Chastko, PaulBrust, Carter2022-09-132022-09-132022-09Brust, C. (2022). Masters of controlled chaos: antifragility and American space strategy, 1953-1963 (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.http://hdl.handle.net/1880/115220https://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/40239In 1957, the launch of Sputnik fundamentally altered the existing Cold War dynamic. The Soviet Union, a country left in tatters in 1945, had caught the most powerful nation in the world off guard. Despite this initial success by the Soviet Union, it was ultimately Americans who would go on to plant their nation’s flag on the moon. Why was this? How were the Americans able to come from behind in the Space Race? In order to answer these questions, this thesis considers how crisis shaped and influenced the ability of the United States to build institutional virility and refocus its strategy between 1953 and 1963. While individual events such as the launch of Sputnik and the Cuban Missile Crisis have been considered in-depth by established Cold War scholars, the wider relationship between crisis and strategy in the early Cold War has not yet been considered to the same extent. This thesis argues that the decisions made by key policy makers contributed to the building and maintenance of an antifragile system, leading to long-term strategic viability and allowing the United States to pursue a moonshot. In doing so, this analysis will also demonstrate the American capacity for agility, power conversion, and learning in response to crisis, shocks, and stressors during this period. Furthermore, it shows how antifragility was built and maintained during the administrations of Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. It considers change and continuity between the two presidents both in how these leaders viewed and responded to crisis. The thesis concludes with an examination of the transformative nature of the Space Race as well as implications surrounding state antifragility. Exploration into the connection between crisis, leadership, and strategy in the past can provide useful tools for present day policy makers and assist in ongoing strategic synthesis.engUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.Space RaceCold WarAntifragilityEconomics--Historymaster thesis