The Space Race: “Prestige as Important as Power”

Upon the Soviet Union’s launching of Sputnik during 1957, the United States came to the understanding that on top of illustrating the overwhelming power and advancements of the American military establishment, it was time for the United States to illustrate more “power and prestige” within their outer space programs. Americans told themselves, and who knows whether this was a possibility or not, that the “Soviets posed danger that was infinite in duration,” as President Eisenhower said in his commencement speech. Now everyone knows about the launching of Sputnik by the Soviets, the placing of a man on the moon by the Americans and the outcome of the Cold War that would result in an “American victory,” and ignoring all the speeches made by “so and so” or what side did what, I pose the question: why was the space race between the Soviets and the Americans so significant to the underlying purpose of the Cold War?

Though the United States was “victorious” upon the conclusion of the Cold War, I nonetheless believe that the Soviet Union got the better of the United States during a war that could be characterized by one word: stalemate. The United focused heavily on their military establishment, specifically that of nuclear weapons, because the Soviets were doing so. The United State then began to focus heavily on the space race, due to the launching of Sputnik. While many view the Cold War as one of Democracy versus Communism or “good versus evil”, I like to view the Cold War as a number of chess moves, the Space Race being a significant move, taking place in a game of chess between the Soviets and the Americans.

Still, why was the “space race” so significant in the Cold War, war being defined as the waging of armed conflict against an enemy. The last time I checked, a “waging of armed conflict”, such as the nuclear weapons that both sides possessed, had nothing to do with a “race to space”. The bottom line is that there is no “right answer” to my question. The United State and the Soviet Union simply got caught up in beating one another in any aspect, whether that be arms or space, and if the Soviets were to harvest a lot of corn, I’m sure the United States would come back at them, working hard to harvest that much more corn than the Soviet Union. In the end, the reason for the “space race” between the Soviets and the Americans can simply be viewed as either side making a move in “their game of chess” that would substantially prove their power and prestige.

The Atomic Energy Commission: Promoting Peace and Advancement

The dropping of atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan caused the world to understand the power of such weapons, moreover realizing the danger such weapons could have if the “wrong people” controlled them. The United States government worked to construct a committee or commission that could successfully control the development and management of both nuclear weapons and nuclear power. To put it simple, the United States government wanted to establish a system that would both control the supervision and progression of nuclear power/nuclear weapons, as well as exemplifying to other nations that nuclear power has more uses other than to use them in a time of war, thus promoting peace. For that reason, The Atomic Energy Commission was established.

At the conclusion of World War II, “debates over the domestic (at home in the United States) control of atomic energy began. Two major bills affected the debate over atomic energy: the May-Johnson Bill and the McMahon Bill. The May-Johnson Bill, the earlier of the two bills, was proposed on October 3rd, 1945. This bill advised that only the United States government have control over the use of atomic power, simply because that would be the only way to prevent the misuse of atomic power. Yet, other aspects of the May-Johnson Bill were more radical. In other words, the bill was devised as a means to preserve military control over nuclear research, a situation that would be acceptable during wartime, but was most certainly undesirable during a time of peace when free science exchange should be carried on. Though this specific aspect of the May-Johnson Bill is one that I strongly disagree with, I do believe that this bill paved the way for the suitable McMahon Bill.

Due to the organization of scientific opposition, the development of the May-Johnson Bill was slowed to the point where it was evident that the May-Johnson Bill would not pass, forcing the construction of another bill, one that would be upheld within all the branches of the government. As a result, the McMahon Bill was proposed. In doing so, the United States government concluded how they would manage and control the nuclear technology it was developing. The McMahon Bill, also known as the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, concluded that both nuclear weapon development and nuclear power management would be under civilian control, not military control. Moreover, the McMahon Bill aimed to permit the exchanging of atomic and nuclear information with other nations, specifically those that were allies of the United States. As a whole, the McMahon Bill was a safer and smarter strategy towards the control over atomic power and the interchanging of information. President Truman signed the bill on August 1st, 1946, and the McMahon Bill went into effect on January 1st, 1947, thus establishing what became known as the United States Atomic Energy Commission.

