sluggishly to the challenge of space...
Trade ReviewEisenhower's Sputnik Momentrecognizes the President's strength of leadership in the supposed furore immediately after the first Sputnik launch. Indeed the author cleverly uses the Sputnik lens to provide a critique of Eisenhower's overall leadership style.. Mieczkowski's work is highly readable and attractive to historians beyond those simply interested in space.. This work is another important building block in helping historians understand the thirty-fourth President as a rather more nuanced leader.
* Journal of American Studies *
Mieczkowski deftly explodes the myth of an alleged 'missile gap' between the Soviet Union and the US. He overturns as well equally fallacious perceptions that the US lagged behind the Soviet Union in the technology of launch vehicles, intercontinental missiles, and Earth satellites. Readers will gain a much-needed appreciation of how Eisenhower and his military-civilian-academic team planned and built the administrative and technical infrastructure enabling the US to enter the space age. Mieczkowski's book is thoroughly rooted in primary sources and numerous memoirs, and extends earlier scholarship by space historians R. Cargill Hall, Roger Launius, and Walter McDougall. Summing Up: Highly recommended.
* Choice *
Yanek Mieczkowski's assessment of Dwight D. Eisenhower's reponse to the Soviet technological feat also has important implications for broader debates over Eisenhower's presidential leadership, the creation of national security organizations, and assessments of the space race. Revealing how this episode altered the course of Eisenhower's presidency, Mieczkowski argues that it also produced some significant, albeit overlooked, accomplishments. All readers will be rewarded with Mieczkowski's superbly written narrative, enlivened with rich anecdotes and lively biographical sketches. Mieczkowski reaffirms that Eisenhower's 'Sputnik moment' remains a complicated aspect of his presidential legacy, which holds spectacular failures and missed opportunities as well as the quiet victories that the author portrays so well.
* The Journal of American History *
Table of ContentsIntroductionPart One: Sputnik
1. What Was the Sputnik "Panic"?
2. "The Most Fateful Decision of His Presidency"
3. Eisenhower's Reaction to Sputnik
4. Eisenhower's PrinciplesPart Two: Setbacks
5. Cheerleader-in-Chief
6. "Gloom, Gloom, Gloom"
7. Space Highs, Economic Lows
8. Eisenhower's Rival
9. "Radical Moves"
10. Order from Chaos
11. Defeat and a SCORE
12. Priorities and PrestigePart Three: Space
13. Satellites, Saturn, Spacemen
14. Voyages, Mirages, Images
15. Space, Prestige, and the 1960 Race
16. Eisenhower versus KennedyConclusionAcknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
