President Kennedy’s Speech at Rice University
The speech President John F. Kennedy made at Rice University set the tone for how the United States was going to pursue scientific goals, with the ultimate goal of remaining superior to the Russians in mind.The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time, and no nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in the race for space.[i] JFK wanted to ensure that the United States did not lose any of its advantages over the communist enemy, and so stressed that the space program should be pushed as a major priority, because only if the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war[ii]. That new ocean is the vast expanse of space, looked upon in the 1960s as an immense new land that contained infinite possibilities and wonders.The United States was then poised to improve their space program via increased focus and funding due to President Kennedy’s enthusiasm and zeal for the space program.
Epic Rivalry: The Inside Story of the Soviet and American Space Race
The Cold War originated as a power struggle between the two nations: The United States of America and the Soviet Union. After their brief alliance during WWII ended, the two powers began to find conflicts between each other due to vastly different ideologies, and so they began to compete with each other for international supremacy in the world. The two powers not only competed militarily, but also technologically and a main focus of the United States and the Soviet Union was to establish supremacy by conquering space. Wernher von Braun joined the Americans after the end of WWII and was the foundation of their rocket development, which was essential to the progression of the space program[iii]. Sergei Korolev was the head rocket engineer for the Russians, and the Russians were initially more successful than the Americans having the victories of the first animal and first human in space[iv]. In order to catch up with the Russians, President Kennedy proposed that the U.S. space program reach the moon with a manned mission by the end of the 1960s not because he was interested in advancing technologically, but because of the propaganda value if the U.S. was successful, as the U.S. would have established its dominance[v]. After the goal of reaching the moon was realized and the United States had attained victory, funding for the space program declined and never recovered.
To Create a New World? American Presidents and the UN
President Kennedy and President Johnson had very similar foreign policies as Johnson was acting as successor to President Kennedy’s assassination. They proposed the control of strategic weapons and their delivery systems to stem the possibility of violent conflict between the Soviet Union and United States[vi]. In order to create new initiatives, Kennedy and Johnson would use the 18 Nation Committee on Disarmament[vii]. There was a change in policy with the election of President Nixon was in power. Nixon and his Secretary of Foreign Policy Henry Kissinger redirected efforts of arms control away from limited multilateral context, and in March 1969, announce the White House would go ahead with the deployment of an ABM system[viii]. This ABM system was used as a bargaining chip in direct negotiations with the Soviets, and if a weapons agreement was reached, the system could be dismantled[ix].
Space Race
In order to compete with the Soviets, whom the United States thought were advancing quickly in the race to reach space, the Americans were openly expanding their resources, obtaining over 1000 acres of land to be developed into NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center to run lunar missions[x]. The Soviet counterpart to von Braun, Sergei Korolev[xi], wanted a comparable Soviet manned lunar program, and had proposed the Soviets invest in this in 1956[xii]. The Soviet space program had no coordinated plan to compete directly with the Americans in a lunar landing because the military leaders were more focused on the production of ICBMs[xiii]. Because the Russians lacked resources and funding in their space program, they began to lag behind, and in 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon, and during the broadcast, the Soviet viewing room erupted with applause and they for a brief moment forgot they were of different nations[xiv].
Rise to Globalism
Kennedy had an aggressive policy towards the Cold War, and stated in his inaugural address: “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”[xv] Kennedy didn’t believe the U.S. was doing well enough in their war with the Soviet Union, and his Democratic actions revealed a dynamic militancy, whereas republican rhetoric consisted of unrestrained hostility to the USSR and emphasized a permanent war[xvi]. Kennedy instead wanted to win the Cold War, and wanted the US to take the initiative, and so started the greatest arms race in the history of mankind[xvii]. Eventually Kennedy’s aggressive policy would change to a less militaristic one, although the matter of prestige was of great importance to Kennedy and impeded him from yielding and compromising with the Russians on many issues. Nixon however went to establish a policy of sufficiency rather than superiority and wanted to attack the Soviet Union diplomatically, through creating a Sino-Soviet split in order to weaken Communism and the Russians[xviii].
Super Power Détente: US-Soviet Relations, 1969-1972
By the end of the 1960s, the foreign policy of the United States changed from one of a more aggressive nature to one that sought stability and not just détente between the United States[xix]. The conduct of policy was highly centralized, however, Kissinger was skeptical about he Soviet system’s susceptibility to change. The Soviet Union had tried to drive wedges between the US and its NATO allies, but failed to do so, and so grew more interested in improved US-Soviet relations[xx]. The Nixon administration wanted to improve relations to try and improve the situation in Vietnam, and so SALT talks started to facilitate a compromise between the two nations.
[i] Kennedy, John F. "Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort ."
John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. N.p., 12 Sept. 1962.
Web. 29 Apr. 2010. <http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/
Archives/Reference+Desk/Speeches/JFK/003POF03SpaceEffort09121962.htm>.
[ii] ibid.
[iii] Hardesty, Von, Gene Eisman, and Sergeĭ Khrushchev. Epic Rivalry: the inside Story of the Soviet and American Space Race. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2007. Print.
[iv] Ibid.
[v] ibid.
[vi] Moore, John Allphihn, Jr., and Jerry Pubantz. "The Cold Warriors."To Create a
New World?New York, New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 1999. N. pag.
Print.
[vii] Ibid. The Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament was sponsored by the United Nations with the ultimate goal of beginning a dialogue between the United States and the Soviet Union during the cold war, and considered disarmament, confidence building measures between the two superpowers, and nuclear test controls.
[viii] Ibid. Anti-Ballistic Missile system, used as a counter measure against a Russian attack.
[ix] Ibid.
[x] Cadbury, Deborah.Space Race. New York, New York: HarperCollins, 2006. Print.
[xi] Korolev was the head Soviet rocket engineer through the 1950s-60s and is considered the father of practical astronautics.
[xii] Ibid. Korolev believed that “the real task is to develop a rocket to fly to the moon and back.”
[xiii] Ibid.
[xiv] ibid.
[xv] Ambrose, Stephen E, and Douglas G Brinkley.Rise To Globalism. 8th Rev ed. 1971.
New York, New York: Penguin, 1997. Print.
[xvi] Ibid.
[xvii] ibid.
[xviii] ibid.
[xix] Mastny, Vojtech. "Superpower Détente: US-Soviet Relations, 1969-1972."GHI
Bulletin Supplement 1. N.p.: n.p., 2003. 19-24. Print.
[xx] Ibid.