Disastrous Legacy: Aftermath of A Nation at Risk

In April 1983, the U.S. Department of Education published A Nation at Risk, a "landmark" report lamenting the condition of American public education. It was the culmination of criticism that had been mounting since early in the cold war and had gained traction when the Russians launched Sputnik in 1957. The media and the public blamed schools for letting the Russians hurtle into space first when, in fact, the United States had quietly had a satellite-capable rocket in the air more than a year earlier. But President Dwight Eisenhower wanted the Russians to be first to establish the precedent that deep space was international.