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The Day America Looked Inward And Changed Forever | David Hoffman | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: The Day America Looked Inward And Changed Forever
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Summary
Core Theme
The launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union in 1957 was a pivotal "Sputnik moment" that profoundly shocked and galvanized the United States, leading to a national reevaluation and transformation of its educational system, scientific priorities, and technological ambitions.
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[Music]
once in a great while in the history of
a Nation there comes a moment when a
change occurs that affects
everyone at a moment like this people
know that something fundamental has
shifted that forever more their lives
will be divided into what came before it
and all that will follow after
it the film you are about to see tells a
story of one of these moments that took
place in America roughly 50 years ago
Johnny is my given name America is my
nation the schoolhouse is my learning
destination the sputnick [Music]
1957 a Friday
evening for most Americans life was as
just about everyone has been following
the World
Series where the legendary New York
Yankees were facing the upstart Milwaukee
[Music] [Applause]
[Applause] [Music]
[Music]
Braves also this evening millions of
families were gathering to watch the
premiere of a new TV show what's matter
baver you look peculiar well I think a
normal 7,000 M away in deepest secrecy
Engineers working for our Arch Enemy
Soviet Russia were putting the final
preparations on a rocket that would
carry a 23in aluminum
sphere polished so that it would Shine
Like a
Star although no one knew it yet what
these scientists and Engineers were
about to do would change America and the world
farewell the photographers are taking
shots our space rocket is ready in the
center of the CM
drone the countdown
remain a mighty
vibrates white hot flame gushes
down and great Beast lives slowly from the
earth we are about to create a new
planet that we will call
call
Sputnik the first artificial Earth
satellite in the world has now been
created this first satellite was today
successfully launched in the
USSR we are bringing to you the most
important story of this Century
Mankind's breakthrough into
space in about 24 minutes it will be
over Santiago Chile and at about 50
minutes from now it will be over
Spain the entire neighborhood the entire
city in fact the entire nation it seemed
was standing outside watching what the
Russians had done what' you say when you
saw a spotnik one I shouted to Mr Robert
Brown I think I have it scanning The
Horizon while the world watches the
satellite right at the appointed hour
Sputnik flew over and I'll tell you what
if God himself in a chariot had flown
impressed a tiny voice is heard from the
vastness of
space a lonely and mysterious cry that
forever separates the old from the
new every man was out there in his
backyard watching history change not at
a great battle or not at a great you
know Revolution but in fact at a little
sky Sputnik was the first manmade thing
that ever floated above our heads in outer
space it didn't do anything but send out
innocent radio
beeps but Sputnik was Earth
shattering not only because it was the
first man-made thing in space but
because of the rocket that got it there
and what that rocket
meant the Soviets said this kind of
rockets which have taken Sputnik up
space they were using Sputnik to to try
to scare the United States to scare
Americans into the idea that we were all
in danger of some Soviet nuclear weapon
the United States is in a state of
confusion and
surprise Sputnik was the 911 of our day
people were shocked that Russia had a
technology that could do this and we
didn't America said now wait a minute
Russians can't even build a refrigerator
what are they doing putting a Sputnik a
satellite into orbit we were convinced
As Americans that we were the dominant
power in the world we had to be so the
idea that our arch in
the evil Soviet Empire could beat us by
getting into space first was just
devastating I mean people were walking
around saying how can this happen you
know us is number one what what what is
this this is the Soviet Union's first
man-made Earth satellite on display of
the USSR industrial exhibition in
Moscow ever since the news of Sputnik
flashed around the world America has
been asking questions what went wrong
how did a nation of backward peasants
Forge so dramatically ahead of us in the
race to
space it because the American people
alarm that a foreign country especially
an enemy country can do this and it we
fear this we fear that they have
something out that majority of the
about Senator Jackson of Washington
describes the Russian achievement as a
devastating Blow To The Prestige of the
United States the people of the United
States have been
humiliated they're Disturbed and they're
unhappy enem of ours has out distanced
us russan getting into space really bothers
bothers
me we are headed downhill to the status
power night after night politicians and
other leaders were telling Americans
that Sputnik revealed that we were at Great
Great
risk not just our pride but our security
is at
stake we surely don't want to become
hysterical but let's become factual
let's start telling the truth and let's
face the fact that we've taken a licking
psychologically at least and
