Remembering the Space Age. - Black Vault Radio Network (BVRN)

Far OUt: the SpaCe age IN aMerICaN CUltUre
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representative Olin “tiger” teague (d-tX) proclaimed in 1963 that space
spending “started the blood coursing a little more fervently through the
arteries of our economy.” It would, teague predicted, spark “a new industrial
revolution.” 22
Space Keynsianism thus joined military Keynsianism as a justifcation for
pumping governmental spending into the economy and, thereby, besting the
Soviets in both economic growth and technological prowess. the space race
also introduced a new competitive element into the strategy of containment.
as the Soviet leaders placed a high priority on winning the race to the Moon,
their underdeveloped and increasingly stressed economy struggled to match
america’s lavish expenditures. the space race appeared to fulfll the hopes of
democrats that enlarged government spending would simultaneously bring
benefts to their party, stimulate prosperity while returning revenue to the
treasury in the form of a growing tax base, and help win the Cold War by
weakening the Soviet economy.
the excitement and the rapidly mounting appropriations for the space
race, however, did not last. the chastening efect of the Cuban Missile Crisis
of October 1961 spawned a series of accommodations in both the U.S. and
Soviet governments. the Kennedy presidency had demonstrated that Cold
War competition could have its rhetorical thrills, but it also risked unspeakable
dangers. With the Soviet pullback in the Missile Crisis, the superpowers’ highpitched
competitions abated somewhat. Moreover, after celebrating the fights of
alan Shepard (1961) and John glenn (1962), and witnessing the other Mercury
and gemini missions of the early and mid-1960s, few americans continued to
maintain that the United States seriously lagged the Soviet Union. the Sputnik
moment was quickly passing.
drawing on the political skills of NaSa administrator James e. Webb,
president lyndon Johnson managed to continue Kennedy’s legacy by procuring
for NaSa a nearly blank check from Congress for awhile longer. gradually,
however, the public and their representatives tired of the costs and grew more
confdent about america’s ultimate successes in space. Moreover, the great
Society and the War in Vietnam vied with space programs over spending
priorities, and the country spiraled into a paroxysm of dissent over national
direction. as Kennedy’s soaring political rhetoric about “paying any price” to
best Soviet communism slowly came down to earth, other concerns challenged
the imperatives of the space race.
republican budget-cutters had sheaved their blades in the shadow of the
Sputnik moment, but they gradually grew bolder in attacking governmental
spending and taxation. as early as 1962, representative h. r. gross (r-Ia)
voted for Kennedy’s request for a greatly enlarged NaSa appropriation while
22. Quoted in Kaufman, Selling Outer Space, pp. 125-126.