UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara and CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY Sacramento Seizing Victory from the Jaws of Deterrence: Preservation and Public Memory of America’s Nike Air Defense Missile System A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by John Knute Smoley Committee in charge: Professor Lee Simpson, Chair Professor Randolph Bergstrom Professor Laura Kalman Professor Mary Hancock December 2008 The dissertation of John Knute Smoley is approved. 1 Mary Hancock Laura Kalman /' t .- -3 /- - / <. /.< sf .- 1 -r;+ -,.*3-A u Lee Simpson, ~om'mittee Chair November 2008 Seizing Victory from the Jaws of Deterrence: Preservation and Public Memory of America’s Nike Air Defense Missile System Copyright © 2008 by John Knute Smoley iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the absence of fellowships, scholars rely upon friendships to succeed. To friends and family, archivists and academics, providing shelter and support, victuals and vehicles, understanding and advice to scholars everywhere; to them this work is dedicated with gratitude. iv VITA OF JOHN KNUTE (HEDSTROM) SMOLEY December 2008 EDUCATION University of California Santa Barbara and California State University, Sacramento, 2001-2008, Ph.D., Public History Minnesota State University, Mankato, 1998-2000, M.A., History United States Military Academy, West Point, NY, 1991-1995, B.S., Management Pembroke Academy, Pembroke, NH, 1987-1991, High School Diploma CAREER MILESTONES Present City Planner, Preservation and Design Team, City of Minneapolis, MN 2005-2008 Historian and Associate Planner, City of Elk Grove, CA 2002-2004 Historian and Planning Technician, City of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 2002 Instructor, California State University, Sacramento 2002 Historian, Veteran’s Oral History Project 2001 Historian, Sacramento Visual Arts Oral History Project 2000-2001 Collections Manager, Blue Earth County Historical Society, Mankato, MN 1995-2000 Armor Officer, United States Army and Minnesota Army National Guard v ABSTRACT Seizing Victory from the Jaws of Deterrence: Preservation and Public Memory of America’s Nike Air Defense Missile System by John Knute Smoley This dissertation explores the historic preservation and public memory of America’s Nike air defense missile program. To defend against nuclear attacks delivered by Soviet bombers in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s the United States constructed a massive air defense network, the largest peacetime dispersion of America’s military might into its communities. The 275 Nike sites built in 29 states are one highly representative example of these defenses and constitute the world’s first missile base network, predating not only all other air defense missile networks but also all offensive nuclear missile bases. Despite its tremendous significance, historic preservation and public memory of America’s Nike air defense missile system is extremely limited. The dominance of deterrence, lack of trauma associated with Nike sites, and difficulty fitting air defense into traditional narratives of the Cold War provide a poor foundation for public memory. While the many extant Nike sites vi generally retain their integrity, or ability to communicate their historical significance, numerous pitfalls hamper Nike preservation efforts, even the five Nike sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Considered in the context of a complex, contradictory Cold War, Nike sites are the quintessential Cold War site. Additionally, Nike sites highlight the way public memory and preservation fuel and feed off of each other. Given the current state of historic preservation and public memory of Nike sites, a three-pronged strategy of interpretation, focused preservation, and a series of markers is the best way to commemorate and educate Americans about the importance once assigned to air defense against nuclear weapons: a menace that continues to threaten our world. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction…………..……………………………………………………………...1 I. Significance……………………………..…………………………………...…..34 1. Assessing the Significance of the Nike Air Defense Missile System…………………………………………………………………...35 2. Public Awareness of Nike Site Operations…………….………….…78 3. Gauging Public Memory and Historic Preservation of the Nike Air Defense Missile System………………………………………….…...134 II. Context. …………..…………………………………………………………...177 4. The Dominance of Deterrence………………………………………178 5. The Nike Network and Cold War Narratives……...………………..205 6. Fear, Trauma, and Public Memory of the Nike Air Defense Missile System…………….……………………………………..…….256 III. Integrity……..……………………………………………………………...…290 7. Evaluating the Integrity of Nike Air Defense Missile Sites……………………..………………………..