The Polaris Missile Program

Examples of The Polaris Missile Program in the following topics:

• Reactions to Sputnik

  • The Sputnik crisis is the name for the American reaction to the success of the Sputnik program.
  • The United States had held itself to be the world leader in space technology and missile development.
  • Project management as an area of inquiry and an object of much scrutiny, leading up to the modern concept of project management and standardized project models such as the DoD Program Evaluation and Review Technique, PERT, invented for Polaris.
  • Kennedy, who campaigned in 1960 on closing the "missile gap", to deploy 1,000 Minuteman missiles, far more ICBMs than the Soviets had at the time.
  • Sputnik I exhibit in the Missile & Space Gallery at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

• The Defense Buildup and the "Evil Empire"

  • Reagan initiated a large build-up of the American military with the intention of defeating the Soviet Union in an arms race.
  • He revived the B-1 Lancer program that had been canceled by the Carter administration and began producing the MX missile.
  • In response to Soviet deployment of the SS-20, Reagan oversaw the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO's) deployment of the Pershing missile in West Germany.
  • President Reagan's Covert Action program has been given credit for assisting in ending the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, though the US funded armaments introduced then would later pose a threat to US troops in the 2000s war in Afghanistan.
  • In March of 1983, Reagan introduced the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a defense project that would use ground- and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles.

• The John F. Kennedy Administration

  • Kennedy's foreign policy was dominated by American confrontations with the Soviet Union, manifested by proxy wars in the early stage of the Cold War and coming to the brink of nuclear war with the Cuban Missile Crisis.
  • Kennedy called his domestic program the "New Frontier."
  • Kennedy is also known for the expansion of the U.S. space program.
  • Vice-President Johnson assured that lessons learned from the space program had military value as well, and so the space program under Kennedy began.
  • Costs for the Apollo program were expected to reach $40 billion.

• The Eisenhower Administration

  • Ike, as he was popularly known, expanded the Social Security program but otherwise did not try to change the surviving "New Deal" welfare programs.
  • After the Suez Crisis the United States became the protector of unstable friendly governments in the Middle East via the "Eisenhower Doctrine."
  • The "Space Race" originated from the missile-based nuclear arms race between the the U.S. and Soviet Union that occurred following World War II, as both countries sought to recruit German engineers who worked on ballistic missile programs that could be utilized to launch objects into space.
  • Eisenhower came under heavy criticism after the Sputnik launch, and his administration responded to this crisis with many strategic initiatives, including the creation of NASA in 1958 and a speeding up of the American space program.
  • Under Eisenhower, the NASA's human spaceflight program started and visionary projects such as Saturn and the F-1 rocket engine were funded.

• National Security

  • The majority of the provisions of the Act took effect on September 18, 1947, the day after the Senate confirmed James Forrestal as the first Secretary of Defense.
  • The Act merged the Department of War and the Department of the Navy into the National Military Establishment, headed by the Secretary of Defense.
  • The radio program Stars for Defense combined hit music with civil defense advice.
  • The development of Intercontinental ballistic missiles made this goal less realistic.
  • The White House suggested that the $10 billion, five-year program could allow the evacuation of targeted urban centers to rural "host areas" and thus save 80% of the population.

• Technological Advancement

  • Music programs, comedy and variety shows, and westerns quickly became a staple of 1950s television entertainment.
  • The Space Race can trace its origins to Germany, beginning in the 1930s and continuing during World War II when Nazi Germany researched and built operational ballistic missiles.
  • They set about assembling the captured V2s and began a program of launching them and instructing U.S. engineers in their operation.
  • From here, von Braun and his team developed the Army's first operational medium-range ballistic missile, the Redstone rocket, that in slightly modified versions launched both the United States' first satellite and the first piloted Mercury space missions.
  • The race peaked with the July 20, 1969, with the United States successfully landing the first humans on the Moon, with Apollo 11.

• Nixon and Foreign Policy

  • Nixon had been a firm supporter of Kennedy in the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion and the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
  • These activities worried the Soviets and Cubans, who feared Nixon might attack Cuba, in violation of the 1962 agreement which had ended the missile crisis.
  • A minor confrontation ensued, which was concluded with an understanding that the Soviets would not use Cienfuegos for submarines bearing ballistic missiles.
  • Politicians called for a national gas rationing program.
  • The of the energy crisis lingered on throughout the 1970s, amid the weakening competitive position of the dollar in world markets.

• The Middle East

  • Reagan's involvement in the Middle East is most known for the Beirut Barracks Bombing, the 1986 bombing of Libya, and the Iran-Contra affair.
  • His first term was marked by the Beirut Barracks Bombing, while his second term is known for the 1986 bombing of Libya and the revelation of the Iran-Contra affair.
  • The Iran-Contra affair became the largest political scandal in the United States during the 1980s.
  • In 1985, he authorized the sale of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles to Iran in exchange for help retrieving three of the American hostages.
  • The commission could not find direct evidence that Reagan had prior knowledge of the program, but criticized him heavily for his disengagement from managing his staff, making the diversion of funds possible.

• The George H.W. Bush Administration

  • He assumed office during a period of great change in the world: the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Soviet Union came early in his presidency.
  • In 1998, Bush received the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement's National Space Trophy for his pioneering leadership of the U.S. space program.
  • Though no agreements were signed, the meeting was acknowledged as a very important step to the end of the Cold War.
  • The treaty was nine years in the making and was the first major arms agreement since the signing of the Intermediate Ranged Nuclear Forces Treaty by Reagan and Gorbachev in 1987.
  • The intention of START was to reduce the United States' and Soviet Union's strategic nuclear weapons by about 35% over seven years, as well as reduce the Soviet Union's land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles by 50%.

• Interventions in Latin America and the Middle East

  • This was to be a coordinated program of political, psychological, and military sabotage, involving intelligence operations as well as assassination attempts on key political leaders.
  • Relations between the U.S. and Cuba culminated in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
  • Beside this aggressive policy towards Cuba, President Kennedy tried to implement the 1961 Alliance for Progress, an economic aid program.
  • In effect, the Alliance for Progress included U.S. programs of military and police assistance to counter Communism, including Plan LASO in Colombia.
  • By 1964, under President Johnson, the program to discriminate against dictatorial regimes ceased.