When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik on October 4, 1957, it set off the space race with the United States.
Both countries wanted to be the dominant country when it came to Space and for America, this meant changing educational priorities.
STEM became the focus as young people were encouraged to use their mind to help get America further into the stars.
America spend quite a lot of money to land the first man on the Moon and eventually moved on to other priorities.