Answer:
Step-by-step explanation:
You have to have lived through Sputnik I to understand why the United States had to do something. Our curriculum, even in Canada where I was educated, changed overnight. Almost literally.
The emphasis changed from a well rounded education to complete emphasis in Math / Science. All of a sudden the US was being challenged for supremacy.
Eisenhower understood immediately the significance of Sputnik. It meant that the race in science and space was being taken over by the Russians and he couldn't let that happen. There were also complications set up by the vision that Russia was not capable of waging a competition after the brutal attack and heavy loses she suffered during WWII. The Space Race as it come to be known, was on. America gave NASA enough money to carry on and eventually surpass the Russians, but it was close.