scientifically and it has embarrassed us
world if Russia wins dominance at this
completely new
area well I think the con qu Es are
domination to understand why the Sputnik
launch and all the political rhetoric
that followed was so effective in
scaring Americans you have to get a
sense of what America was like back
then the time was not
1957 the handsome king of rock and roll
Elvis pezley rock and roll was new and
king gasoline was cheap 25 cents a
gallon and it was pumped for you by
uniformed attendants but of course
service without having to ask for it
telephones had rotary dials and when you
needed to look up information you didn't
go online line you went to the library
and looked through index cards 7 million
index cards fill the row on row of
drawers that line the
walls it was a very different world than
the one we live in today and perhaps one
of the biggest differences is that it
was the early days of national
television television was
revolutionary and it made it possible
for America to show itself to itself and
To The World
God television is most certainly here to
stay everything presented on TV looked
different than shows look today and
quite often the people appearing on TV
looked by today's standards
uncomfortable and they were shows were
live then and TV cameras were huge and
remember almost no one had ever been in
front of a TV Camera before
so when this intimidating box was
pointed at them people often spoke in
ways that seem a bit
stilted our son Merritt took the course
he understands the rules and he follows
them it's tempting to chuckle and look
at these people from the 1950s as
uptight the students like it the parents
like it and best of all it works but
don't let this fool you
look behind their unease and you will
find that these people were ordinary
American citizens just like us who felt
lucky to be living in what they felt
were the best of
times and in many ways they were as a
nation they had been through some very
rough times 10 years of the Great
Depression and 6 years of World War II
where tens of millions had
died and much of Europe and Asia were dis
dis
destroyed now post-war Americans felt
that it was finally their time to settle
down to live what was called the good
life for most Americans The Good Life
meant working toward living the American
dream maybe a nice home in Suburbia and
uh some nice kids and a beer and a ball
game on a Saturday afternoon and we'll
have the living room right in here and
the kitchen right here and oh darling
it's going to be just
perfect the American
dream owning a home because in a
well-built house with adequate Leisure
they can live and work as better
Americans and a car or maybe two an
American car we have a right to take
pride in our cars and modern appliances
that their grandparents had never known
you can own your own home complete with
its own refrigerator television set and
clothes dryer boy here's real
emancipation from oldfashioned
chores a
refrigerator washer and dryer perhaps a
dishwasher and so much more and all of
this was possible because of our
industrial and economic power and
because of what was commonly called
Better Living Through science inventors
engineers and manufacturers continually
offer us improvements so we can have
ever greater progress in science and
business that ensure a way of life that
is physically gratifying and spiritually
uplifting chemists have a lot to do with
this turning coal into everything from
9s the world of science has given us
some fabulous things materials which
make Fabrics more beautiful and easier
to care for than natural ones new and
better stretch yarn for women's
stockings in the world World of Tomorrow
tune the scientist has something to
offer to the public Which is far far
inventions we had faith in our science
and our
scientists in the 1950s American
scientists had given us the discovery of
DNA the thread of life
and the sulk polio vaccine a vaccine to
prevent paralytic polio developed by Dr Jonas
Jonas
sulk and American Engineers won High
Praise worldwide for our new American
highway system with millions of miles of paved
paved
roads more motorized Mobility than ever
dreamed of
before freedom of movement for all
symbol of democracy
Wheels and this is Lev toown Lev Town
one of the world's largest single unit
housing developments to make the
American dream a reality for everyone
developers were building tens of
millions of houses the budget priced
home this symbol of modern American
living has changed to Great USA you can
raise your children far from the cities
safety Suburban cities sprang up almost
overnight with new water supply systems
street lights sewer systems electrical
power grids and more much of the
infrastructure we depend on today was
built during this
time as millions of people bought homes
and got C degrees and quote settled down
they became a part of something that the
world had never
seen the huge American middle
class never in history has the American
Family known such well-be standard of
living beyond the wildest dreams of
anyone who lived a half century ago
today the middle class American dream is
sometimes made fun of but for adults at
that time it wasn't funny
it was literally a dream come
true but there was a dark cloud hanging
over that dream over every home over
every suburb and every city the
possibility of a nuclear war in which
some Will [Music]
[Music]
Survive you are the target of those who
would trample the Liberties of free men
