Conclusion

When the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite in 1957, the United States quickly moved to improve science education and research—as essential to national security and global economic competition. By 1958, President Eisenhower had directed billions of dollars into education through the National Defense Education Act and created the National Aeronautic and Space Act: NASA. Later, President Kennedy encouraged Americans—as part of their commitment to the nation—to study and advance scientific knowledge. Addressing the National Academy of Sciences in 1963, Kennedy argued that “science contributes to our culture in many ways, as a creative intellectual activity in its own right, as the light which has served to illuminate man’s place in the universe, and as the source of understanding of man’s own nature.” ¹ Fifty years after Sputnik, a majority of the Republican candidates for the presidency rejected evolution and affirmed Intelligent Design—relying on the language of critical inquiry to establish scientific “controversy.” Republican Rick Perry told a young boy that Texas teaches both creationism and evolution because “you’re smart enough to figure out which one is right,” and Michele Bachman supported Intelligent Design because government should not takes sides on scientific issues when there is “reasonable doubt on both sides.” Breaking with fellow Republicans, Jon Hunstman tweeted, “I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy.” ²