At first the man in charge in Colorado Springs , Colonel Harry Shoup , think the child caller was a trick . But finally he realise what had happened and played along in good tone , tell his mankind to field calls all night from kids trying to hit Santa . And so a CONAD custom ( now kept animated by NORAD , get it on Santa - trackers ) was born .
It ’s a cute story that pop up in the newsevery year . The only problem ? It ’s not on-key .
A Brief History of NORAD and Santa
leave : 1955 ad for Sears ’ Santa hotline ; the right way : dateless photo of Colonel Harry Shoup
In the fifties , CONADand NORAD were established as organization creditworthy for continue the United States and Canada good from a possible projectile attack by the Soviet Union . But they were also looking for way to excuse their universe to adult and soften their paradigm with children . Despite our skew memory of the post - WWII era , Americans were n’t that excited about the theme of perpetual war .
For the grownup , that PR political campaign consisted of a slew of films in 1955 that endeavor to convince doubter of the Cold War ’s urgency . The kids , meanwhile , got the Santa Tracker , promoted through newspapers , radio , TV , and eventually the cyberspace .
It was a bright move for the military . When American minor asked their parents what NORAD was , the U.S. parent would be capable to respond “ those are the citizenry who avail Santa ” rather than “ those are the people who are assure our 2nd strike capability after you and everyone in your gambol group areturned to dustby a atomic attack . ”
NORAD ’s Santa tracker program is one of the most successful military public relations campaigns of the last century . It ’s even cited in public relation textbook as a shining model of how to run a Christmas - themed PR campaign . And it ’s still lead strong .
This year NORAD will “ track Santa ” as he arrives from the North Pole , helping keep him safe as he circles the Earth drive home presents to all the good Christian child . fry can call a phone routine that reaches volunteers at NORAD , follow alongonline , or even download the official Santa trackerapp . Historians who take Christmas have take note that NORAD ’s plot line about protecting Santa on Christmas Eve is one of the few New tweak to the Santa Claus story that has really sting .
The Wrong Phone Number Myth
So what ’s the tangible story ? Some part of the wrong earphone number myth are precise , but the origin story for this too - cunning - to - be - honest tale has changed ever so slenderly with each propagation over the past six decennary .
Yes , Colonel Shoup got a call at CONAD that turned out to be a incorrect routine . But it was n’t on Christmas Eve and there was no typo in the newspaper publisher , even thoughSnopes claimsthere was . It was just some kid who happened to get his number mix up . And as for Colonel Shoup ’s reaction ? It was more like the kind of reaction you ’d expect from a military ship’s officer in armorial bearing of ordering a rap that had the potential to end life on Earth as we know it . Which is to say , Shoup was not disport . And he was n’t submerge with calls throughout the dark that his humans had to take .
Below , the December 1 , 1955 Pasadena Independent newspaper , which aid shine some light on the real story :
The false call ’s tangible value was in planting the seed of a Santa mind . Who better than Ol’ Saint Nick to join the fight against the godless commies in the Soviet Union ? The phone call befall on November 30 , 1955 but that come Christmas Eve , the armed services embraced this idea of Santa being protected by American forces . Santa was enlisted as a character that would assist fight the salutary fight against non - believers .
The Associated Press syndicate a narration on Christmas Eve , 1955 about Santa being grant safe passing by CONAD . Emphasis mine .
Colorado Springs , Colo. , Dec 23 ( AP ) — Santa Claus Friday was assured safe transition into the United States by the Continental Air Defense Combat Operations Center here which start plotting his journeying from the North Pole early Friday good morning .
CONAD say first account of its radar and ground observer outposts indicate Santa was move around about 45 knots at an ALT of 35,000 metrical unit and should arrive in the United States early Saturday night for his one-year visit .
U.S. and Canadian defense social unit will maneuver him into the run jet current which should replicate his focal ratio , and around tempestuous conditions west of the Hudson Bay areas .
CONAD , Army , Navy and Marine Air Forces will continue to track and guard Santa and his sledge on his trip to and from the U.S. against possible attack from those who do not consider in Christmas .
And Santa ’s track , being plotted here on the chief surveillance board , is a very wide one , indicating that his sleigh is heavily loaded with toy and goodies .
The Soviets were so vicious that they ’d even attack Santa if given the luck . But the U.S. military was n’t going to permit that bump .
Over the next six decades the bloodline taradiddle evolved . In some prescribed version it ’s a male child who first calls the number . In others , it’sa girl . Sometimes there ’s acknowledgment that the first caller just lucked upon the wrong number . But more commonly here in the twenty-first century , it ’s report as a “ literal error ” in the Colorado Springs Gazette .
Military Media Strategy Knocks Cold War Skeptics
All of this coincided with a braggart media push around air defense capabilities back in 1955 . The Jimmy Stewart movie Strategic Air Command was released in 1955 in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force , and was train at all the ex-serviceman who did n’t consider America should be in a state of perpetual war . Jimmy Stewart , America ’s everyman and a veridical life-time war veteran , comes to see that the Cold War dictate a ceaseless state of zeal , and strain might that can come to against enemy with most no placard .
The unretentive subject film 24 60 minutes alarm from Warner Bros. star Jack Webb of Dragnet fame also made the rounds , showing off America ’s fighting fleet . That film was based on the experiences of none other than Colonel Shoup andhis clip in Madison , Wisconsinduring the former 1950s where people kvetch that the jet swooping overhead were too noisy . The film explained that noises like that were the cost of freedom .
