The Christmas tradition has become nearly global in scope: Children from around the world track Santa Claus as he sweeps across the earth, delivering presents and defying time.
“He went on a little bit, and he takes a breath, then says, ‘Hey, you’re not Santa,’” Shoup told The Associated Press in 1999.
Yes, I am Santa Claus.
“Why, it made the military look good — like we’re not all a bunch of snobs who don’t care about Santa Claus,” he said.
His children told the StoryCorps podcast in 2014 that it was a misprinted Sears ad that prompted the phone calls.
Children from all over the world follow Santa Claus as he travels the globe delivering gifts and bucking time, making the Christmas custom almost universal.
At least 100,000 children contact the North American Aerospace Defense Command every year to ask where Santa is. Millions more follow in nine different languages, including Japanese and English.
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NORAD searches the skies for possible dangers, like the Chinese spy balloon from the previous year, on any other night. On Christmas Eve, however, Colorado Springs volunteers are answering queries like “Am I on the nice or naughty list?” and “When is Santa coming to my house?”.
Bob Sommers, a 63-year-old NORAD volunteer and civilian contractor, described the activity as “screams, giggles, and laughter.”.
Parents frequently respond, “Did you hear him? We got to go to bed early,” when Sommers states on the call that everyone must be asleep before Santa arrives. “”.
Long before ugly sweater parties and Mariah Carey hits, NORAD’s yearly tracking of Santa dates back to the Cold War. Despite government shutdowns like the one in 2018 and this year, the custom endures.
How did it start, and why do the phones keep ringing?
A boy rang. However, he arrived at the joint U.S. Continental Air Defense Command, which is now known as NORAD. S. and Canadian efforts to identify possible enemy assaults. Anxieties about nuclear war were rising along with tensions with the Soviet Union.
The Air Force Col. Harry W. . When Shoup picked up an emergency-only “red phone,” a small voice started reading a Christmas wish list.
Shoup told The Associated Press in 1999 that after he continued for a short while, he took a breath and said, “Hey, you’re not Santa.”.
With a deep, cheerful voice, Shoup responded, “Ho, ho, ho! Yes, I am Santa Claus,” in recognition that the child would not understand an explanation. Have you behaved well, boy?
The boy’s mother told Shoup that Sears printed the top-secret number by mistake. After he hung up, a young girl recited her Christmas list on the other end of the phone. “Thereafter, fifty calls per day,” he said.
Before the advent of digital technology, the agency tracked unknown objects using a 60-by-80-foot (18-by-24-meter) plexiglass map of North America. A staff member mockingly drew Santa and his sleigh across the North Pole.
It became a tradition.
An Associated Press story from Colorado Springs on December started, “Note to the kiddies.”. 23, 1955. On Friday, the Continental Air Defense Command guaranteed Santa Claus a safe arrival in the United States. “.”.
Santa was protected from potential attacks by “those who do not believe in Christmas,” the article said, presumably referring to the Soviets. “.”.
Shoup’s story has been called into question by some sour journalists who wonder if the boy’s call was caused by a misdial or a misprint.
An article from the International News Service from December 2014 was referenced by the tech news website Gizmodo. A child’s call to Shoup, 1, 1955. The child inverted two digits of the Sears number, according to an article published in the Pasadena Independent.
“When a young voice questioned COC commander Col. When asked if Santa Claus was at the North Pole, Harry Shoup gave a far harsher response than he ought to have given the time of year.
“A man named Santa Claus might exist at the North Pole, but he’s not the person I’m concerned about coming from that direction,” Shoup stated in the short article.
The Atlantic magazine, which noted that Shoup had a knack for public relations, questioned the influx of calls to the secret line in 2015.
Putting phone calls aside, Shoup was aware of the media. When an employee drew Santa on the glass map in 1955, he saw an opportunity, he told the Scripps Howard News Service in 1986.
A lieutenant colonel gave his word that it would be removed. Shoup, however, called public affairs and remarked, “You leave it right there.”. Shoup aimed to raise spirits among both the public and the soldiers.
The military looked good, he explained, “like we’re not all a bunch of snobs who don’t care about Santa Claus.”.
2009 saw Shoup’s passing. According to what his kids told the StoryCorps podcast in 2014, the phone calls were caused by a misprinted Sears advertisement.
Terri Van Keuren, his daughter, said, “And later in life he got letters from all over the world.”. ‘Thank you, Colonel, for having this sense of humor, you know,’ people say. “”.
