“National Youth Science Month” classroom poster, October 1958, facsimile reproduction.

Description:

In the global race to launch a man-made satellite into space, education became a key focus in creating tomorrow’s scientists. To this aim, the first White House Conference on Education was held in 1955 to address the baby boom and increased need for teachers, as well as the issue of repelling Communist influences in the classroom. To address the perceived lag behind Soviet Union scientific manpower, President Eisenhower formed the Committee of Scientists and Engineers in 1956, whose task was to increase the national supply of scientists and engineers. With the slogan “Science is Strength,” the political exigency of improving early science education and creating “informed citizens of tomorrow” is described in this October 1958 press release and classroom poster for the committee’s “National Youth Science Month” campaign.

Attribution:

Courtesy of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, Abilene, KS. Records of the US President’s Committee of Scientists and Engineers, Boxes 37 and 41.

Date:

October 1958