you are in the crosshairs of the bomb
site an enemy is centering on you the
United States of
America we Face a hostile ideology
Global in scope atheistic in character
ruthless in purpose and Insidious in [Music]
[Music]
method communist Soviet Russia was
bragging to the world that they could
and very well might destroy
us and the Soviets had recently exploded
a huge destructive hydrogen [Music]
[Music]
bomb we broadly announced today that we
have successfully detonated a 20 Megaton
hydrogen bomb this is of a weight that
our current rocket can carry
anywhere our SPL proves to the world
that we have the first
ICBM the Ultimate Weapon [Music]
Sputnik and the rocket that launched it
made all of this Soviet blustering and
threatening very real and very scary
Senator do we have any defense against
Russia's intercontinental ballistic
missile no we have [Music]
[Music]
not in just 30 days 30 days after the
launch of
Sputnik things were about to get even more
scary we carried our lovely space duck
down to the capsule and placed her
inside she was groomed for her
w we attached the instruments beat her
NBC News presents a special report on
the Russian launching of a second Earth
satellite and now to guide this report
here in New York is NBC news commentator
Merill Mueller good
afternoon a dog knocked a goat right out
of the world's attention today in a
masterpiece of propaganda timing the
Soviet Union announced it had launched
Sputnik number two carrying a live dog
traveler Moscow reports this morning
that the dog in the new Sputnik is in
satisfactory condition and the Reds hint
that she may be parachuted safely back
to Earth space dog alive well the red
pup neck the dog barking his way around
the Earth every 102 minutes as one
russan new respect a British editor
asked me half jokingly how does it feel
power when people around the world heard
about Leica being in outer space many
mocked us and our Prestige plummeted
among our allies and especially those
who were
neutral the Japanese felt the Russian
did it again I have to admit that uh
blow to the American Prestige the thing
that America used to stand for you know
the shot that was sped around the world
the sense of being in the Vanguard of
human Liberation and of the excitement
of human progress I don't think America
stands there
today to lead the world we needed the
world's respect now Soviet Russia who we
had mocked as technologically and
scientifically backwards and primitive
were years ahead of
us the Soviets took advantage of this
the hand of Soviet friendship has been
reaching into every part of the world
which shows the slightest inclination to receive
receive
it Premier Nikita crev traveled to the L
developed Nations and said that we were
second rate not only because our Science
and Technology was inferior but also
because we were not a true
proof in Little Rock arkans saw white
segregationists were violently
protesting against nine black students
who were just trying to go to high
school minute they walk in they we walk
out and it's not right they have schools
just as good as
our had a choice but we don't have a
choice like they do see they can go to
us they can go to their own but we have
to go the have rights too negras aren't
the only ones that have the
right thanks to International media
coverage the world was watching and it
looked to us like the Russians were
winning the battle for hearts and minds
and that our way of life was being
rejected 1/3 of the world is free 1/3 of
the world is communist 1/3 of the world
is uh uncommitted and they come in a
struggle for that other third is going
to decisively wait the balance of power
and force and influence in the world for
generations to
come third world Nations had the choice
to align them themselves with either
America or the Communists and it looked
like many were not going to choose
America and that wasn't
all the Nightly News told us that a
Russian dog in outer space with a life
support system meant that next soldiers
could be sent up who could attack us from
from [Music]
[Music]
space and from space the Russians could
planet the kind of thing that a month
ago would have sounded like a joke but
in Washington now anyone who cares to
laugh at this does so at his own
risk it is quite possible that an
aggressor nation that dominates space
will then dominate the world we just
can't let that
happen this constitutes the greatest
crisis in the history of America
all of this in such a short period of
time was too much the American people
response President Eisenhower pressured
by America's concern reacted and
announced that in just a month we would
launch our first satellite called
Vanguard America's first attempt to
launch a satellite a 6 and 1/2 in sphere
weighing just over 3 lbs was checked out
by scientists and declared ready a great
wave of advanced publicity focused
attention at Cape canavero Florida for
the launching of project Vanguard
newsmen from all over the world were
flown down for the big turkey shoot at
the launching site they were given a
play-by-play account they witnessed each
tiny detail of the usually top secret
preparation it was Carnival time at Cape
Canaveral all through the day and night
thousands of people thronged the nearby
beaches and Jetties waiting eagerly for
the big moment this is Charles on friend
reporting from Kate canavero reporters
and photographers have gathered here
throughout the night and early morning
now it is almost noon we expect the
project Vanguard missile carrying the
