No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
The Latin American Press and the Space Race*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2018
Extract
One of the most frequent justifications for the United States’ participation in the space race is that, for better or for worse, the nation's prestige is hanging in the balance. Aside from the military, paramilitary, and scientific aspects of the question, it is argued that the Soviet and American space teams are locked in a political struggle whose outcome will be regarded as incontrovertible proof of the relative cultural and economic merits of Communism and democracy: Sputnik I, for instance, was regarded more as a blow to our national honor than as a threat to the national security. While the basis of this outlook is undeniably valid, the attempt to elevate the United States’ prestige through its efforts in space is greatly complicated by the necessity for understanding the criteria upon which other nations of the world—particularly the unaligned and less developed ones —are liable to compare East vs. West. Even so, there have been virtually no systematic analyses of the impact of the space race on the “target” countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © University of Miami 1964
Footnotes
*
Research for this project was carried out under a combined grant from the International Fellows Program of Columbia University and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
References
1 Generally speaking, editorials are a more accurate indication of press “opinion” than frontpage articles because almost all factual news comes through the American wire services, Associated Press and United Press International.
2 El Tiempo, Bogotá, October 5,1957.
3 May 7, 1961.
4 August 9, 1961.
5 August 8, 1961.
6 Semantic difficulties might arise from the fact that the Spanish word ciencia means “knowledge” as well as “science.”
7 May 6, 1961.
8 El Debate, Montevideo, October 6, 1957.
9 This excludes the long-run possibilities of erecting platforms in space or establishing military bases on the moon.
10 April 13, 1961. This same idea was expressed in an editorial following the Titov flight four months later: August 8, 1961.
11 April 14, 1961.
12 Miguel Alemán Jr., private interview (Mexico City), August 16,1963.
13 February 2, 1958.
14 May 7, 1961.
15 October 8,1957.
16 August 8, 1961.
17 February 4, 1958.
18 February 2, 1958.
19 Aprill 3, 1961.
20 lt is worth noting, however that Gherman Titov seriously offended the Mexican people by declaring that he had been to Heaven and seen no God—and that He therefore never existed. John Glenn, on the other hand, won their approval by stating that the entire universe was God's creation, and therefore open to exploration by mankind. Alemán, interview.
21 October 8, 1957.
22 October 6, 1957.
23 Santiago de Chile, August 7, 1961.
24 October 8, 1961.
25 April 13, 1961.
26 August 14, 1962 (U.S.I.A. dispatch).
27 Februaiy 21, 1962.
28 May 6, 1961.
29 April 8, 1962.
30 August 9, 1962.
31 August 3, 1962.
32 July 12, 1962.
33 May 6, 1961.
34 August 8, 1961.
35 February22,1962.
36 August 8, 1961.
37 See Alexander, Robert, Communism in Latin America (New Brunswick, 1957), pp. 319–349 Google Scholar.
38 See Lewis, Oscar, “Mexico since Cárdenas,” Social Change in Latin America Today (New York, 1960), pp. 285–346 Google Scholar.
39 Walter Washington, S., “Mexican Resistance to Communism,” Foreign Affairs, XXXVI, no. 3 (April, 1958), 512 Google Scholar.
40 Based on statistical data taken from the 1963 edition of the Editors and Publishers Yearbook, pp. 581-584.
41 October 6, 1957; October 9, 1957.
42 October 7, 1957.
43 October 10, 1957.
44 October 16, 1957.
45 October 14,1957, p. 43.
46 October 7, 1957.
47 According to Robert Alexander, El Popular continued to be “the principal spokesman for international Communism in Mexico, and perhaps in all Latin America,” until its publication was stopped in late 1961 or early 1962. Op. cit., p. 335.
48 October 6,1957.
49 October 6, 1957; October 8,1957.
50 February 2, 1958; February 3, 1958.
51 April 14-16, 1961.
52 April 14, 1961.
53 April 15, 1961.
54 August 2, 1961.
55 May 6, 1961; May 8, 1961.
56 May 15, 1961, p. 36.
57 May 15, 1961, p. 41.
58 May 6, 1961; July 25, 1961.
59 May 6, 1961.
60 August 7, 1961; August 10, 1961.
61 August IS, 1961, p. 40.
62 August 8, 1961.
63 August 8, 1961.
64 February 21,1962. El Nacional also mentioned the Guaymas base: February 23,1962.
65 February21, 1962.
66 February 22, 1962.
67 Marcb 1, 1962, p. 41.
68 February 26, 1962.
69 February 23, 1962.
70 March 2, 1962.
71 May26, 1962.
72 May 24,1962.
73 July 11-12, 1962.
74 July 11-12, 1962.
75 July 23, 1962, pp. 46-47.
76 August 15, 1962, p. 32. This issue also carried a feature article by Jorge Carrion, in which he linked some Mexicans’ suspicion of Soviet achievements in space to the country's “semicolonial and slavish” state of mind. Ibid., p. 11.
77 August 14,196Z
78 August 16,1962.
79 August 15, 1962.
80 Project Mercury is the program of one-man suborbital and orbital missions that came to an end with Gordon Cooper's flight in May of 1963. Project Gemini is another orbital program that will probably run from late 1964 to 1967; it is intended to perfect procedures for the docking, re-entry, and landing of manned space missiles, and offers little in the way of “spectacular” events. Project Apollo, of course, is the program for a manned lunar landing—which will not take place until 1969 or 1970.
81 An important step was taken in this direction when Jr.Alemán, Miguel attached a glossary of scientific terms to his book, Los secretos y las leyes del espacio (Mexico City, 1962)Google Scholar.
82 Even the opinion of military experts would tend to support this conclusion, since it is generally conceded that orbital maneuvers are more pertinent to the national security than shots to the moon (manned or unmanned).