Recalling how the United States took the challenge after the Soviet launch of the world's first satellite in 1957 and “beat them to the moon,” President Barack Obama announced in his 2011 State of the Union address that “this is our generation's Sputnik moment.” He called on the country to invest in science, technology, and education now, as then, as a way to deal with both a serious economic recession and heightened international competitions for jobs, especially from China and India. Whether Obama's Sputnik analogy has served its intended purpose of rallying public support for his various programs is subject to debate, but it demonstrates the continuing public fascination with this dramatic episode that took place before a majority of today's Americans were born. For those looking to learn more about this pivotal event of the Cold War and the original presidential response, Eisenhower's Sputnik Moment: The Race for Space...

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