ABB
During the Cold War, South Dakota’s western plains were selected to be the incubator for 150 Minuteman missiles, which were built to be three thousand times more powerful than “Little Boy,”the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. It was chosen due to its strategic geography and the pre-existing Ellsworth Air Force Base, which made the construction of the missiles easier. This decision led to the economic growth of the city. For instance, during the late 1960s, Interstate 90 was built, which was designed to help the military with their mission. Ironically, it has attracted tourists to South Dakota’s famous landmarks. “The Minuteman Promises Economic Lift” (the Rapid City Daily Journal), as a lot of jobs were created for local residents and $60 million worth of construction contracts were signed.
Many farmers felt ignored and frustrated when their requests were dismissed. For example, they demanded that the silos should be placed in less valuable sites, but the federal government believed that those exact locations were the best service for their needs. The U.S. developed newer missile (Minuteman III) systems in other departments, and South Dakota’s site was eventually abandoned. Eventually, the START I Treaty required removing Minuteman II missiles. Landowners hoped they could directly buy back their land but again, they could not because federal laws required offering the land to government agencies first.
Environmental concerns were raised by local citizens that eventually developed into protests, after the federal government decided to destroy the missile silos using TNT explosions. Ranchers strongly disagreed because they believed that the blasts could damage underground water and make the soil unusable for farming.
I believe that a silo was preserved in the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site (MIMI), a national historic site with the National Park Service, as a way of showcasing a physical picture of the arms race during the Cold War. Additionally, to highlight the way the U.S. efforts in preserving the world’ s peace throughout history. “…the Minuteman was the first solidf fuel ICBM—making its storage, launch, and maintenance safer and cheaper than its Titan and Atlas predecessors…” (Gretchen Heefner). Hence, it would be a great idea to keep a fingerprint of the technological advancements that were made during that era. Finally, this site aims to bring attention to the role of South Dakota’s in the Cold War and to recognize its people because it is a big burden for citizens who live nearby to just accept it, even though the missiles were mostly buried underground in silos. Their danger is still existent and real.
Will Wright 
Hi Asma,
I thoroughly enjoyed your analysis of Heefner’s interpretation of the development, obsoletion, and preservation of the Minuteman missiles. However, I couldn’t fail to notice some of the mistakes you made in your blog post. You mentioned in your blog post that South Dakota was “chosen due to its strategic geography and the pre-existing Ellsworth Air Force Base, which made the construction of the missiles easier. This decision led to the economic growth of the city.” This sentence is rather vague in explaining whether it was a specific city in South Dakota or South Dakota as a whole that benefitted from the development of the Minuteman missiles. Furthermore, in the last line of your blog post, you state that the danger of the missiles that were stored underground is still “existent and real”, this statement is incorrect as there is currently only one silo (Delta-09) in South Dakota which too has no explosive payload. Aside from the factual mistakes you made, your blog post is well-written and answers the blog post prompt in a very incisive manner.
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Thank you for your feedback!
I would like to clarify some things:
I am still in the process of learning about the U.S devision of states and how big each state is compared to what I am used to in Algeria. After some quick research apparently South Dakota consists of 156 cities. Coming back to my point, on my essay, what I meant by “city” is the “Rapid City” that has been mentioned in the article. I quote: “The ‘Minuteman Promises Economic Lift’… asserting that ‘there is little doubt’ the missile program ‘will herald vast economic benefits for the entire West River region, as well as Rapid City.'” so if I could make a conclusion their was indeed economical lift both to areas near the missile sites but mostly on the Rapid city.
Additionally, in my last line I was not speaking about the present but rather about the past. What I meant is they decided to keep that site today as a form of recognition to the people who lived nearby it -because it is a big burden for citizens who live nearby to just accept it- in this sentence I made the mistake of using the present tense I should have used the past simple to express my idea because I wanted to emphasise on the bravery and patriotism the people in the past must have had to simply accept living nearby missiles. Even though the missiles were kept inside silos that were mostly buried underground, their danger was still existent and real.
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