On a snowy night in December 1955 at the height of the Cold War, a red hotline rang ominously in the combat operations center at Continental Air Command, predecessor of North American Aerospace Defense Command, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The private phone to Washington, D.C., was only to be used in the event of a national emergency — think DEFCON 1 with nuclear missiles and Soviet bombers flying over the North Pole.
The watch commander that night, Air Force Col. Harry Shoup, answered the phone with appropriate gravitas. Expecting to hear unspeakable news of pending global annihilation from a four-star general, Shoup instead listened as a tiny voice innocently asked, “Are you Santa Claus?”
At first, Shoup was angry. Normally stern and serious, the by-the-book career officer thought someone at the Cold War defense bunker with sophisticated radar-tracking equipment was playing a careless and potentially dangerous joke. He demanded to know the name of the caller, who then began to cry. That’s when Shoup realized he really was speaking with a child on the other end of the confidential line.
Backpedaling, the colonel calmed the child, then asked to speak to their mother. Shoup asked her how they got the unlisted number. She told him it was published in a newspaper ad by the local Sears department store so children could call and talk to Santa.
That’s how NORAD began tracking the jolly old fellow on Christmas Eve 70 years ago, formerly known today as NORAD Tracks Santa. Well, that’s the legend anyway. What really happened is a bit different but fascinating nonetheless.
“Colonel Shoup played the part,” said Brig. Gen. Steven Gorski, NORAD and U.S. Northern Command director of intelligence. “He assured the child that he was not in fact Santa Claus, but his job was to track Santa Claus and make sure that he stayed safe. That started the lore and the history of NORAD Tracks Santa.”
As with many historical events, the legend often obscures the fact. As time passed, Shoup claimed he told the child he was Santa and gave assurances that he was on schedule to deliver all gifts in time for Christmas. Later versions of the story also had that first encounter taking place on Christmas Eve.
In reality, the original phone call occurred Nov. 30, 1955. A wire story carried in newspapers across the country the next day reported that Shoup handled the call in which the youngster wanted to know if this was St. Nicholas at the top of the world. To this day, it is unclear whether it was a misdialed number or a misprint in the original Sears newspaper ad.
According to the article, the colonel’s response, which seems to better fit his personality, was, “There may be a guy called Santa Claus at the North Pole but he’s not the one I worry about coming from that direction.”
After hanging up the phone, Shoup probably realized the PR value of what had just happened. He was accustomed to addressing the public, especially regarding readiness and the ever-increasing problem of jet noise around populated areas. For months, he had been assuring citizens that the Air Force was doing its best to reduce the roar of modern aircraft.
Shoup likely worked with Col. Arthur “Barney” Oldfield, the director of public affairs at the base. Oldfield was a legend in those days, having been the first journalist to qualify as a paratrooper in World War II and serving as Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s advance man for the creation of NATO’s first military force in Europe.
Both knew how to tell a story. Upon hearing of Shoup’s wrong number, Oldfield sprang into action and contacted The Associated Press, United Press and International News Service. It made headlines around the country.
From there, the myth grew incrementally with each passing year. Later versions described how American and Canadian military jets scrambled to intercept the “bogie” and then escort the sleigh with eight tiny reindeer on its appointed rounds. Each year, media outlets carried stories on Christmas Eve about Santa Claus being detected on NORAD tracking systems as he headed south on his annual pilgrimage.
A 1981 UPI article even detailed a new system used by the Air Force to “provide Santa with directional assistance it he runs into bad weather. It’s called the Reindeer Uni-directional Omnilocational Positioning Hardware – acronym RUDOLPH.”
“Santa is really the first superhero in modern history,” said Michael Keane, author of a new children’s book, “Operation Santa Claus: How NORAD Saved Santa.”
“There is a long line of Marvel heroes that owe a lot to him because he could fly around the world and had superpowers. Obviously, the military is very happy to be helping Santa with his mission every year.”
Today, 70 years later, that initial wrong number has become a PR bonanza for the U.S. Air Force. NORAD Tracks Santa is a major project that now includes a website in multiple languages and a Christmas Eve call center at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs staffed by more than 1,000 military and civilian volunteers to speak with anxious children wondering about jolly St. Nick’s progress. Translators are available to handle multiple foreign languages.
“I’ve taken calls from everywhere: Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia,” said civilian contractor Alex Léger, Canadian policy adviser to Commander, NORAD/NORTHCOM, who is volunteering at the call center for a third time this year. “A lot of folks worldwide are tracking and calling in.”
NORAD Tracks Santa is so popular that volunteers handle some 380,000 calls while the website, which features games, updates, live radar of Santa’s sleigh and other activities, garners some 2.3 million hits annually on Christmas Eve.
“The idea is to welcome children by bringing them the joy of Christmas and the holidays,” Gorski said. “It brings the community and the military workforce — both American and Canadian — together for a good common cause. It also helps to educate about our mission of being on guard 24/7 defending North America.”
It’s also a nice way for troops to demonstrate a connection to the public by supporting institutions and themes while displaying their own humanity and compassion.
“It’s a nice, wholesome story,” Keane said. “Our military enjoys doing this because they look like heroes for helping Santa deliver presents around the world. And they really are heroes.”
To follow Santa’s whereabouts on Christmas Eve, visit www.noradsanta.org or call at 877-446-6723 (877-HINORAD).
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