Cold War in Kansas
Once the US and the Soviet Union were great allies around WWII. But, by 1947 the relationship was tense. The US was worried about the Soviets Unions communist leader Joseph Stalin because of his oppressive, controlling, and blood-thirsty mindset. Soviet growth in Eastern Europe made many Americans fear of a Russian communist plan to control the world. So how or why did the Cold War start. It had to do with international politics, cultural and religious beliefs, and an economic struggle between the two world superpowers, the US and Soviet Union. A cold war is by definition A state of political tension and military rivalry between nations that stops short of full-scale war says thefreedictionary.com.
During the Cold War each side possessed nuclear weapons and each side was racing to be the first with the ability to deliver these missiles over extremely long distances. Each missile silo typically cost about 15 million to produce. The silos were roughly 52 ft. in diameter and going 174 ft. into the ground with walls made of reinforced concrete 9 ft. thick. There were also restroom and kitchen facilities, sleeping quarters, and launch equipment. Within the concrete shell by shock absorbers the entire facility was built to theoretically withstand a nuclear attack and still remain functional. You need these to withstand a nuclear attack so if they launch their weapons and hurt us were not disabled and can fire back without delay.
There is another thing that is called Mutual assured destruction or MAD. MAD is a type of military strategy and national security policy in which a use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete destruction of both nations. That is why neither of us fired our missiles because we could destroy each other and no one would win we would just have two less nations in the world.
In Kansas there are quite a few nuclear missile silos. They're in Rock Creek, Worden, Waverly, Burlingame, Bushong, Dover, Wamego, Delia, and Holten. These all had nuclear missiles in these places. There are not in use anymore but being renovated into underground houses or even doomsday bunkers!
In the last 25 years these silos have been bought for personal use or commercial use. A few have been converted into underground homes. Others have been converted into underground storage facilities or in other cases one is being used as an underground scuba diving site. In the end 77 Atlas missile silos were built. Most were clustered in groups of 12 that were around an Air Force base that they were assigned to.
In one case there was a missile silo in Wamego, Ks. It was deactivated by the Air Force in 1965 but Gordon Skinner about the property in 1996 says getruralkansas.org. He did an incredible remodeling job. It now has a 1,100-gallon hot tub, three large carpeted living rooms, and a massive bath complex equipped with imported jade and marble! With about 16,000-square foot of floor space the two main structures are connected by a 120-foot tunnel.
History.com Staff. "Cold War History." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 01 Jan. 2009. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cold-war-history>
"Missile Locations." Missile Locations. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.548sms.com/missilelocations.htm>
"Countdown To Launch." Phildorsett.com. N.p., 28 Dec. 2009. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.phildorsett.com/>
"Cold War Missile Silo Base/Private Residence." Wamego Explorations. Kansas Sampler Foundation, 2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.
<http://getruralkansas.org/Wamego/186Explore/1031.shtml>