…………………….291 8. Preservation Pitfalls……………………………………………….….318 9. Communicating the Significance of the Nike Air Defense Missile System………………………………………………………………….344 viii Appendix A. Acronyms and Abbreviations……………………………….…..384 Appendix B. List of Constructed Nike Air Defense Missile Sites in the United States………………………………………….…………………..388 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………....400 Cover: Camp Hanford Missile Queen Atop a Nike Ajax, 1959 ix LIST OF FIGURES 1. A memorial to twentieth century conflicts in Munster, Indiana that ignores the extant Nike missile site visible from the park…….………………………2 2. "Victory" by Frederick MacMonnies, Battle Monument, West Point, New York………………………………………………………………………....……4 3. Basic Nike System Diagram………………………………………………….48 4. An Army officer explaining the rationale behind outsourcing Nike air defense jobs to civilian contractors in 1961………………………...……... 64 5. WAC Private Mary Webster’s first meal in the mess hall after reporting for duty at Headquarters Battery, 30th Air Defense Artillery Group, Fort Barry, California in late 1958…………………………………………………………68 6. Dorothy Hitchcock working on the Range Height Indicator at Fort Lawton, Washington’s Missile Master, April 11, 1961……………………………….70 7. Underground storage is considered a hallmark of intercontinental ballistic missiles, but Nike air defense missiles predated even the earliest subterranean ICBM installation………………………………………………72 8. April 1968 cover of ARADCOM Argus………………………………………78 9. Excerpt of an August 1954 San Francisco Examiner article……………...82 x 10. Army spokesman rationalizing the need for Nike missiles whose heavy boosters could fall on populated areas……………………………………90 11. Interview excerpt, Brigadier General R.R. Hendrix, commander of the Washington Baltimore Defense Area, May 18, 1955…………………….91 12. Accessing the inside of radome through a small hatch, a soldier performs preventative maintenance on an AN/FPS-71 radar system used by a Nike air defense missile site guarding Fairbanks, Alaska sometime prior to December 1958……………………………………………………………….95 13. Excerpt of a newspaper article announcing the closure of San Francisco’s Nike sites……………..………………………………………………………..96 14. Excerpt of a 6th ARADCOM Region Nike Fact Sheet and Speaker’s Guide………………………………………………………………………….105 15. CPT Jack Gerber, 30th Artillery Group, transports a Nike Ajax missile at Crissy Field with a H-21 Helicopter in the late 1950s……...……………107 16. Excerpt of a January 1955 San Francisco Examiner article……………112 17. 1970 aerial photograph of the Nike missile launch site in Farmington, Minnesota…………………………………………………………………….117 18. 1962 plat land atlas listing of a Nike launch site and integrated fire control site in Roberts, Wisconsin………………………………………………….118 19. This 1961 New York Times article title gave residents another reason to pay attention to Nike sites in their midst…………………………………..124 xi 20. From the very top came strict orders to inform members of the public about activities at America’s Cold War air defense sites……………...…128 21. San Francisco television station KQED filming a simulated Ajax lift off for the program “Nike Goes to School.”……………………………………….130 22. Colonel Robert Brewer, Deputy Commander of the 47th Artillery Brigade in Los Angeles, breaks the news to Lassie…………………………………..132 23. Sources Related to Cold War Topics Listed in Gale Reference Center Gold since January 1, 1992…………………………………………………142 24. Numbers of Articles on Cold War Topics in Select American Newspapers since January 1,1992………………………………………………………..143 25. Dedication of a memorial to ten personnel killed onsite in the May 22, 1958 Nike Ajax explosion at Nike site NY-53 in Middletown, New Jersey……….…………………………………………………………………151 26. Dedication of Guardian Park at Fort Hancock, August 15, 1974………..153 27. A severely deteriorated Guardian Park, June 2005………………………156 28. A restored Guardian Park rededicated May 21, 2006……………………159 29. Light blue buildings on a former Nike air defense missile site in Munster, Indiana sit ignored just beyond a massive memorial to America’s military conflicts………………………………………………………………………..161 30. Hundreds of different companies, many of whom remain prominent in the American economy, produced the Nike air defense missile system……164 xii 31. Adaptively reused administrative (top) and launch (middle) sites stand in stark contrast to the restored (but unused) integrated fire control site (bottom) at Fort Hancock, New Jersey…………………………………….168 32. First live fire of a Nike Hercules at Site Summit in Alaska……………….172 33. Excerpt of an address by General James E. Hill, USAF, Commander in Chief, NORAD to the Air Force Association Symposium in Los Angeles, California, October 26, 1978………………………………………………..187 34. A 1969 New York Times advertisement paid for by the Society for a SANE Nuclear Policy.……………………………………………………………….189