All of which is to say that the U.S. military knew how to make medium that shape up its interestingness . And it was n’t diffident about pray all Americans to see its point of position . It ’s important to see the Santa account within the context of every other part of media that the military was bring forth at the time . There was plenty of overlap from what adults were hearing to what the nestling were being taught — even in the multitude who were redeem the message , as show by Colonel Shoup ’s tremendous media savvy .
Santa Moves to Radio
Vinyl cover art from 1964 viaThe Basement Rug
The PR campaign for tag Santa existed for a few year just as a go back bill every Christmas Eve in newspaper publisher . But by the sixties , NORAD embark on sending out vinyl records to tuner station so that messages of Santa ’s progress could be playedin between Christmas euphony . They released a recordin 1964 , and anotherin 1968which included track that station around the res publica were presuppose to take on on Christmas Eve .
Audio track fromThe Basement Rug
The records of the 1960s also admit music from the NORAD Commanders Orchestra , the large ring grouping organized by NORAD . you’re able to try music from the NORAD Commanders onYouTube . And yes , that ’s correct , NORAD had a home band .
NORAD did n’t give up on print entirely . Throughout the 1970s , 80s and 90s , they were heavily promoting the idea that Santa Claus was a Cold Warrior , protect by the brave people of NORAD . This message was splashed all over newspaper around the world .
Below , an Associated Press photo from 1970 depict a lieutenant cross Santa on his computer terminal .
Santa Tracking Invades TV
But by the seventies NORAD also introduced television commercials that run on stations around the United States . The 3 - minute commercial below prove jets scrambling to intercept a extraneous aircraft on Christmas Eve . I had the commercial digitized from the National Archives and have uploaded itbelow .
“ We ’re now scrambling K interceptor to identify this unknown foxiness , ” the narrator of the commercial-grade explains . NORAD finally study that the “ nine unknown objects ” is really Santa and his reindeer .
Okay control , I have an identification . You wo n’t consider this , it ’s you lie with who … a very rich man , he ’s prune in redness and he ’s fly a sleigh rip by reindeer …
Roger that , Frosty Leader , we nibble him up every yr at this time . care all North American Air Defense Command microwave radar , missile , and scrapper interceptor units : this jolly old gentleman’s gentleman and his cargo are to meet your Department of Defense escort and safe journeying . Merry Christmas to all , and out .
The media blitz continued into the eighties and did n’t let up after the end of the Cold War . In fact , NORAD ’s Santa Tracker found new life in a nerveless fresh applied science called the World Wide Web . In 1997 the Santa trailing travail displace online , opening up countless theory for interactivity . NORADpartnered with America Online , with a troupe called Analytical Graphics supplying the cutting edge CG prototype that amazed kids who could n’t get enough of this new technology call off the cyberspace . Just do n’t leave to install your Shockwave Flash participant .
The screenshot below comes from the Santa Tracker internet site circa 2000 .
In the mid-2000s NORAD take up partnering with Google to track Santa . Google Earth ’s partnership with NORAD was really a innate one , given the intersection ’s intelligence agency origins . In 2004 Google purchase the CIA - funded mapping software companyKeyhole . A version of that software would eventually be released to the public asGoogle Earth . vestal Santa synergism if I ever see it .
Santa Tracker Today
With 24 - hour word and blogs starving for content , the Santa Tracker programme has taken on a life of its own , with its flawed descent taradiddle morphing and garble with eachnew re - telling . Even Gizmodo passed along the dogshit origin storyback in 2008 .
These days NORAD no longer partners with Google , and instead Santa opts for Bing and Microsoft products . In revenge , Google has launch a competing Santa Tracker without NORAD that grade higher in Google search resultant . The new tracker from Google does n’t have any military escort .
But the official NORAD Santa Tracker program has actually gotten some heat in late years over the militarization of a account aim at children . Last yr NORAD unfreeze a rather alarming video recording showing fighter jet-propelled plane see Santa . Even the 1970s commercial did n’t show Santa side - by - side with war machines , even if that was explicitly the subject matter .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvym7q_xfZE
When asked if they were at all touch on , children ’s advocacy groups like Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood pronounce they were uncomfortable with the violent undertone of the Santa Tracker campaign .
“ We really do feel strongly that it ’s something that is dependable and non - threatening , and not something that would negatively touch fry , ” a spokesman for NORADtold the APlast twelvemonth . “ In fact , we think that it ’s a lot of fun . ”
What ’s the next step for militarizing Santa ? It almost seems too obvious …
“ Any plans for drone use by Santa ? ” Wolf Blitzer asked last yearon CNN . Not so far , Wolf .
But the criticism has n’t stopped the campaign . Instead , it seems this year NORAD still has the fighter jets and everything else you ’d expect of the computer program . What ’s different than the fifties ? The FAQ explains that Santa visits children all over the cosmos including countries like Afghanistan and Israel . However , there ’s not reference of Russia . Do they know it ’s Christmas ?
More To Uncover?
File exposure of the NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center in 2012 via Associated Press
Colonel Harry Shoup die in 2009 but I unfeignedly wish I had been able to interview him myself . All that we have of his account is in YouTube picture where hedescribesthat calamitous night .
Honestly , when I start researching this story around Christmas metre last year , I was skeptical that there even was a mislaid telephone set call to the NORAD facility . The advert was just a slight too on the nozzle . It even has a word of advice for kids imploring them to dial carefully .
Kiddies Be certain and Dial The Correct Number . Really ? It ’s almost a picayune too perfect . But after come up that November 30 , 1955 story about Colonel Shoup it seems likely that a call did happen .
Christmas
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