first United States Earth satellite to
be launched
momentarily inside the Block House the
tension steadily
mounted 10 Mar 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 2 1
Z Vanguard started sounding like the
moan of some massive
dinosaur fire filled its
nozzles it spit flame at first then
built with great Crescendo to a
tremendous howl it ripped itself loose
from its chains and began to rise slowly
we all rose with it [Music]
oh God no somebody
screamed I don't see it I think the
launching has been unsuccessful it
seemed as if the Gates of Hell had
opened huge black cloud of before our
unbelieving eyes the giant began to
T there a of disappointment through the crow
crow
of it took just 7 Seconds to set back a
nation's Pride but our first attempt to
launch an Earth satellite has apparently
ended in [Music]
Failure this Grievous blow to our
already waning World Prestige one of the
most humiliating failures in all our [Music]
[Music]
world now with America's failure
it will not be able to stop the forward
communist after Vanguard The pundits
increased the intensity of their
statements warning us of our impending
doom ye the Christian civilization that
you and I know and love stands in
Greater danger today than it has in 20th
centuy I believe the American people
have to meet this threat with the same
urgency that we would if this nation
were in an allout War unless we approach
it from that standpoint we may well go
down the drain as other great
past after the disaster one thing seemed Crystal
Crystal
Clear we could no longer keep doing what
we had been doing
Life as we had been living it could not
continue as a nation we needed to make major
major
changes then in an extraordinary moment
Americans looked inside and began to
analyze ourselves to ask what we had
been doing what had gone wrong and what
could be done to improve it somehow
there has to be sort of a switch and
concentration it seems to me in this
country I think we have to decide
whether we want a super fancy kitchen
and 500 horsepower under the hood or
whether we want to match the
Russians are we mastering science or is
science mastering us that's a serious
question because science dominates so
much of our life individuals Across
America from the left the right and the
middle began to speak out saying that we
had been miss directing our scientists
and Engineers wasting their brain power
on useless
frivolities like designing bigger Tail
Fins and plush carpeting that was whiter and
and
brighter I'm not a scientist myself I
don't speak the technical language of
Science and when the scientist talks it
seems sometimes that he's not talking my
language either who's going to bridge
that Gap I have created a new office
called the office of Special Assistant
to the president for Science and
Technology President Eisenhower took the
lead in this internal examination and
formed a scientific advisory team headed
by Dr James Killian that would report
directly to him the team was charged
with finding out what we were doing
wrong and with doing whatever was
necessary to refocus America on the
importance of Science and scientists my
scientific advisers place this problem
above all other immediate tasks of
producing missiles of developing new
techniques in the armed services we need
scientists in the 10 years ahead they
say we need them by thousands more than
we're now presently planning to have
tonight I want to talk to you
particularly about this business of
Education when I say education I mean
the problems of Education each night on
TV leaders said that it was our
educational system that failed us and
that we were all
responsible our parents our teachers our
administrators even our students well it
seems to me we've never been in a
greater mess in our lives as a nation
and we adult started questioning our
educational system I mean how come the
Russians had scientists and Engineers
who could do these things and we didn't
what we've got to do is start right in
the high schools and toughen up our
scientific education so that we can
produce those productive creative people
that we need so
bad the American people must strengthen
their educational system if the safety
the security and prosperity of this
country is to be
maintained we have to strike at the root
of the
difficulty by educating the whole
if I may put it this way our hope for
for survival is through
education we must concern ourselves much
more than we ever have with the training
of our children's
minds and so the finger of blame was
being steadily pointed at
education this week President Eisenhower
LED this National self-analysis and
asked Americans to change how our young
people were being educated to scrutinize
your school's curriculum and
standards then decide for yourselves
whether they meet the stern demands of
the era we are [Applause]
[Applause]
entering improving how and what American
students Learned was going to be quite a
challenge for many reasons and for one reason
reason
especially the baby boom babies all over
the map babies babies B babies
babies the postor War II Rise of the
middle class had produced a huge number of
of
babies the largest generation in world
history all of these young people had
been causing a huge overcrowding before
Sputnik and schools had been straining
to the breaking point your child's
School nearly doubled its enrolled the
result classroom shortage there weren't
enough classrooms in desks
they gave my boy half a
seat to give every student some kind of
