I was sad to hear the news, too. What an amazing person!
My spouse and I have a collection of his books around here somewhere. Spouse and I both took physics classes and P-chem classes so physics has always had a bit of intrigue for us. I read that he wrote books for children with his daughter, Lucy. If I ever have grandchildren, they are getting copies of those books.
I doubt that any American truly rejects science. Many are merely confused as not everything that is published is verified as peer reviewed/carefully researched and much of the science is funded by industry or the government, and not driven by pure academic curiosity.