Nov. 17, 1969 – Cold War SALT Talks Begin
North Dakota finds itself on the frontlines of the nuclear conflict
On November 17, 1969, formal Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT) began in Finland, setting the stage for two and a half years of negotiations between America and the Soviet Union concerning nuclear arms.
The Great Plains became the nation’s battleground during the Cold war, becoming home to hundreds of Inter-continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) and Anti-Ballistic Missiles (ABMs).
The US Government saw great value in housing their nuclear arsenal in Great Plains states for a number of reasons, including 1) the shortest distance to the Soviet Union from the US was over the North Pole; 2) there would be greater warning time for inland sites vs. coastal sites if submarines launched enemy warheads; 3) the rural nature of the Great Plains meant fewer lives were directly at risk if the Soviet Union launched a nuclear attack on America’s arms.
North Dakota was one of the key state players in the Cold War. At the conflict’s height, the state housed more than 300 ICBMs and 30 ABMs, a total that—if North Dakota was its own country—would have made it the world’s third-largest nuclear power. At the time, it
housed the most extensive nuclear arsenal of any state.
Before the state be
came a nuclear powerhouse, residents recognized the significant economic benefits sur
rounding nuclear missiles and facilities. To seize the opportunity,
Grand Forks and Minot got ahead of the state’s other cities by purchasing giant portions of land and offering them to the government as “donations.” Military bases founded at the two locations during the 1950s grew to include fighters and bombers for national defense, and large areas surrounding them became home to missile facilities and silos. Minot and Grand Forks saw more than 55% in population growth between 1950 and 1970 while the rest of the state lost population. In major ways, the Cold War-era shaped the communities that we see today— had the nuclear age not touched them both and
propelled them into economic booms, they may have remained insignificant in their statewide roles.
Missiles in the Midwest
The first ICBM silos on the Great Plains were constructed in 1959 in Wyoming, and the number across neighboring states grew rapidly. North Dakota missile sites came on the scene in the 1960s. The closest to Valley City is the Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile Site near Cooperstown. The Oscar-Zero Missile Alert Facility, which included a blast-hardened launch control support building and underground launch facility, was completed in 1965. That same year, the missile silo and launch equipment and facility complex November-33 Launch Facility was built. Officials at the site maintained equipment, kept the premises secure, monitored data, and had the ability to launch ten Minuteman II Missiles.
Thanks to remote launch systems, central facilities controlled large numbers of weapons that could be in silos miles away. Missile silos were built throughout the land Grand Forks and Minot had secured, stretching from the Canadian Border to I94 in the east and taking up a huge part of area in the Central and North Central parts of the state.
Mixed Feelings
There was much enthusiasm surrounding the state’s growing role in the Cold War. Some residents were happy that the growing nuclear presence in the state benefitted in the booming economy and felt a certain pride in their state’s role in protecting their country.
There was also trepidation. Farmers worried that the fertile land would be contaminated by nuclear material or fallout. Families worried that the weapons made the state an extremely likely target for attack, and were reminded of that every day. Antinuclear activists also opposed the weapons in the state, some holding vigils near missile silos and launch facilities.
$6 Billion Pyramid Perhaps North Dakota’s most important facility was the Stanley R. Mickelson Safeguard Complex ( SRMSC) at Nekoma. The centerpiece of the $6 billion site was a flat-topped concrete pyramid known as the Missile Site Radar. The building housed arrays of radar on antennas on its four sides, meant for target tracking and missile guidance for the Spartan and Sprint ABMs housed in missile fields near the pyramid. The 46 ABMs on location and another combined 54 at Remote
Sprint Launch Sites anywhere from 10-22 miles away could be launched with the SRMSC’s capabilities, and a second radar system was used for long-range tracking of Soviet ICBMs. The ABMs were designed to be launched to intercept both long- and shortrange ICBMs that the pyramid Missile Site Radar detected—basically a super-powered nuclear defense system.
It was while the SRMSC was being built that the United States and Soviet Union were engaged in negotiations to limit arms in the run-up to the SALT I Treaty. When the treaty was signed in 1972, it was agreed by both countries that they would limit their arsenals, one of the stipulations being that each country could only have one missile deployment site protected by an ABM system. The United States had a couple of other sites like Nekoma planned, but because North Dakota’s defense system was the only one under construction, it was chosen as America’s sole ABM defense system. SRMSC was completed in 1975.
Though the complex proved a formidable deterrent to the Soviet Union even before it was finished, the facility was only fully operational for six months and only operated with full missile capacity for 24 hours. The US House, astonished at the operating costs of the program and questioning its vitality against the ever-evolving Soviet missile technology, voted to pull funding from the project. The Senate later agreed, and the $6 billion complex was shut down for good on February 10, 1976.
There are still those who wonder if the SRMSC was nothing more than an expensive waste of time. However, the consensus among historians and political experts is that despite its cost and short operation, the planning and construction of the SRMSC were enough to rattle the Soviet Union. The incredibly advanced facility may have played an integral role in pushing the Soviets to agree to the SALT II Treaty in 1979, eventually leading to an end of the Cold War in 1991.
It’s impossible to know just how profound an impact this gargantuan complex in a state with fewer than 1 million residents had on the Cold War. Without the Nekoma complex, the conflict may have ended much differently and if it had, it may have altered or even erased the world’s future.
North Dakota’s nuclear capabilities likely played
a vital role in pushing the Soviet Union to agree to the SALT II Treaty in 1979, which eventually led to the end of the Cold War in 1991.
Reminders
Grand Forks Air Force Base’s missile mission was discontinued following the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty of 1991. Its missile silos that dotted eastern North Dakota were emptied and imploded, the last one being destroyed in 1998. The Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile Site outside of Cooperstown is now a State Historic Site, the last remnant of the Grand forks Air Base 321st Missile Wing. The Oscar Zero Launch Control Center and November-33 Missile Facility remain intact and host many visitors who come to see what it was like to be on the frontlines of the nation’s nuclear defense strategy
Minot Air Force Base continues to maintain an active missile field, though its nuclear arsenal shrank at the Cold War’s end. Some decommissioned sites and its facilities including SRMSC still house equipment and empty missile silos, rusted structures that remind North Dakotans of the integral role their state and its people had in protecting not only the country but the entire planet.