Playing Catch-Up

President Dwight D. Eisenhower immediately came under public criticism for failing to grasp the psychological significance of the space race. Eisenhower ordered a response to demonstrate that the United States was still the world’s technological powerhouse. Instead, what followed was one of the most humiliating moments in America’s space history. On December 6, 1957, a satellite-carrying Vanguard rocket was hurried to the launch pad. The missile climbed all of four feet before exploding, a disaster seen in broadcasts around the globe. To add insult to injury, the Soviet delegation to the United Nations solicitously asked their America counterparts if the U.S. space effort would like some help from the USSR’s Third World aid program.

Shortly afterwards, Eisenhower was brought the news that America's first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, had made a unique voyage under the Arctic ice cap.

Caption: The Arctic Ocean was still largely unknown in the early days of the Cold War despite centuries of exploration. While the Pole was not surrounded by islands, as this 1633 map shows, submariners had little idea about its underwater topography. Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education at the University of Southern Maine, OS-1633-2.

Happy Days ... And a Warning

Thirty-six hours later, the Nautilus surfaced off Iceland, and her radio flashed news of the accomplishment to the United States. A helicopter picked up Anderson at sea and flew him to Iceland for the first leg of the trip to Washington, D.C., where President Eisenhower decorated him with the Legion of Merit and gave his crew the first ever Presidential Unit Citation in a White House ceremony. Anderson lingered long enough for a packed press conference, then he flew the Atlantic again to rejoin the Nautilus before she docked in London.

At the time, official comment made much of the commercial possibilities of trans-Polar travel, such as cargo submarines hauling goods from New York City to Japan. But the unstated message was clear. As Nautilus sonar supervisor Al Charette noted: "Knowing that we could operate it [Nautilus] safely under the ice, it was known that a Polaris submarine could operate safely under the ice. Without an equivalent submarine, there was no way [for the Soviets] to go in and find that guy ... So we could be right in their back yard and there was nothing they could do about it."

Caption: President Eisenhower may have looked dour at the August 8, 1958, press conference with Anderson, but he knew he had just sent a message to the Soviets that meant a lot more than a satellite. Life magazine archives.