Ellsworth Air Force Base

Minuteman Missile Sites Ellsworth Air Force Base

During the height of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, President John F. Kennedy called the Minuteman missile his "ace in the hole." For much of the Cold War, Minuteman missile sites harbored America's most potent strategic weapon, one which could deliver a thermonuclear warhead to a Soviet target within a half hour. Following the disintegration of the Soviet Union, these sites became surplus property. To review their potential for preservation as historic sites, the United States Park Service commissioned a study of the Minuteman site at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. The resulting report includes a brief history of the Minuteman ICBM missile system, followed by a description of the once top-secret installation at Ellsworth, including detailed reproduction of site blueprints. Both as a key source on the history and development of a once classified military site and as a charter document for what is today the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, "Minuteman Missile Sites" represents a unique aspect of America's treatment of its Cold War legacy. Originally published in 1995. 104 pages. ill.