Sputnik and the space race

¶ … New York Times treaded the Sputnik event very fairly, reporting on it in an objective manner and revealing the fear and confusion that was spreading throughout the U.S. government at the time. The articles reveal the general excitement about the satellite as well as the finger-pointing and blaming of U.S. government entities for not being the first country to put a satellite in orbit. The New York Times conducted themselves very honestly, and seems to have reported the truth of the matter and the way that people in the U.S. reacted to the event at the time. They were not scared to reveal the fear that gripped politicians and military leaders when they learned of the superior Russian rocket technology. The Times was also able to invoke a sense of joy and excitement about the wonders of space technology, without creating a cheap, tabloid feeling.

Article Analysis and Comparison

The New York Times articles treated the Sputnik event rather seriously, as did most of the nation after learning that the Russians were the fist to launch a satellite into orbit. Much of the shock came from the fact that the Russians were able to launch a 184 pound object into orbit (Dickson, 6). This suggested that the Russians rockets could carry such a projectile, or possibly a larger one. The U.S. space program was having a hard time figuring out how to launch an object only one-tenth of Sputnik's weight, and were therefore rightly concerned that the Russians had the edge against the Americans in the technology race (Siddiqi, 19). The New York Times articles start out by exploring the details of the Sputnik mission, and as the weeks go by after the launch, there is nearly a mass hysteria going on nationally over the event.

Many politicians as well as military experts and scientists all agreed that if Russia could put an object the size of Sputnik into orbit, then they certainly have a rocket powerful enough to reach the mainland U.S. with a nuclear payload. Jorden's ("Soviet Fires Earth Satellite Into Space," 1957) article mentions the threat of a payload of a nuclear weapon or hydrogen bomb. It seems as though the press in 1957 was much less concerned with keeping a secret from the American public and was publishing articles that certainly would have stirred up fear in Americans who were looking to their own government for answers as to why the U.S. was not first in space. There is a kind of juvenile excitement present in the earliest articles as Sputnik is described. Jorden's ("Soviet Fires Earth Satellite Into Space, 1957) article explores the science behind the mission, revealing that "The Russians calculated the satellite's orbit at a maximum of 560 miles above the earth and its speed at 18,000 miles per hour." (Jorden, "Soviet Fires Earth Satellite Into Space, 1957) As time passes, the excitement turns to fear, and the press begins to highlight the attitudes and thoughts that were flowing from the U.S. government regarding the issue.

Some of the more politically-driven articles emphasize that fact that many American people and politicians were angry with the U.S. government at not having the technology to compete with the Russians at the time (Finney, "U.S. Missile Experts Shaken by Sputnik," 1957). Blame was being thrown around at different targets, specifically the lack of funding for the U.S. space program and the lack of political motivation to be the first in Space. Eisenhower was described in these articles as being fairly calm and passive about the Sputnik event, when, in reality, according to historians, his cabinet was holding secret meetings with U.S. military officials and scientists to find out what kind of technology the Russians must have and why the U.S. did not have superior technology (Krock, "G.O.P. On Defensive on Issue of Security," 1957).

The press certainly wasn't afraid to expose the reality behind the U.S. government's shock and surprise at the Sputnik launch, and even went so far as to exploit many politician's feelings of vulnerability to the communist nation. In the government, behind the scenes there was much fear and finger pointing, but the official story in the news articles, at least initially, emphasized the scientific accomplishments and feats that the Russians had undertaken, and not the potential foreign policy and military repercussions of the event. The Russians were bold enough to launch a satellite unannounced, and the U.S. was fearful that they would engage the rest of the world from a similar perspective (Schwartz, "Soviet Exploits its New 'Sputnik' Diplomacy," 1957).

Both the period New York Times articles as well as the modern historians both agree that Sputnik's radio transmissions were a bitter sweet aspect of this issue. Scientists all over the world were tuning their radios to hear as the beeping aluminum orb flew overhead and broadcast a faint signal. This was the first time that something from another country had reached out and touched a citizen of another country indirectly (Dickson, 3). This both scared and excited the American public, as evidenced in the later New York Times articles as well as the contemporary sources.