A Shield in the Sky: The Vertical Geopolitics of Transcontinental Air Defense

Traditional military descriptions of conflict tend to focus on the movement of soldiers and armies across battlefields. When the airplane emerged, it forced military theorists to contend with a new, vertical, dimension of conflict. In America, the United States Air Force assumed an important role in this vertical dimension as the country's delivery mechanism for nuclear weapons. However, at the same time that politicians, academics, and military officials debated the offensive uses for aircraft a second debate occurred describing how best to use military means to defend the North American continent. Those who advocated for a defensive system to protect North American, including the President Eisenhower, strongly advocated for a continent-wide test of the new air defense system. That test was conducted once a year between 1960 and 1962 during which all civilian air travel across the U.S. and Canada was suspended. The tests were called the "Sky Shield" exercises. This research shows how a prevailing mood of fear and vulnerability gave air defense proponents the political capital to build a continental air defense network and test it during the Sky Shield exercises. Further, it describes the enduring legacy of this domestically-focused Cold War defense program. The research finds that America's approach to Cold War continental defense was strong when it was aligned with the White House's nuclear strategy, but when successive political leaders changed nuclear strategies that decision negatively influenced continental defense programs. This research is useful because it examines a relatively under-explored area of Cold War defense programs. Traditionally these studies focus on offensive capabilities far from American shores. This study instead examines homeland defense and how it changed during the Cold War as a function of changing nuclear programs and changing threats to the United States.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Planning, Governance, and Globalization

Department dc:contributor.department

Public Administration/Public Affairs

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Davitch, James Michael

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Toal, Gerard

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Laslie, Brian
• Levinson, Chad
• Peters, Joel

• Vertical Geopolitics
• Sky Shield Exercise
• NORAD
• Air Defense
• Aerial Surveillance
• Continental Defense
• Cold War

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:36550

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/114923