President Dwight Eisenhower was the president of the United States of America from the year 1953 to the year 1961. He is credited to have initiated the space and missile programs which were the foundation of the modern American space technology and was deeply involved in its advancement.
Background
Before ascending to the presidency, Dwight Eisenhower was a career soldier in the United States Army and he was Supreme Commander of the Allies in Europe during the Second World War. When he took over the presidency he saw the importance of incorporating space technology in the country’s defense mechanism and in this respect he directed that the construction of ballistic missiles and also the construction of reconnaissance satellites be initiated under a crash program. Being a practical man and a career soldier, he did not see it as a defeat during the Cold War era when the Russians having competed earnestly with the United States seemed to have won the space exploration front by deploying the Sputnik to the space. This is because he knew that the space technology of the country by far overshadowed the Russians triumph. These projects included the space programs which were known as Polaris, Atlas, Minuteman and Titan and also the Corona satellite which was constructed merely for espionage purposes. He was sure that the programs could not be matched by any of the Russian programs because the country had researched a lot into this field.
One of his convictions was that the reason why the Russians had chosen to launch payloads which were larger by all means was because they had not fully utilized electronics and they had also not had the knowledge of the miniaturizing atomic bombs and also electronics. Another reason for this was that the Russians had not been able to come up with alloys which were lighter for the structures of their rockets. All this had been achieved by the Americans before the Russians first ventured into space. Although there was talk that there existed a time gap between the space technology of United States and the Soviet Union, Eisenhower never believed that this in reality existed. However, he chose to keep this information from the public and this saw to it that he got a lot of pressure from various quarters to do something about the country lagging behind the Soviet Union.
His contribution to the Space Exploration efforts of the United States
One thing that President Dwight Eisenhower knew at heart was that the military could not be given the chance to start their own space projects because already the various military services in the country had their own projects which were related to the space exploration. He also knew that the country would be plunged in military squabbles over the ownership of the various projects the country wanted to embark on. This is because the military services had already started their own projects which ranged from man on moon to satellites. Another point that he considered when coming to this decision was that the country’s Military-Industrial Complex would jeopardize this endeavor and hence the projects could be deemed as failures. He also considered the priorities of the budget could lead to the cancellation of the projects so that the budget could accommodate other pressing matters.
It was in the light of this that he proposed to the Congress in April 1958 the creation of a space agency which had a civilian outlook. This agency was called the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA). He proposed to the congress that the agency would be based on the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). In his proposal he would remove from the military all the parts that were concerned with any space research or rocketry and this included the renowned Army’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory located at Caltech and the Von Braun’s rocket research team which was located at the Arsenal of Redstone in Huntsville Alabama. This ensured that all the ongoing research that was based on the military was canceled and those that were not canceled were transferred to the National Aeronautics and Space Agency. These projects include high performance Centaur upper stage, million-pound-thrust rocket engine from the Air Force, Pioneer moon probes, Explorer satellite of the Army, Man-In-Space-Soonest capsule manned orbitally, Saturn I heavy launch vehicle, Vanguard Booster and Satellite of the Navy and Project Adam capsule which would be manned sub-orbitally.
However the administration did not disallow the military to carry on their own programs and this can be evidenced by the fact that the military still had projects involved in espionage and communication satellites and they were launched by the Titan rockets. With the use of Titan rockets to launch these satellites, there was expected controversy but this did not materialize. The military would still be persistent in their effort to come up with role of manned orbital spacecrafts and also to deploy spacecraft in the orbit for defense purposes only. This would lead to such projects like the DynaSoar and the Laboratory of Maned Orbiting Satellites, generations of manned space weapons and also the space shuttle shaping.
In March 1955 Dr. Alan T. Waterman who worked for the National Science Foundation presented the president with a plan which sought to be implemented with the United State’s portion of the Geophysical Year experiment concerned with satellites. On July the same year The president approved the IGY satellites and endorsed the IGY’s proposal to launch earth circling satellites which were small in size. In December of the same year the president made the missile programs of the highest priority and these programs included ICBM, IRBM and the Thor programs. With the approval of the various programs that were geared towards space exploration, he also approved of the budgets that the programs required and hence contributed very much to the funding of these projects.
On November 1957 he created the office of the Special Assistant to the President for Science and Technology in a White House address which also spoke of scientists triumph in dealing with the ballistic missile reentry. To this effect the scientists had achieved in bringing back to earth the cone of missile which had not been destroyed after traveling through space. The new post that had been created was given to the then president of the Massachusetts Technology Institute James R. Killian. In December 1957 there was the announcement of the American Rocket Society’s proposal for the establishment and development of a civilian agency to oversee the various space projects in the country.
