RR was right on time. He got the ball rolling, again, after the misbegotten ABM treaty stopped it. Remember Nike-Zeus, Nike-Hercules, and Nike-X? Stopping ABM development in the '70s was inexcusable. Then, after RR got it started again the Sink Emperor delayed a lot of it by grossly underfunding. But for the never-to-be-sufficiently-damned ABM Treaty and X42's malfeasance-in-office, we'd be on third or fourh generation practical ABM systems by now.
....and Ted Kennedy was dead wrong, again. Hey Ted, freeze this you fat, drunken, lying, adulterous, murdering pig.