nhd official annotated bibliography
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PRIMARYSOURCES
"Announcement of the First Satellite." Pravada5 October 1957.
This is the Soviet Unions official announcement of the launch. Initially, the USSR called
very little attention to Sputnik, only to realize how fateful the launch was after the rest ofthe world had done so. The article gives bits of factual information and states that the
Soviet Union plans on launching more satellites for the purpose of scientific research. The
article concludes with the hope that Sputniks success will prove to the world how
successful the Soviet form of government and society was. I used it in the The Soviet
Announcement page.
Bonestell, Chesley. [Rocket landing on mars]. 1952. Canvas. Colliers Magazine.
One of several paintings Bonestell made for Colliers. They illustrate the overly optimistic
and grand ideas space enthusiasts had at the beginning of the space age, and probablyhad a great influence on public opinion at the time, making space appear much more
fantastical than it really was.
DuBridge, L. A. "The Challenge of Sputnik." Engineering & Science 21 (1958): 13-18. Caltech Office
of Public Relations. Web. 4 Jan. 2013.
This primary source was published in the journal Engineering & Science in 1958, and itdiscusses what exactly Sputnik is, and what exactly America should do to respond to it. It
emphasizes education reform and was a valuable resource for that section of my website.
Eisenhower, Dwight. Remarks by the President in connection with the opening of the International
Geographic Year. The White House, Washington, D.C. 30 June 1957. Radio and television
address.
Eisenhowers speech embodies what the IGY was about- bringing together scientists for thesole purpose of scientific discovery.
Furnas, C. C. "Why Did U.S Lose the Race? Critics Speak Up." LIFE. 43.17 (21 Oct. 1957): 22-23.
Google Books. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.
Part of a series of LIFE articles written in response to Sputnik. Furnas was consulted to
remark on the event and wrote on what the United States could have done to beat theUSSR into space. He gives many well-reasoned points, including more attention being paid
to engineering and scientific military endeavors.
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Kaplan, Irving, Preliminary statement of the Association of Manhattan District Scientists. August
1945. Letter. Gilder Lehrman Collection.
Written by the AMDS several days after the dropping of the atomic bomb, it warns of the
great dangers of nuclear warfare. It outlines and describes measures that must be taken
to keep nuclear arms from falling into enemy hands, stating that a world in an arms racethat is one of fear. The letter is fundamental in understanding the Cold War and why the
United States took such drastic measures to keep the world from nuclear war.
Nicolet, Marcel. The International Geophysical Year 1957/58. Geneva: World Meteorological
Organization. PDF
This document by the secretary general of the International Geophysical Year was very
useful when I was researching the IGY. The document provided valuable primary
information on how the program began, useful pictures to reinforce context, and various
data that furthered my understanding of the IGY.
Soviet Satellite Sends U.S. into a Tizzy. Life. 14 Oct. 1957: 34-37. Print.
This article, atypical to many published at the time, makes mention of the conference atwhich American and Soviet found themselves attending when news of Sputniks successful
launch reached them. It goes into little detail concerning the actual event, but the title of
the article gives more than enough information about how the launch was received.
United States. Dept. of Defense. Dept. of the Navy. Department of the Navy memorandum on
official statements regarding the Sputnik launch. 5 October 1957.
In response to Sputnik, Navy captain Noel Gaylor wrote a memo to the Chief of
Information, notifying him that discussion of Sputnik was to be strictly limited as a matterof national security. The urgency with which it was written aptly illustrates the effect
Sputnik had on American politics.
United States. National Science Board. Statement by the National Science Board in response to
Russian satellite. October 1957 [Dwight D. Eisenhower's Records as President, Official File,
Box 625, 146-F-1 Soviet Satellites].
The National Science Board is a collection of presidentially appointed and Senate-approved scientists and engineers that represents the American science community. Their
issued statement following Sputnik appreciated the Soviet achievement but declared that
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the United States also recognized the blow America had been dealt. The board called for
greater importance to be placed upon education in the future.
SECONDARYSOURCES
Allen, Michael. Live From the Moon: Film, Television and the Space Race. London: I.B. Tauris & Co.
Ltd., 2009. Print.
Michael Allen, using information from the NASA archives and other meticulouslyresearched primary sources, spotlights a relationship that has persisted in America since
the very beginning of the Space Race- space exploration and media technology. This
connection is doubtless one of the most essential factors in the rapid rise of the Space
Age. It provides an answer to the question ofwhyspace became so poplar- that is, its
quite possible that without the live broadcast of the 1969 moon landing or the famedspace photography of the 1960s, space exploration would not have latched on to the
American consciousness as it did.