The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was established more than a year after the conclusion of World War II. The chief objection of the AEC was to promote and control the peacetime advancement of atomic science and technology. Most importantly, the AEC successfully removed the control over atomic energy from the military, placing complete control in civilian hands. In addition, the Atomic Energy Commission revealed the United States postwar hopefulness. The United States wanted to show the world that atomic power could and should not be utilized only in the form of nuclear weapons as a means of defense, but also promoting world peace, ultimately as a means to better civilization.

Johannes Stark: Gaining Power Through Politics

Johannes Stark is, through my eyes, the most famous Nazi scientist of the many that willingly participated with the National Socialists. The flagrant anti-Semitism that Stark illustrated through his vicious attacks on the ideas of modern physics, along with a number of physicists, made him both an “intriguing subject and the perfect villain” (Walker 5). Stark used his political leverage as a dedicated “National Socialist” to achieve his goals, not only becoming a well-respected man throughout much of the Third Reich, but also having a significant influence over science in Germany. I am not writing this blog to speak of Johannes Stark’s long, story-filled career as a Nazi scientist, but, I am writing this blog in regard to Stark’s movement (co-founder with Phillip Lenard), Deutsche Physik. Stark used this “movement” and his anti-Semitism as a means to gain power and influence within the Third Reich.

Before the shift in control over Germany took place, Stark was a conservative German scientist looking to strengthen his career and power. Stark concluded that it was necessary to make a connection with politics as “a weapon to use against those who had kept him a pariah for so long” (Walker 13).

At the time, around the year 1923, Germany was still recovering from the humiliation that was suffered at the conclusion of World War I, looking for a government and leader that would successfully lead Germany into the future. Seeing that the Weimar Republic was a weak puppet government, one set up in hope of spreading the ideals behind Democracy, it was clear that Germany would not simply transform into a Democratic state, thus causing a plethora of underground movements to occur. The biggest of these underground movements was Hitler and his National Socialist movement. Stark publicly supported the NSDAP and he would conform to the beliefs of the National Socialists as a means to better his career. And though it is evident that Stark truly was an anti-Semite, he nonetheless used his hatred for Jews with the intention of establishing a link with the political figures of the NSDAP, giving Stark the power and influence that he so desperately desired, thus permitting him to quickly rise within the ranks of German scientists.

The Deutsche Physik movement emphasized three characteristics: oppose modern physics as a conservative physicist, oppose Jewish scientists and “the physics they created” (Walker 13), and lastly, the opposition of the internationalist stand by the nationalist scientist of Germany. If this “movement” is not a brainless, unintelligent method in promoting future progression in science, than I don’t know what is. And Mark Walker accurately summed up the Deutsche Physik movement what he stated that, “These physicists had nothing new to offer in the way of science, and are best characterized by what they rejected” (Walker 13).

Johannes Stark shared little in common with his fellow German scientists. In fact, Stark was neither recognized nor respected throughout much of the scientific community in Germany, even though he won a Novel Prize in 1921, being viewed as a vicious, close-minded. Yet Stark convinced himself that he had the “right ideas” necessary to promote successful progress in the field of science, and when Stark realized that the Weimar Republic was not willing to give him the opportunity to “oversee” the study of science in Germany, Stark selfishly looked to the NSDAP, conforming in hopes of raising his status within Germany’s scientific community. “Stark found in National Socialist circles the honor and recognition as an important scientist that his fellow academics had denied him” (Walker 15). Thanks to Hitler and the National Socialists, Stark gained a great deal of influence over science in Germany, and his “reach”, meaning what he could accomplish and what he couldn’t, extended far, even awarding him with two presidencies over important scientific institutions.

However, Stark’s attempt to control the studies being done and the works being published, as a sort of totalitarian leader over science in Germany, came to an end in 1937 when it became apparent that Stark threatened both intellectual and scientific freedom. Stark’s strong support for Hitler and the National Socialists carried him only so far, overtime becoming clear that he was not qualified to hold any sort of high-ranking position in a scientific community that was, and should always be, solely based on the “brain” of the scientist. Johannes Stark used his conservative stance, his anti-Semitism and his support for the NSDAP as a mean to gain positions within the scientific community that he was most definitely not qualified for and it was Stark’s Deutsche Physik movement that allowed him to establish a short-lived favorable connection with the NSDAP.