Re-Imagining United States Antarctic Research as a Defining Endeavor of a Deserving World Leader: 1957–1991

Abstract

Touching on the modern politics of Antarctica and the shifting interests that the USA and people of other nations had in that continent, this paper examines the imprint of politics and culture on US public discourse about the US Antarctic research program. It argues that US government officials, scientists, and mass media responded to one another, evolving cultural values, and these dynamic politics and interests by changing the way they depicted scientific exploration in Antarctica. Initially treating this exploration as a manly attempt to know the world and conquer its last uninhabited continent, these pundits came to regard Antarctic science as a means of protecting an endangered continental wilderness, while using it to study humanity’s most pressing env ronmental crises. In doing so, however, they clung to an unchanging discourse celebrating US Antarctic research as proof of the benevolent world leadership by the USA, of its unstinting desire to advance peace, security, and prosperity for all humanity.