Presage: the Sputnik Effect on Science Education

Eisenhower in 1952 v Stevenson campaign stop in Plowville MN. Dwight David Eisenhower, Republican from New York running with Richard Milhous Nixon from California, Versus! Adlai Ewing Stevenson II, Democrat from Illinois and John Jackson Sparkman of Alabama. Let the paranoia and cold war begin! There was a good article on history of attitude towards science in America in an educational magazine which premised that prior to sputnik, scientists were seen as eccentric and weird, a kind of social misfit. Whereas after they became involved in surpassing the Russians due to Sputnik, science became seen as exciting, and interest in institutional education became solidified. Which fits with the era of pulp magazines, penny sodas, and thrills about going to the moon. Hey, which we did! Thanks, Vonnegut.