As the United States struggled to respond to the Soviet Union's
launch of Sputnik in 1957, President Eisenhower received a top
secret report prepared by a committee of leading scientific,
business, and military experts. The panel, called the Gaither
Committee in recognition of its first chair, H. Rowan Gaither Jr.,
emphasized the inadequacy of U.S. defense measures designed to
protect the civilian population and the vulnerability of the
country's strategic nuclear forces in the event of a Soviet attack.
The committee concluded that in the event of a surprise Soviet
attack, the United States would not be able to defend itself.
The years following Sputnik and the Gaither Committee's report
were a watershed period in America's cold war history. During the
remaining years of the Eisenhower administration, the
intensification of the cold war caused the acceleration of an arms
race that dramatically raised the stakes of any potential conflict.
The Gaither Committee was at the center of debates about U.S.
national security and U.S.-Soviet relations. The committee's
recommendations led to increases in defense spending and the
development of our nuclear arsenal.
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