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A child calling Santa reached NORAD instead. Christmas Eve was never the same.

1 comment

  1. HotPants
    Link
    Gizmodo claims it was a more cynical move by the PR department. https://gizmodo.com/how-the-u-s-military-turned-santa-claus-into-a-cold-wa-1664149776

    Gizmodo claims it was a more cynical move by the PR department.

    https://gizmodo.com/how-the-u-s-military-turned-santa-claus-into-a-cold-wa-1664149776

    So what’s the real story? Some parts of the wrong phone number myth are accurate, but the origin story for this too-cute-to-be-true tale has changed ever so slightly with each generation over the past six decades.

    Yes, Colonel Shoup got a call at CONAD that turned out to be a wrong number. But it wasn’t on Christmas Eve and there was no misprint in the newspaper, even though Snopes claims there was. It was just some kid who happened to get his numbers mixed up. And as for Colonel Shoup’s reaction? It was more like the kind of reaction you’d expect from a military officer in charge of ordering a strike that had the potential to end life on Earth as we know it. Which is to say, Shoup was not amused. And he wasn’t inundated with calls throughout the night that his men had to take.

    Below, the December 1, 1955 Pasadena Independent newspaper, which helps shine some light on the real story:

    The mistaken call’s real value was in planting the seed of a Santa idea. Who better than Ol’ Saint Nick to join the fight against the godless commies in the Soviet Union? The phone call happened on November 30, 1955 but that coming Christmas Eve, the military embraced this idea of Santa being protected by American forces. Santa was enlisted as a character that would help fight the good fight against non-believers.

    6 votes