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Due to tensions between the US and USSR after WW2, many Americans feared the rise of Communism and its take-over of the world. When Sputnik 1 launched in October 1957, it signalled to America that it was not the leader in space technology and missile development, that another superpower existed, and could drop missiles--especially the nuclear variety--on American soil. This was a distinction America held from the first use of nuclear weapons against an enemy.

Americans believed throughout the Cold War that the Soviets thought differently than they, that the Soviets could and would, unless seriously deterred, start global nuclear annhiliation for no more reason than there was a button to be pushed. The Soviets were demonized during the Truman and Eisenhower eras, through the McCarthy scare, through the Koren and Vietnam wars. American school children were taught to hide beneath their desks with books behind their heads, and they would be perfectly safe when the bombs fell.

Sputnik's launch and the terror that it brought to the American people basically lead to the next thirty years of American dominance in the global space race.

Answer*** the Soviets had superior nuclear capabilities.

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Q: What fears did most Americans have after the soviet union launched the sputnik 1 satellite in 1957?
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