With the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957, and the ensuing fears of a missile gap, Atlas received the highest development authority.
32.
By the time Glenn flew, U . S . spy satellites had crisscrossed the Soviet Union and found the missile gap was a myth.
33.
Since the days of the missile gap and duck-and-cover drills, four things have changed the nuclear equation in fundamental ways.
34.
One British U-2 overflight meanwhile occurred in December, and another in February 1960, but neither proved nor disproved the missile gap.
35.
The reality of this rationalization is that there was indeed a missile gap during this time period, but in favor of the United States.
36.
Campaigning in 1960 on closing the " missile gap ", Eisenhower's successor John F . Kennedy decided to deploy 1, 000 Minuteman missiles.
37.
In American politics this translated into demands to avoid " bomber gaps " and " missile gaps " where the Soviet Union could potentially outshoot the Americans.
38.
John F . Kennedy campaigned on the platform that Eisenhower was weak on defense and that he was not doing enough to solve the looming missile gap.
39.
Now, with communism having tumbled from its ideological balance beam, there is nothing to keep the gymnasts apart, no political gulfs, no missile gaps.
40.
At times he sounded like John F . Kennedy warning the nation about a " missile gap " with the Soviet Union in the 1960 campaign.
