V. The Political Impacts 



Much emphasis has already been placed upon the fact that the IGY 

 was not an international undertaking in the literal sense of the term, 

 but rather an internationally coordinated collection of otherwise 

 independent national activities. These national activities, once 

 approved and funded by their respective governments, were in turn 

 almost exclusively under the control of individual scientists and thus 

 were almost entirely apolitical. Berkner has emphasized the fact that 

 the IGY programs were "operated by scientists [italics his], with the 

 consent, cooperation, and aid, but not the direction, of govern- 

 ments." 102 The individualized nature of the activities has been under- 

 scored by Odishaw, who called the IGY "a gathering together of 

 private human beings, each of whom had a vital personal interest in 

 a particular subject, each of whom felt that this subject needed . . . 

 a concerted attack." 103 



Despite this basic scientific individualism of the IGY, its ultimate 

 impact reached considerably beyond individual scientists and the 

 scientific community itself and was felt within the political community 

 as well. Chapman, for example, commented that "it cannot be doubted 

 that the IGY . . . had significant political results." 104 An examina- 

 tion of those political results is the primary purpose of this study. 

 In carrying out this examination, it should be noted that the IGY 

 represented a major technological achievement as well as a scientific 

 achievement. Indeed, the eventual political impacts of the program 

 perhaps owe more to.IGY technology than to its science. In discussing 

 the results of these impacts, it is well to keep in mind the fact that the 

 specific technology employed in the artificial earth satellite program 

 of the IGY required agreements among nations which subsequently 

 made further agreements in related areas much easier to accomplish 

 (see section VI). Thus, although primary emphasis in the preceding 

 section has been given to the scientific results of the IGY, there is no 

 intent in this study to minimize the importance of the technology 

 employed in the pursuit of those results, especially insofar as the 

 employment of that technology impacted upon subsequent political 

 affairs. 



In this section, the political effects of the IGY are examined first 

 as they affected the United States, in both general and specific ways, 

 and then as they affected the international political scene. 



General Impacts on the United States 



Political impacts of the IGY were felt within the United States 

 on two levels, one general and one more specific. First, considerable 

 impact was evident hi general in what is frequently termed the 

 "politics of science," which roughly may be considered a matter of 

 "who spends how much money for what." It was inevitable that an 

 undertaking of the magnitude of the IGY should benefit the earth 



102 Berkner, "Geography and Space," p. 313. 



i" From testimony in NSF-NAS Hearings: IOY Report, p. 20. 



lM Chapman, "International Cooperation," p. 174. 



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