Why do you think american leaders felt it was important to stay ahead of the soviet union in the arms race? Explain

During the Cold War, the United States felt that to keep a strategic economic advantage, it had to be competitive with the Soviet Union militarily in order to prevent countries from slipping into the Soviet Union's communist sphere of influence.

This meant that the US had to be strong enough to compel countries to stay on its side.

The Soviet Union and The United States both had ability to create deadly nuclear weapons, The U. S feared that if they didn't stay ahead of the soviets then you would be in danger, thus the US govt. spent a lot of money to make powerful weapons so the USSR (Soviet Union) be afraid to attack.