This nonsense helped spawn the fiction of a "missile gap."

The perceived "missile gap" led to a considerable defense buildup on the part of the United States.

All the Kennedy talk about Moscow opening up a "missile gap" was nonsense.

Kennedy exaggerated the "missile gap," and many contemporary observers famously thought that Nixon had won.

The so-called missile gap became an issue in the 1960 Presidential campaign.

When Kennedy ran for president in 1960, one of his key election issues was an alleged "missile gap", with the Soviets leading.

The missile gap was more a matter of perceptions than facts.

Had we allowed the Soviets to create a "missile gap" that gave them a nuclear advantage?

Concerns about missile gaps and similar fears, such as nuclear proliferation, continue.

A second claim of a missile gap appeared in 1974.