Uranium fission’s
Protecting the vision
Of freedom we’ve cherished so long
- The Brothers-in-Law, The Flowers that
Boom in the Spring, 1969
This is Part 3 in a series about M-74, the Nike nuclear missile site in Waukesha. [Part 1] [Part 2]
During their active years, the locations of Nike bases in the US were not secret and are clearly visible on air photos from the era. The August 1963 US Department of Agriculture photo heading this post clearly shows M-74’s battery control and launch areas in Waukesha. This openness was intentional. Some battery commanders even held open houses in support of civil defense awareness, including short films extolling the benefits of the Nike program. [1]
However, the Nike program was arguably obsolete shortly after the missiles sites were built. By the late 1950s, the threat of nuclear bombers was outdated, due to a greater threat – nuclear-tipped ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles). An ICBM could deliver a nuclear bomb in a matter of minutes, instead of the hours it took for a bomber.
ICBM technology developed rapidly in the era. Both the early US Mercury and Gemini manned space flights used booster rockets that were derived from military ICBMs. The threat posed by ICBMs as weapons of mass destruction became evident during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, when the USSR placed nuclear missiles in Cuba, and tensions escalated nearly to the point of nuclear war.
But Nike missiles were designed to destroy bombers, not ICBMs. The Army’s proposed solution was the next generation of Nike, called Zeus, specifically designed as an ICBM interceptor. The Zeus program suffered from technical problems, including the inability of the missile system to differentiate enemy warheads from decoys, and the program was soon terminated. Later, Nike-X was developed as another anti-ICBM weapon, which morphed into developments like the Sentinel ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) system. [1]
Back at M-74 in Waukesha, life went on. A fallout shelter was built in 1965 to protect the missile control vans, which contained radar and guidance equipment. The purpose of the shelter was to keep the equipment functioning “in any event.” The nine-man shelter had a supply of pure air and, according to Army officials, could “operate indefinitely” given sufficient food. [2]
The Nike site also went through a change in administration, with the Army handing control to the National Guard in 1964. A July 1965 article in the Waukesha Freeman observed that the mess hall at M-74 was now deserted, since the national guard civilian air defense technicians lived off-base and brought their own food. [3] Other changes to the base at the time included the addition of a microwave communications tower and the introduction of four German shepherds – King, Duke, Kris and Sputnik – as guard dogs. [4][5]
The final nail in the coffin of the Nike program was the ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) Treaty of 1972, an agreement between the US and the USSR to limit ABM deployments. By the strange logic of the Cold War, ABMs threatened the principle of nuclear deterrence. According to the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), if the US and USSR each possessed enough nuclear weapons to destroy the other country, then peace would be ensured, since neither country would choose to commit suicide. But, if one country possessed an effective ABM system, then the balance would be upset. Defensive weapons were destabilizing. ABM development was curtailed under the treaty.
Next week, Oddsconsin will explore the reasons for the closure of M-74 and the end of the national Nike program.
Sources:
[1] Department of Defense and Department of the Interior, Last Line of Defense, 1996. Available online at https://ed-thelen.org/pics/LastLineDefense-Illinois.pdf
[2] Fallout Shelter at Davidson Rd. Nike Site to Protect Communications, Waukesha Freeman, Mar 5, 1965 (p. 3)
[3] Base Mess Hall Now Lies Scrubbed, Empty, Waukesha Freeman, July 22, 1965 (p. 23)
[4] Relay Tower Work Starts, Waukesha Freeman, Sept 24, 1965 (p. 3)
[5] Army Dogs Guard Nike Missile Site in County, Waukesha Freeman, Mar 12, 1966 (p. 16)