Eisenhower, Kennedy, and the missile gap: Determinants of us military expenditure in the wake of the sputnik shock

Andreas Wenger

Defence and Peace Economics, 1997, vol. 8, issue 1, 77-100

Abstract: The article examines the factors that influenced America's defense budget in the wake of Sputnik. It concludes that both Eisenhower and Kennedy for political purposes proposed bigger defense expenditure to Congress than they thought was justified from a military standpoint. Both were strongly influenced in their decisions by political and psychological considerations related to the credibility of the United States as a superpower and security guarantor. The importance of military expenditure as a signal of resolve grew parallel to the end of the age of American invulnerability. With the advent of mutual nuclear plenty, the impact of public - and in particular allied - perceptions on defense budget decisions multiplied. The fact that both Eisenhower and Kennedy perceived military expenditure as a means to reassure allies and deter adversaries put them into an essentially defensive position in their effort to contain bureaucratic and domestic political forces in favor of a larger defense budget.

Keywords: US military expenditure; missile gap; Sputnik shock; US defense budgetary process; Eisenhower defense budget; Kennedy defense budget (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1997
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DOI: 10.1080/10430719708404870

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