Rapid City -South Dakota- Part 3- Cold War Era, Minuteman 2.

The South Dakota National Park has not only the Badlands but the Minuteman National Historic Site.
During the Cold War, a vast arsenal of nuclear missiles were placed in the Great Plains. Hidden in plain sight, for thirty years 1,000 missiles were kept on constant alert; hundreds remain today. The Minuteman Missile remains an iconic weapon in the American nuclear arsenal. It holds the power to destroy civilization, but is meant as a nuclear deterrent to maintain peace and prevent war.
Minuteman Missile National Historic Site protects two facilities that were once part of a Minuteman Missile field that covered the far western portion of South Dakota from 1963 through the early 1990s.

In this area there were 15 Launch Control Facilities that commanded and controlled 150 Launch Facilities (Missile Silos) holding Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. The park preserves two of these facilities in their historic state—Launch Control Facility Delta-01 with its corresponding underground Launch Control Center and Launch Facility (Missile Silo) Delta-09. These two sites, along with the Minuteman Missile Visitor Center, comprise Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.

The risk of a nuclear attack was ever present in the homes of Americans.  There were television messages educating people on how to protect themselves in the event of a nuclear attack.

Life Magazine had front page stories of impending doom.

The Russians are coming to destroy us.

It was the era of the Cold War when the USA and Russia had nuclear weapons pointed at each other.  There was distrust and fear on both sides of the pond that a nuclear war could occur.   Should this happen there would have been extreme devastation.  After many years of discussion the administration of Lyndon Johnson resumed the talks, and the Outer Space Treaty was signed in 1967.

There is one minuteman missile silo preserved and is available to see.

Here it is.

The missile field was operational, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for 365 days a year, for thirty years. Despite the searing summer heat and brutal winter cold of South Dakota, operational status of the missiles was maintained at all times. Meanwhile, local landowners and members of small towns in the central and northern Great Plains lived literally side by side with nuclear weapons. In the background to all this, were the American people who enjoyed unsurpassed freedoms and prosperity yet also knew that their way of life could be destroyed in a matter of hours by nuclear war. This same harsh fact was true for nations all around the world.

Very worthwhile visit.

Bev and Ross