In January of 1958 President Dwight Eisenhower proposed to the USSR that the need for space exploration should be geared by peaceful interests and not otherwise. The Russians rejected this offer while the United States wanted to employ the atomic research and the space exploration research to peaceful utilizations. However, the Russians would a few months later retaliate on their rejection and also forward a proposal to the Western countries that the use of atomic and hydrogen weapons should cease and this gave a good basis for the peaceful use of space technology.
In March 1958 president Eisenhower signed his approval to the recommendations that had been tabled by his Government Organization advisory committee to change the leadership of the country’s space efforts to a strengthened NACA and this gave NACA all the authority and flexibility to carry out its responsibilities concerning space exploration. In the same month the president nodded his approval to the announcement of the then Secretary of Defense Neil H. McElroy concerning exploration of outer space and that the Advance Research Projects Agency (ARPA) was mandate to oversee all the projects and activities were behind the space exploration endeavor. This included the launching of various satellites and also five space probes and this was seen as the country’s IGY program contribution. In the same year he proposed the establishment of NASA and in July 1958 he signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 which oversaw the establishment of NASA. He would later assign many projects to NASA from the military although NASA would become operational on October 1958.
The year 1959 saw the president transfer many projects from the military services to the National Aeronautics and Space Agency which became fully operational in October 1958. In 1960 the president directed T. Keith Glennan who was the NASA administrator to make a study which should be submitted as earliest as possible regarding increased funding by the government in order to balance the FY 1960 and FY 1961 to accelerate the super booster program.
Throughout his presidency the president supported and funded the programs without any reluctance and in fact encouraged the various bodies involved to ensure that they came up with successful research programs and projects. It is important to remember that the president was a career soldier and hence saw the need for the removal of key projects from the military research services. It is his reign that saw that communication satellites were effected. The government did not hesitate to fund the major projects although at times he canceled various projects. It is important to note that those projects that were canceled were not important to the overall national space exploration interests.
It was during this time that many space exploration triumphs were recorded in the United States and his administration also laid the basis on which other space exploration successes would follow. His administration was also instrumental in ensuring that the country succeeding in their efforts of space exploration. It was this that ensured that most of his motions concerning the space exploration were voted favorable in Congress. This also played a great part in ensuring that the projects were adequately funded by the government and also other entities that had interests in the space exploration. He played a major role in ensuring that the country did not focus its space exploration efforts to space weapons which would have also forced Russia to adopt the same strategy and hence ensuring that space technology was used for activities which were not peaceful.
Conclusion
President Dwight Eisenhower being a skilled labor and also having the knowledge of how the Military-Industrial Complex of the Country was shaping played a very important role in which he proposed and also so to it the establishment and development of NASA. He was also very instrumental during Project Mercury when both the United States and Soviet Union were competing to be the first to have the most important information about exploring the space. This could probably not have been achieved if his support for the research had not been witnessed in the country. This means that he played a very important role in ensuring that the country’s space exploration efforts became a reality after facing a setback when the Russians deployed Sputnik to the outer space.
Works cited
Adams, Sherman. Firsthand Report: The Story of the Eisenhower Administration. New York: Harper, 1961; Westport, CY: Greenwood Press, 1974.
Albertson, Dean, ed. Eisenhower as President. New York: Hill and Wang, 1963.
Bohanan, Robert D., comp. Dwight D. Eisenhower: A Selected Bibliography of Periodical and Dissertation Literature. Abilene, KS: Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, National Archives and Records Service, 1981.
Burk, Robert Fredrick. Dwight D. Eisenhower: Hero and Politician. Boston, MA: Twayne Publications, a division of G. K. Hall, 1986.
DeSantis, Vincent. “Eisenhower Revisionism.” Review of Politics 38 (No. 2 – 1976):190 – 207.
Dwight D. Eisenhower Library. Historical Materials in the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library. Abilene, KS: The Library, 1988.
Fitzgerald, Carol B., ed. Dwight D. Eisenhower. 2 vols. Westport, CT: Meckler Corporation, 1991.
Time Magazine: Eisenhower: Soldier of Peace: 1969. Web.
Vexler, Robert I. Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1890-1969: Chronology- Documents – Bibliographical Aids. Presidential Chronology series. Dobbs Ferry, NY: Oceana Publications, 1970.