Able Archer was a simulated operation organized and conducted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), which spanned a ten day period, from November 2nd to November 11th 1983. It simulated a time of conflict escalation, leading up to a coordinated nuclear attack, and involved an influx of communication, and the participation of several heads of government. The steady weakening of US-Soviet relations prior to Able Archer, as well as the realistic nature of the exercise, led several members of the Soviet Politburo to believe that Able Archer was a prelude to genuine nuclear confrontation. In response, Soviets prepared ICBM silos and put aircraft stationed in East Germany and Poland on alert.…
October Sky Introduction After the end of World War II, the United States and Soviet Union entered a period called the Cold War. The Cold War was a time period that was filled with tensions, competitions, and fear. The Cold War mainly occurred due to the United State’s fear of communist ideas, as well as the Soviet’s fears of capitalism, and both country’s possessions of nuclear weapons. These two different concepts lead the Soviets and the United States into a time period full of tensions and competitions.…
This research examines the Eisenhower administration’s decisions to use space for intelligence and military purposes. Where chapter two cover historical developments spanning the period from 1945 to 1952 as well as the first two years of the Eisenhower presidency (1953-1954). The third chapter provides a detailed analysis of U.S. space policies from 1955 to 1961. In particular, Chapter III takes a close look at the U.S. military space program as well as the prospect for space arms control.…
The United States and the USSR had been in the midst of nuclear arms buildup for the greater part of forty years and the world was on high alert. The balance of world peace was on its axis and…
Under this system the United Status increased their nuclear weapons, which would contribute to deterring communism. At the same time, Eisenhower’s “New Look Strategy”…
again. I wasn’t until the Cuban missile crisis that they came into an agreement. It seemed to be an attack in response from the soviet. John F. Kennedy and Khrushchev came to an agreement as long as the U.S. stuck to their word and did not invade Cuba would do no harm was going to be done. The U.S. no longer had to worry on the missiles in Cuba.4…
When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 in 1957, the American public began to question Eisenhower’s presidency. They believed he was not assertive enough with Soviet Union relations. This sparked the political turn to space. To keep his presidential ratings up, Eisenhower created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), and the Space Race so America could reinsert itself into a place of military and space superiority.…
“On October 4, 1957, the first Soviet artificial satellite Sputnik was launched” (National Cold War Exhibition). To many Americans, the launch of Sputnik came as an unpleasant surprise. The Americans saw space as the next unexplored frontier, and thought it crucial to not lose any more ground to the Soviets. The R-7 missile’s astounding power—one seemingly capable of delivering into U.S. air space a nuclear warhead—made it an even more urgent task for the United States to gather intelligence on the activities of the Soviet military. On January 31, 1958, the United States launched their own space satellite, Explorer 1 (Dates and Events).…
October 4, 1957 is when Soviet Union [Russia] launched Sputnik 1, starting the Space Race. 10 years earlier the cold war started mainly with United States and Soviet Union. Because of that, the Americans were worried because of the technology that they could possibly use for military purposes other than exploration. The Americans were being left behind in technology. They created NASA to build rockets and satellites to compete with the Soviet Union.…
Space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. This unknown area is a major interest by the large world powers. The thought of being able to control this infinite far-off territory compelled people to attempt to explore. In 1957 the Soviet Union and the United States became eager in learning about this remote abyss. The “race to space” quite clearly reflected the political, social and economic aspects if the Cold War because it was a fight for supremacy between two superpowers, both powers wanted to be the first to do everything including go to space and lastly both the Cold War and the “race to space” overall cost a great deal of money.…
As World War II comes to an end, so did one of the alliances held during it between the world’s new super powers, The United States and the Soviet Union. This marks the renewal of the great Red Scare as well as the start of the fight against the spread of communism, and at this time the United States was led by President Harry S. Truman. He would adopt his policy of Containment against the Soviet Union to try and just contain the communist threat to the USSR instead of making a war trying to just outright eliminate it. This policy came about in Truman’s most famous speeches in the “Truman Doctrine” where Truman would introduce his policy on the USSR. Immediately following President Truman was President Dwight D. Eisenhower who had brought his own ideas to the table regarding the Cold War and Russia, this was known as Brinkmanship.…
with Russia and the countries of the world. Ultimately, the SDI never cumulated to a full-on arms race to space, but it was yet another sign showing how viable this all was becoming. As is evident above, the idea of global reach and power, goes hand in hand with the theory of deterrence. Many advocate space weaponry as a mitigation of war, a sort of deterrence theory within itself, similar to that idea which was the cornerstone of President Reagan’s advocacy for the SDI. As was the case in World War II after the United States showed the world the devastating power of the atomic bomb, often times the threat of retaliation is enough of a deterrent.…
I. Political and Economic Situations surrounding the Space Race in America “The good news for space exploration in general is that public opinion favors it – but only when not taking economic costs and budgetary spending into consideration.” (Hsu) Setting up the backdrop for the rise of the space program simultaneously builds the opposing argument for its continuation past 1969 as well. As culturally beneficial as it eventually resulted to be, it can be widely agreed that the initialization of the race to the moon was not sparked by human curiosity itself. The primary motivator for initial American exploration into space was a silver beach-ball sized hunk of metal called Sputnik. Normally a Russian ball made of metal wouldn’t unnerve anyone-…
Winkler from the Miami University. This review has 5 paragraphs summarizing the book The Sputnik Challenge: Eisenhower’s Response to the Soviet Satellite. In paragraph one, the reviewer praises Robert A. Divine for being one of the nation’s top diplomatic historian. Providing detailed insights that were the aftermath of Soviet’s satellite Sputnik first to reach a new space frontier, and failing to reassure the American public that the United States was not far behind. Paragraph two states how Divine is a tireless researcher, as proven from his previous books is.…
In the late 1950’s the United States was in the middle of an arms and intelligence race with the Soviet Union. Part of this intelligence race was over who had supremacy in space. The Soviet Union was the front-runner in 1957 when they launched the first man made satellite into space that orbited the Earth (Miller 16). The following year Kim Mcquaid says NASA was created to develop the United States’ non-military space effort (Mcquaid). On May 25, 1961 President John F. Kennedy set a goal for the program: “perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth” (Loff).…