America's Contributions to the Space Race Prior to Sputnik

Although often downplayed, America's contributions to the space race prior to Sputnik are far more substantial than most people realize. In fact, Wernher von Braun used quite a few of American rocket scientist's Dr. Robert H. Goddards innovations to achieve the V-2 rocket (the first rocket to reach the Karman line or boundary between Earth and space).

"Wernher von Braun used Goddard's plans from various journals and incorporated them into the building of the Aggregat (A) series of rockets. The A-4 rocket would become well known as the V-2."

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun

After the war, the U.S. was also the first to conduct experiments in space including the study of how life is effected by high altitude (above the Karman line) radiation on fruit flies and rhesus monkeys. The U.S. also took the first photos of the Earth's curvature from space and in 1949, the Bumper 5 launch was the first successful multi-stage rocket sent into space. All this occurred well before Sputnik and to even suggest that the Soviet Union really began the space age is as inaccurate as it is naive of the major events and achievements that came before.

See also: http://roberthaskell.blogspot.com/2015/08/is-nasa-making-making-historic-blunder.html