Cold War rivalries, 1955-1961 Notes

The Extension of the Arms Race 

• With the Soviet acquiry of nuclear weapons capability in 1949, the nuclear arms race between the USSR and USA started
• By 1955, both countries had acquired hydrogen bombs
• By 1948, the USA had created the Strategic Air Command, which was headed by General Curtis LeMay - set up to serve primary defence system for USA
• From 1957, the USSR had been able to develop missile delivery systems for nuclear warheads
• According to the Gaither Report of 1957, the view was that the USSR were catching up with the USA 
• By summer 1957, the USSr had successfully tested their first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM)
• The Gaither Report first represented the concept of the missile gap, which was the difference between the number of warheads between states - the missile gap was predicted in favour of the USSR
• Nevertheless, Eisenhower used data from U-2 Spy planes to demonstrate that there was rather a slow rate of production of warheads in the USSR

The Space Race 

• The space race was an expansion of the arms race into space
• 1957, the USSR had launched its first satellite named Sputnik into space, this was followed by Sputnik II
• USA feared that the USSR with the help of satellite technolog could launch nuclear missiles against it
• Additionally, Sputnik was undermining massive retaliation strategy…