education many schools had resorted to
teaching kids in shifts oh too bad
students sat at their desks for Just 2
hours and then went
home and other students replaced them at
those same desks up to four times a
day classes met wherever there was room
even in barber shops
the Baby Boomers were stressing the entire
entire
system but this was hardest on the
teachers overworked and underpaid just
when we needed more of them many
teachers were quitting with deep regress
I hereby submit my resignation as a
teacher in the school system for the
fourth coming year for
reasons teachers tried to keep control
of classrooms of 30 to 60 students
and were forced to spend more and more
of their time just being disciplinarians
keeping discipline had become one of the
biggest chores of the crowded classroom Mike
friend and those that persevered
resorted to teaching their huge classes
of students by wrote and so to control
the crowd to hold their
attention Miss Roberts was forced to
return to whole group instruction
teaching the mass instead of the
individual teaching by rot 1 2 3 4 put
your feet on the [Music]
[Music]
floor teaching no longer stimulating to
the pupils or the
teacher the slow Learners aren't getting
the attention they need and the bright
ones are bored and it gets worse every
day but for the time being we've got to
live with it doing the best job we can
even if it's a bad
job all we we can do for the present is
try the best we know [Music]
how to leave no stone unturned in our
self-examination leaders traveled to
Russia to look at their educational
system to see what they were doing that was
was
different what we found shocked
us 30 years ago we had six times as many
scientists and Engineers as the Soviet
Union now their colleges are turning out
twice as many technical people this year
are in the Soviet time the science was a
priority in the
society it was not a movie star it was
not uh the rich man it was no rich man
we learned that Russian kids went to
school six days a
week that their school year was 213 days
long compared to 180 days in
America that every Russian kid boy and
Engineering Russian students had up to 4
hours of homework a night with the
average in American
was just 30
minutes the topnotch minds are attracted
to the physical sciences and Mathematics
their skills are so highly valued that
no expense is spared in providing them
facilities take something like the
Russian satellite to put the uh finger
on what's wrong with our education
we need scientists we need technicians
we need mathematicians there's no doubt
about that the uh Community is awake now
I think they're going to try to do
something they're all excited about
science and math I mean it's been taken
for granted for so long now suddenly
it's back in a spotlight
again education was in the spotlight and
the lessons we took away from the Soviet
system were plain and simple we got to
do something and we need an educ
population science to be able to do this
and it was like somebody slammed on the
accelerator and all of a sudden
everything was open for discussion and
examination we've come face to face with
the realization that schools and
survival are
inseparable the time has come for a
change we have to reorganize our
schools within just months of the
failure of Vanguard America began to do something
something
remarkable something that few other
nations would have been capable of we
began to come together to become unified
in our determination to fix what was
broken we don't have an adequate
education program in any of our schools
are you
satisfied are you really satisfied that
your school and your community is doing
all that it can do for these youth
thousands of children are a shy
education the time has come for America
to realize that our Citadel now is the
intelligence imagination and curiosity
of the trained mind the American people
must improve their public schools to
make the nation strong to meet whatever
threat may come each citizen should do
what he can to strengthen American
Education to make the position and
Prestige of the teacher understood in
the community this I think they can do
and they must
Mission a mission that is today referred
to as the Sputnik moment the search for
an education which will develop the full
potentiality of every boy and girl we
had to find the resources to pay
teachers and we needed to enlist more of
them the number of students per class
had to be reduced more buildings had to
be built and the techniques teachers
used to teach kids had to change
radically and change they did yes Jack
the vacation will soon be over and
you'll be going back to [Music]
[Music]
school when students returned to their
schools in the fall of
1958 what they found was very different
from what had been there
before the pressure was on Americans
were redesigning their entire
educational system and asking students
to take their studies much more
seriously for the defense of the country
we used to laugh and say well you know
the Russians uh might have launch
Sputnik but the United States is
launching us because all of these new
programs that were in in the school and
and we all just jumped into it it was
just like an avalanche because the uh
response of the United States was to
Institute this huge Science and
Technology enrichment program
in every classroom and in every course
of study a focus on science engineering
and math was being encouraged science is
fun it helps you to learn to know and to
appreciate in the study of science is
