The Air Force made the expected announcement that a complex of 18 missile silos would be placed around Tucson 50 years ago.
The Star article that ran June 9, 1960, announced that nine of the locations were already determined and another nine were pending at sites that were being surveyed. The sites ranged from 20 to 35 miles from Tucson, with six in Pima County, two in Pinal County and one in Cochise County.
The announcement was made by Col. William C. Bacon, senior tactical commander at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. Along with the announcement was a discussion of fallout:
During yesterday's conference, Col. Bacon pointed out that the Air Force has thoroughly studied the fallout aspects in case of attack.
(The Committee Against Ringing Tucson With Titans, headed by Dr. James McDonald, University of Arizona physicist, has opposed the placement of Titans anywhere but to the east of the city. The Committee contends that prevailing winds would carry lethal radiation fallout from west to east.)
Col. Bacon said that fallout has been carefully considered by the Air Force. "They have taken into account all measures which would give the greatest safety to the populace," he said. "All prevailing winds in the Tucson area have been taken into consideration."
Col. Bacon also painted a dark picture for U.S. citizens in case of a massive strike against America. "More than 60 per cent of the nation would be affected by fallout in case of all-out war," Bacon said.
"The closeness of Titans to Tucson is immaterial," he added. Tucson has been a prime target for 10 years with our manned bombers. It will continue to be with both missiles and bombers.
"If, for example, the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco were struck by missiles, approximately as many Tucsonans could be exposed to the dangers of radiation fallout as would be a nuclear strike at the Tucson Titan sites.
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Aside from having maximum striking power as a deterrent to a strike against the United States, the missiles also represented the possibility of jobs since much of the building materials for the site would come from Arizona and local labor would likely be used for construction.
