Dienesch demonstrates how WS-117L promised Eisenhower not merely military intelligence but also the capacity to manage national security against the Soviet threat. As a fiscal conservative, Eisenhower believed a strong economy was the key to surviving the Cold War and saw satellite reconnaissance as a means to understand the Soviet military challenge more clearly and thus keep American defense spending under control. Although WS-117L never flew, it provided the foundation for all subsequent satellites, breaking theoretical barriers and helping to overcome major technical hurdles, which ensured the success of America's first working reconnaissance satellites and their photographic missions during the Cold War.

Introduction : WS-117L : filling in the gap -- List of abbreviations -- Eisenhower's delicate balance -- Truman and Eisenhower on the Cold War (1945-55) -- Eisenhower and defense : three challenges, three responses (1953-56) -- Eisenhower and satellite reconnaissance : three projects (1954-58) -- WS-117L -- Origins : rand and satellite reconnaissance (1945-54) -- WS-117L: two stages (1954-57) -- Satellite photography, film return, and the birth of Corona (1957-58) -- Sentry/Samos, MiDAS, and the dissolution of WS-117L (1958-60) -- Epilogue : WS-117L in perspective -- Appendix : Historiography of Eisenhower and space reconnaissance.