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Ambassador Ellis Briggs On Sputnik, 1957, Matt Loayza

U.S. Foreign Relations

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, into orbit. Sputnik weighed in at just under 184 pounds, with a diameter (22.8 inches) slightly smaller than a basketball. Sputnik orbited the Earth until January 4, 1958, when it burned up upon reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere. In the following telegram, Ellis Briggs, the U.S. Ambassador to Brazil provides an analysis of recent developments.

Bibliography:

Walter McDougall, The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997)

Dulles And Brownell On Little Rock, 1957, Matt Loayza

U.S. Foreign Relations

In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. The Brown decision followed over two decades of efforts to overturn the “separate but equal” legal doctrine that had prevailed since the Supreme Court’s 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson decision. In 1955, the court called for the process of desegregating schools to begin “with all deliberate speed.” However, since the Brown II decision left the implementation of the desegregation process to local school boards, it soon became clear that white Southerners were less interested in complying with the Brown decision than …

Civil Defense Administration Information On Radioactive Fallout And Atomic Warfare, Wlbz Radio

WLBZ Radio Station Records

Information broadcast in the Bangor area from the national perspective on hydrogen bomb tests and safety. Val Peterson of the Federal Civil Defense Administration provides information about shelters and available Civil Defense training.

Bangor Resident’S Description Of Atomic Bomb Test Near Las Vegas, Wlbz Radio

WLBZ Radio Station Records

After several seconds of the sound of an atomic blast, General Benjamin Chidlaw, Commander in Chief of the Continental Air Defense Command, explains that more than 40 of the Civilian Administrative Supervisors who work in Air Defense Filter Centers in many of the key cities of the county were invited as guests to witness an atomic bomb test blast.

M. Elizabeth McCarthy of the Bangor Air Defense Filter Center, provides a detailed description of her experience.

Barrett To Acheson On Public Relations And Nsc-68, 1950, Matt Loayza

U.S. Foreign Relations

In January 1950, President Harry Truman requested a comprehensive review of U.S. national security policies for later consideration by the National Security Council. Responding to the president’s charge, the State Department Policy Planning Staff, led by Paul Nitze, completed National Security Memorandum 68 (NSC-68) in April 1950. Identifying the Soviet Union as the primary threat to the United States, NSC-68 depicted Soviet leaders as fanatical totalitarians bent on world domination. Concluding that the U.S. military was not prepared to resist Soviet aggression, NSC-68 called for massive, sustained increases in military spending.

In this memo to Secretary of State Dean Acheson, …