found the most useful and satisfying
knowledge of
man people were encouraged to take
physics and and geometry and and
chemistry and there was an immense
import import placed on this almost a
stigma if you were going into those
things an atmosphere which removes the
eggh head stigma Scholastic achievement
is now recognized and respected by both
students and
adults how do I get high grades I work
for them I'm not going to school just to
put in time I want to be
somebody and it was all heavy duty
College Prep mathematically based we're
going to train scientists and the
curriculum went that way the courses
became very difficult it was a
tough we were just loaded down with all
kinds of books and new classes and
homework for many years I've just been
able to drift through school I never did
homework until my junior year in high
school and then all of a sudden I was
hit with this and it it sort of rocked
me it used to be I could get through
chemistry and physics you know you could
slide through the coach will let me
through but it wasn't that way anymore
all of a sudden it was it was like they
were looking for something what did you
get in chemistry I had a 79 holy marful
you got to get those grades up you
expect to go to college what are you
going to major in I hope to major in
science science and with the grades that
you've been getting in science listen
that is football interfering with your
studying I hope not coach you must have
those grades up defitely it's either
studies in football or just studies
alone Sports mattered
less science mattered [Music]
[Music]
more why study science study science
because you and Betty and the NY and
bills and Joe's and James all over the
country will find in the study of
science a richer more rewarding life the
National Science Foundation came out
with a whole science math program uh
there were enrichment classes for
mathematics and physics and chemistry
and you I was just caught up with all
that science had been defined with a
small s in biology this meant dissecting
frogs in mathematics learning a series
of equations the same with physics now
science was broadening in every area of
study a focus on science was becoming a
critical part of what student had to
learn so that you can heal the sick so
that you can build the bridges and
buildings and highways of tomorrow so
that you can teach Inspire and encourage
those who come after you all these and
more require a basic knowledge of
science a course that boys took shop had
changed here's how it was it's fun to do
things that come out right here's what
it became here the task is to build a
Transformer and test its application to electromagnetic
electromagnetic
principles a course that girls took home
economics had changed here's how it was
at home it would be a minor tragedy
here's what it became in home economics
the girls plan nutritious and economical
menus arranging different food budgets
they check price lists in newspaper
advertisements educ leers were changing
the basic ways that students learned
we're attempting to find out how to use
teachers best most effectively in the
classrooms students who previously
learned by repetition and memorization
were being pushed to think for
themselves a good teacher challenging
students to think for
themselves oh yeah individualized
studies now demanded work at home that
took more time and
concentration parents were telling their
children that it was each student's
responsibility to grow into a useful
adult to become an engineer a scientist
a mathematician or
doctor and finally women were being
encouraged to become scientists Judy
Messer future lab technician Mary Lewis
she likes science and who knows Celia
Mortimer fascinated by nuclear physics
and hopes to make it a career now it it
seemed to be important to be a scientist
and engineer
and get in on on all this work that was going
on today students carry their interest
in science lessons Beyond The Four Walls
of the classroom they see the need to
understand the complex scientific ideas
of the world around
them teachers Focus boys and girls on
scientific ways to examine life inside
and also outside the class room students
take part in science programs science
clubs they go on field trips see films
about science a wide world of science
waiting for
investigation the ultimate uourself
projects from the h Workshop of
16-year-old Kurt golden author the robot
individual American Kids by the
thousands began to create science
projects on their own Victor shinman 16
the idea a device for printing a spoken
letter a challenging idea he went to his
science teacher to outline his theories
his plans and his problems Don Delaney
he wants to be an electronics engineer
right now he's building his own rocket
more and more teenagers are passing up
rock and roll for a rocket roll at Camp
AP Hill Virginia the Army plays host to
some guest rocket experts amators
teenagers all more than 100 high school
boys showed up on the firing range with
themselves Rocket Boys as they were
called to beat the Russians we're going
to try and build and launch homemade
Rockets I started mixing my own homemade
rocket fuel my mother was very
supportive of my experiments she gave me
a piece of her vacuum cleaner extension
and I had some fins that I cut out of
sheet metal welded to these things I
made nozzles out of plaster apparis and
would take him out into the desert and
launch these [Music]
[Music]
things they really weren't Rockets they
were pipe bombs with thins it's amazing
