Scientists and Statesmen: Eisenhower's Science Advisers and National Security Policy

Scientists and Statesmen: Eisenhower's Science Advisers and National Security Policy

This book provides the first in-depth examination of the role of science and scientists in the national security policymaking of the Eisenhower administration. Eisenhower’s New Look containment strategy was predicated on American strength in science and technology, but the relationship between science and the Cold War state was complex and conflicted. Scientists and statesmen constantly negotiated the appropriate balance between the requirements of scientific progress and national security. Ultimately, after the Soviet sputniks, Eisenhower’s personal science advisers, James Killian and George Kistiakowsky, supported by the newly-established President’s Science Advisory Committee, became ubiquitous as the administration grappled with the consequences of the technological arms race and the advent of the space race.