Brzezinski, Matthew. Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries that Ignited the Space Age.
New York: Times Books, 2007. Print.
With much attention paid to political ties, Brezinski documents the beginnings of the
Space Race- in the halls of our most prestigious political institutions. It describes Sputniks
initially underestimated significance for both American Soviet politicians.
Degroot, Gerard J. Dark Side of the Moon: The Magnificent Madness of the American Lunar Quest.
New York and London: New York University Press, 2006. Print.
Degroot seeks to overturn decades old myths about the great space race- that NASA and
the American government overstated the Soviet threat to the United States and took
advantage of the publics fascination with space to fund an essentially meaningless,ultimately purposeless, program.
Dickson, Paul. Sputnik: The Shock of the Century. New York: Walker & Company, 2001. Print.
Journalist Paul Dickson uses recently released documents and meticulous research tochronicle the vast political intrigue that led up to, and followed, Sputnik. There is an
equal focus on just how much Sputnik affected American culture and politics.
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Kennedy, Randy. When the Space Age Blasted Off, Pop Culture Followed. The New York Times.
25 September 2007. Web. 16 October 2012.
A general overview of the effect of the space race on pop culture, citing Sputnik as the
impetus of the Space Race, a viewpoint almost unanimously agreed upon. The article
describes the new architecture, entertainment, and art that emerged from the Space Ageand, by extension, Sputnik. It was written as a 50th anniversary commemoration.
Logsdon, John M., Roger D. Launius, and Robert W. Smith, eds. Reconsidering Sputnik: Forty Years
Since the Soviet Satellite. Australia: Harwood Academic, 2000. Print.
This extensive collection of essays addresses both the events leading up to and the
consequences of Sputnik. Many of the essays were originally collected at a 1997
conference in recognition of the launchs 40th anniversary, a symposium attended by
historians dedicated to exploring new perspectives of American and Soviet history that
had arisen since the end of the Cold War.
Marlin, Cheryl L. Space Race Propaganda: U.S. Coverage of the Soviet Sputniks in 1957.
Journalism Quarterly. 64. (1987): 544-49, 559. ERIC. Web. 22 November 2012.
As an in-depth analysis of various printed media coverage of the Sputnik launch, this
article provides an interesting look into the American public opinion of Soviet Russia and
her momentous achievement.
McQuaid, Kim. Sputnik Reconsidered: Image and Reality in the Early Space Age. Canadian Review
of American Studies; Vol. 37 Issue 3 (2007): 371-401. Academic Search Premier. Web. 9
November 2012.
McQuaid asserts that it was the media and American elite who, by censoring unfavorable
reports of the launch and events that followed, created much of the interest and concern
that came to surround space exploration.
Ragone, Nick. Presidential Leadership: 15 Decisions that Changed the Nation. Amherst: Prometheus
Books, 2011. eBook.
I only used a single quote from this book, one about the criticism Eisenhower suffered
from by Democrats in Congress, but Ragone very accurately summarized the politicalturmoil in Washington after Sputnik. It definitely helped to further my understanding of the
political reactions to Sputnik.
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Peoples, Columba. Sputnik and 'skill thinking' revisited: technological determinism in American
responses to the Soviet missile threat. Cold War History. 8.1 (February 2008): 55-75.
Academic Search Premier. Web.24 November 2012.
The article examines the varied responses to the launch of Sputnik- that is, the American
general public, political figures, and, a perspective Ive rarely read about, the academic
communitys reaction. Peoples argues that the national tendency to revert to the idea of
technology as the driving force of American society, a theory referred to as technologicaldeterminism, has existed since the Cold War- and has, for better or worse, greatly
influenced our policy-making.
Prelinger, Megan Shaw. Another Science Fiction: Advertising the Space Race 1957-1962. New York:
Blast Books, 2010. Print.
Prelingers comprehensive collection provides a gorgeous view into the grand realm of1950s and 1960s advertising. Imaginations were captivated in the presence of the iconic
spaceman or the classic rocket ship. The awe-inspiring image of space was harnessed toboth lure brilliant engineers to massive aeronautics corporations, as well as sell ordinary
products to Earth-bound citizens. The book proved to be a rich source of both beautiful
art and space history.
Wang, Zuoyue. In Sputniks Shadow: The Presidents Science Advisory Committee and Cold War
America. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2008. Print.
In his book, Wang discusses the role of technological skepticism in policy making. Headdresses important points, such as scientific involvement in politics during times ofnational crisis- like the launch of Sputnik and the Cold War/Nuclear Age. He focuses, as
the title suggests, on the Presidents Science Advisory Committee, or PSAC, whose status
was elevated post-Sputnik.