President Eisenhower’s Press Conference Following the Launch of Sputnik (1957)

Date: October 9, 1957

Created By: James C. Hagerty

Original or Replica: Original

Era: The Space Race, The Presidency

Collection: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Citations: DDE’s Papers as President, Press Conference Series, Box 6, Press Conference Oct. 9, 1957; NAID #12024539

This document is the official White House transcript of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Press and Radio Conference No. 123, held on October 9, 1957, just five days after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the world’s first artificial satellite. The conference opened with a prepared White House statement summarizing the history of the United States’ satellite program before President Eisenhower answered reporters’ questions concerning Sputnik, the Space Race, missile development, and the nation’s scientific and military preparedness.

During the press conference, President Eisenhower explains that the United States’ Project Vanguard was designed as a scientific research program conducted as part of the International Geophysical Year, rather than as a competition with the Soviet Union. While congratulating Soviet scientists on their achievement, he emphasizes that America’s satellite effort was intended to advance scientific knowledge and had been deliberately separated from military ballistic missile development. Responding to questions from reporters, Eisenhower discusses the relationship between satellite technology and intercontinental ballistic missiles, addresses concerns that the United States had fallen behind the Soviet Union, defends the pace of the nation’s missile and satellite programs, and argues that scientific progress should not be judged solely by being the first to place a satellite into orbit.

The launch of Sputnik 1 marked the beginning of the Space Race and fundamentally transformed American attitudes toward science, education, national defense, and technological competition during the Cold War.