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posted by janrinok on Thursday December 25 2014, @02:20PM   Printer-friendly
from the always-ready-never-needed-thankfully dept.

Every Christmas Eve since 1956, staff at North American Aerospace Defense Command have put on a bit of a show for the nation’s kids by purportedly tracking Santa as he travels in his sleigh and posting official announcements through the media appropriate for the times: radio weather updates, television news, and now the Web. It’s about as incongruous a project as one could imagine for a Cold War-era defense system for detecting incoming attacks and launching potentially-nuclear weapons, and until recently, only a handful of people knew how it came about.

This year, that changed as a trio of siblings contacted NPR’s StoryCorps to tell the tale of how the Continental Air Defense Command Center’s red phone was turned into a Santa Hotline:

“Only a four-star general at the Pentagon and my dad had the number. This was the ’50s, this was the Cold War, and he would have been the first one to know if there was an attack on the United States.” The red phone rang one day in December 1955, and Col. Shoup answered it. “And then there was a small voice that just asked, ‘Is this Santa Claus?’ ”

His children remember Shoup as straight-laced and disciplined, and he was annoyed and upset by the call and thought it was a joke — but then, Terri says, the little voice started crying.

“And Dad realized that it wasn’t a joke,” her sister says. “So he talked to him, ho-ho-ho’d and asked if he had been a good boy and, ‘May I talk to your mother?’ And the mother got on and said, ‘You haven’t seen the paper yet? There’s a phone number to call Santa. It’s in the Sears ad.’ ”

The rest is an amusing, surprisingly heart-warming story that doesn’t even edge near the treacly ‘entertainment’ that tends to take over at this time of year, much to their credit. It also left me thinking: society back then was far stricter, it was believed that the nation could come under nuclear attack at any minute, yet even the the most crucial defense leader and team was able to retain their sense of humor, humanity, and stay genuinely cool under pressure — so why is it that now they appear to have completely lost those traits in our less endangered, more relaxed era?

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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 25 2014, @02:27PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 25 2014, @02:27PM (#129101)

    > so why is it that now they appear to have completely lost those traits in our less endangered, more relaxed era?

    It is like allergies and the hygiene hypothesis [wikipedia.org] - lacking real risks to calibrate against, even the tiniest thing looks like a serious problem.

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by davester666 on Thursday December 25 2014, @07:28PM

      by davester666 (155) on Thursday December 25 2014, @07:28PM (#129139)

      We are in even GREATER danger now than we ever were during the Cold War. We are under imminent attack by our neighbors and/or friends. Nobody is safe anywhere. We must be constantly vigilant for any deviation from the norm and report it to the police immediately. Remember to wear clothes that are easy to remove for the strip search as you enter the police station to make your report.

      • (Score: 5, Funny) by BradTheGeek on Friday December 26 2014, @01:58AM

        by BradTheGeek (450) on Friday December 26 2014, @01:58AM (#129206)

        I make it easy on the authorities. I walk around naked. It makes stripsearches easy AND frequent.

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 25 2014, @03:24PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 25 2014, @03:24PM (#129109)

    That was a heartwarming story! Thanks so much for posting it!

    And to think that just one typographical error led to a change of heart for a bit of a curmudgeon — coupled with a light-hearted prank that in turn became the source of awe and amazement for countless children.

    I vividly recall being bundled up and getting in the car with my parents and sibs, driving around looking at the christmas lights around town, and listening intently when reports of Santa's location came over the radio. Soon to be followed by a trip home and being hurried to bed in anticipation of a morning of opening presents from those who loved me. Many fond memories, indeed!

    May this day be one of joy and peace for you and all whom you hold dear. Merry Christmas everybody!

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 25 2014, @05:19PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 25 2014, @05:19PM (#129118)

    Because now we know that a cute call from a little kid is actually a distraction for the ninjas sneaking up behind us.

    • (Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 25 2014, @05:51PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 25 2014, @05:51PM (#129123)

      Nah, it isn't a distraction. It is a dry-run. The kid is actually a mooslim terrorist probing the system, checking response levels so that they can establish global jeehawd caliente-fate!

  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 25 2014, @06:32PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 25 2014, @06:32PM (#129125)

    It’s about as incongruous a project as one could imagine for a Cold War-era defense system for detecting incoming attacks and launching potentially-nuclear weapons

    Let us not forget who helped the Soviet Union win the war.
    0) The warmonger and warcriminal, Churchill
    1) The bad leader who_could_not_get_his_nation_out_of_the_financial_crisis_that_it_created, but instead worked day and night to get his country into the war, warmonger and warcriminal Roosevelt

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 27 2014, @06:04AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 27 2014, @06:04AM (#129401)

    ...and every other flight even if it has a transponder, and especially if it doesn't have a transponder. Post 9/11 he is lucky to make it out of Canada alive, much less crossing into US airspace.