hill pledged to seek renewed funding for the redstone arsenal and marshall space flight center in huntsville, alabama, and accused eisenhower of having neglected the space program while the former soviet union was placing "sputnik" into the atmosphere. strongly endorsed by organized labor, hill accused the republicans of exploiting the south to enrich the north and the east and attacked the legacy of former president herbert hoover and the earlier "evils" of reconstruction. hill predicted that alabama voters would bury the republicans "under an avalanche."