I didn't uh kill myself they were very
very dangerous but I was just completely
uh fascinated and was doing my best to
get Rockets as high as I possibly could
I had two stage Rockets my goal was to
could this is one of my uh early early rocket
rocket experiments
experiments
um notice the plaster Paris uh
bulkhead um welded steel fins plaster Paris
Paris [Music]
nozzle I gathered in some friends that
had been my friends all my whole life
and we decided we're going to form a
club called the Big Creek missile agency
and we're going to build Rockets we had
absolutely no clue on how to do this we
started to really researched Rockets we
read everything we possibly could our
teacher Miss Riley got involved and she
got us a book called principles of
guided missile design which required a
working knowledge of calculus and
differential equations and I was having
trouble with algebra at the
time we blew up a lot of things uh we
dodged a lot of
shrapnel ultimately we ended up building
professional style rockets that were
flying literally miles into the
sky we just felt someday what we were
doing was going to help the United
States to to be number one in space we
wanted our country to to catch up uh
with the Russians and then we wanted to
just keep on going [Music]
[Music]
forever the Sputnik moment was provoking amazing
amazing
changes and one of the most important
changes took place when Congress pushed
by Americans of all Stripes provided a
massive increase in
funding science math and engineering
education would receive an infusion of
more than a billion with huge amounts of
financial aid provided for scholarships
so that students could attend colleges
and graduate
schools the government put tremendous
amount of money into revamping the
physics and chemistry and the new texts
came out the new courses came out lab
manuals all paid for by the
government and a whole series of
national scholarships were announced and
and money was flowing into universities
for the purpose of getting kids into
that Arena and I was one of the
fortunate ones the new law was called
the National Defense Education Act the
name made clear the connection that
everyone felt education was critical to
our National
Defense we can no longer depend on air
power whether it be bombers or guided
missiles we must depend on brain power
we must depend on the ability of our
educational institutions to cultivate
that brain power so that it may be used
as well as it possibly can
be through the years we've taken
education for granted have even grown
neglectful all around us things have
been changing and now suddenly schools
have a lot to do with National Security
and our survival now there's trouble and
we realize that the trouble is with
brains and training and
Technology if this nation should
unfortunately be called upon to defend
itself the real Frontline Soldier would
be the scientist with the test tube and
the gager counter [Music]
[Music]
the National Defense Education Act
created thousands of high school science
Laboratories with tools that went Way
Beyond the traditional microscope by the
use of a videotape recorder and a
kinoscope we are able to provide many
film clips many kinds of materials that
are just not available to the classroom
teacher new funding brought television
to the classroom and television brought
the world to students and connected
students to the world involvement
interest judge for yourself these boys
are at Cape
Canaveral helping with the countdown of another
another
rocket the excitement heightens but a
clever science teacher has turned this
program into a lesson in propulsion
gravity and
atmospherics language Labs utilizing
electronic apparatus and modern theories
of learning are especially
important gone with the studies of Latin
and Greek in addition to French and
German new language Laboratories now
taught Russian and
Chinese University we had never taught
Russian before were encouraged to
Institute Russian courses and in that
first year after
1957 uh there were more people applying
to learn Russian in this country than
the Sputnik moment had provoked an
amazing time in America thanks to the
National Defense Education Act
scholarships millions of men and women
went to college to study scientific and Technical
Technical
courses they went on to attack problems
and uncover opportunities in every area of
of
life and they initiated american-led
revolutions in
electronics computer science
psychology environmental and Earth
sciences and they created and built the
internet the idea of building this
network and being able to share
resources and to interact with each
other remotely and get pro programs to
talk to each other was enormously
fascinating it was very exciting newspapers
newspapers
magazines mail and messages will be sent
through the air at lightning speed and
home the Space Race that began with
Sputnik ended in July
1969 when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldren
moon for every americ this has to be the
America had caught up and
won that race was now over but what
about today and more importantly
tomorrow is there another Sputnik
waiting for us ahead perhaps just around
the corner or perhaps is it already
here today in many ways America again
leads the world but as the old saying
goes those who do not remember history
mistakes it pays for us to reconsider
the Sputnik moment and how every
American felt a need to take personal
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