"A Magnificent Desolation" : How the Media Shaped the Space Race 1957 to 1969

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2010
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Haverford College. Department of History
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Thesis
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Award
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eng
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Haverford users only
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Abstract
My thesis examines the media's influence on and reflections of American space policy in the context of Cold War competition with the Soviet Union. Faced with the challenge of maintaining its global position after World War II in a newly atomic world, the United States placed increasing emphasis on space exploration and technology as a means of achieving military, political, and ideological dominance. Over the course of the 12 years between Sputnik's launch in 1957 and the successful Apollo 11 mission to the moon in 1969, the rhetoric of the Space Race went through three distinct phases. The first, discussed in section one of this paper, emphasized the technological and military threat posed by the Soviet Union. The second, discussed in section two of this paper, emphasized the political and ideological threat posed by the Soviet Union. And the third, discussed in the third section of this paper, emphasized the American spirit of ingenuity and determination. The examination of these phases of media rhetoric reveals the defining characteristics of the American space program, as well as the nuances that exist in the relationships between the press, the populace, and the makers of politics and public opinion in the United States of America.
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