Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Major/Program
History
First Advisor's Name
Kenneth Lipartito
First Advisor's Committee Title
Committee Chair
Second Advisor's Name
Clarence Taylor
Third Advisor's Name
Rebecca Friedman
Fourth Advisor's Name
Darden A. Pyron
Fifth Advisor's Name
Paul Kowert
Date of Defense
3-27-2007
Abstract
The missile's significance has been central to national security since the Soviet launching of Sputnik, and became increasingly important throughout the years of the Cold War. Much has been written about missile technology, but little has been written about how the development and deployment of this weapon affected Americans. The missile was developed to both deter war but also to win war. Its presence, however, was not always reassuring.
Three areas of the United States are studied to evaluate the social implications of the missile during these pivotal years: San Francisco, home of multiple Nike installations; of Cape Canaveral, Florida, the nation's primary missile test center; the Great Plains, the location of the largest ICBM concentration in the country. Interviews were conducted, tours of facilities were taken, and local newspapers were reviewed. In conjunction with national newspapers and magazines and public opinion polls, this information provided a local social context for missile history. Nationally and locally, Americans both feared and praised the new technology. They were anxious for government funding in their cities and often felt that the danger the missile brought to their communities by making it as a Soviet target was justified in the larger cause for national security.
Identifier
FI14050437
Recommended Citation
Barrella, Jessica Rose, "Landscape of fear : a social history of the missile during the early years of the cold war, 1950-1965" (2007). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1405.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1405
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