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July 17, 2006 Until October 4, 1957, the United States enjoyed the insulation of the oceans as protection from its enemies. With only Canada and Mexico enjoying contiguous borders with the Lower 48 and Alaska, there was never much doubt about the safety of the country. And even the one nation that truly stood against us, the Soviet Union, could not strike us quickly. It would take half a day for their long-range bombers to make it to strategic targets within the Lower 48. There’d be plenty of time for them think better of the attack, turn around and go back home. If they chose to push on, American interceptor jets would be ready to meet the threat. On October 4, 1957, the United States found itself gripped in a panic far greater than the one that gripped the country when the Stock Market crashed in 1929, or when terrorists attacked New York and Washington in 2001. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union started the clock on a siege of our nation that would last over thirty years. It all started with a beep, transmitted from orbit from a small metallic sphere known as Sputnik. Sputnik wasn’t just a technological achievement for the science community to get excited about. It was the average American’s worst nightmare. It meant that a nuclear attack would not be a long, drawn-out engagement. It meant that America’s great cities, her heartland and her seashores, could be reduced to rubble in the time it took to air a single episode of Leave It To Beaver, by ICBMs streaking over the North Pole. People began wondering about so-called American ingenuity and technical prowess. Crash programs to drill mathematics and science were set up in the schools, to accelerate training of scientists and engineers and fill perceived educational gaps. The US Navy, trying to even the score, failed miserably with a Vanguard satellite launch in December, and despite the success of the Explorer I launch in January, 1958, the United States would cower in the face of the Soviet achievements. Despite the fact that the United States and the Soviet Union had enough nuclear weapons aimed at each other for over thirty years to do each other in many times over, neither country fired a shot. They understood too well what the consequences would be if they did. So did many of the other countries of the world, including those surrounding Israel, which seems to have been engaged in battle ever since I’ve been alive. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the world has lost an important counterbalance to the United States—a superpower that will check and countercheck our moves in foreign lands; a superpower that will help keep other nations towing the line on diplomacy and military action; and a superpower that will ultimately help keep as much peace as possible among the nations. Israel is and always will be vulnerable, as her enemies, clearly delineated, surround her. But it is not so clear now for the United States. Without another nation pointing a massive arsenal of nuclear weapons at our cities and industrial complexes, without another nation to hold sway on the world stage, without another nation promising to bury us, the United States will have an even more difficult time defending herself and her allies, from threats within and without. It’s time for America to return to October 4, 1957. ------------ About the author: Claxton Graham has written over 100 articles for Useless Knowledge. He has also written the unpublished novels The Writer's Nightmare and Santa's Sleigh Is Missing. He works as a business analyst. Email: scifiwriter8502@email.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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