The Cold War and Civil Rights 265electoral votes representing twenty-two states to Nixon’s 34 , 108 , 157
popular and 219 electoral votes from twenty-six states. This was the
first election in which fifty states participated. On January 3 , 1959 ,
Alaska was admitted as the forty-ninth state, and on August 21 , 1959 ,
Hawaii became the fiftieth state in the Union.
The Cold War again troubled the nation’s security when the Soviet
Union launched its first satellite, Sputnik, into orbit on October 4 , 1957.
In response, Congress enacted the National Aeronautic and Space Act
(NASA) of 1958 , which set up a civilian authority to direct the nation’s
exploration of space. After assuming office, Kennedy asked Congress
for an increase of $ 126 million over the $ 111 million Eisenhower had
requested for NASA. Congress bettered it by adding another $ 127 mil-
lion to the President’s request.
And not a moment too soon. The Russians won the contest for put-
ting the first man in space when, on April 12 , 1961 , Yury Gagarin com-
pleted a journey into space aboard a rocket-propelled vehicle. Not until
May 5 , 1961 , did Alan Shepard Jr. complete a suborbital 300 -mile fl ight
aboard a Redstone rocket. Twenty days later, on May 25 , President
Kennedy addressed a special joint session of Congress and declared
that “this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this
decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely
to earth.” Then, on February 2 , 1962 , John Glenn orbited the earth
three times in four hours. But not until July 16 , 1969 , did astronauts
Neil A. Armstrong and Colonel Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. succeed in reach-
ing the moon aboard a gigantic Saturn rocket. Armstrong took his fi rst
step on the surface of the moon at 10:56 AM Eastern Standard Time
on July 20 as television viewers around the world watched. He and
Aldrin planted an American flag on the site and left a plaque that read,
“We came in peace for all mankind.” After taking rock and soil sam-
ples, the two men conducted a number of experiments on the moon.
They then successfully rendezvoused with the mother ship, piloted by
Lieutenant Colonel Michael Collins, and returned to earth, splashing
down about 950 miles from Hawaii on July 24.
It was quite a feat in the space race with the Soviet Union. But this
rivalry constituted only one aspect of the Cold War between Russia
and the United States. Once Fidel Castro admitted that he was a com-
munist and that Cuba would adopt a communist system of government