1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:07,360 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hi everyone, I'm Eves and welcome to This 3 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:10,399 Speaker 1: Day in History Class, a podcast where we one day 4 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 1: ship nugs of history straight to your brain through your 5 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 1: ear hole. Today it's February. The day was February nineteen 6 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:32,960 Speaker 1: fifty four. US President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation that 7 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 1: allowed for the construction of the Distant Early Warning Line. 8 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: The DOW Line was a system of more than sixty 9 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:44,960 Speaker 1: radar installations established across the Arctic to detect Soviet aircraft 10 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 1: and intercontinental ballistic missiles. In the early nineteen fifties, Cold 11 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,600 Speaker 1: War tensions were high, there were systems in place to 12 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 1: detect Soviet threats in the US and Canada, including radar line. 13 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: One such radar net was the Pine Tree Line, the 14 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:04,920 Speaker 1: first line of air defense established in Canada during the 15 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: Cold War. It ran roughly along the fiftieth parallel north 16 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:14,119 Speaker 1: across southern Canada and the northern US. But the Pine 17 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 1: Tree Line didn't provide that much warning time before an attack, 18 00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 1: and it used pulse radar, which had difficulty detecting planes 19 00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:25,960 Speaker 1: close to the ground. Then there was the Mid Canada Line, 20 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:29,840 Speaker 1: conceived to address these issues. It was farther north than 21 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:33,440 Speaker 1: the Pine Tree Line and it ran along the fifty parallel. 22 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:37,160 Speaker 1: The system used Doppler radar and was better at low 23 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:41,840 Speaker 1: altitude detection, but the US and Canadian governments determined that 24 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:45,399 Speaker 1: they needed a way to spot Soviet attacks earlier. They 25 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:48,080 Speaker 1: determined that they would need a system of radar stations 26 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 1: across the Arctic, since North America was vulnerable to attacks 27 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:56,200 Speaker 1: from across the North Pole, so experimental stations were built 28 00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: in Illinois and Alaska. As the threat of Soviet thermonuclear 29 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:04,560 Speaker 1: devices became more apparent, the need for an early warning 30 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:09,040 Speaker 1: system became more urgent. On February fift nineteen fifty four, 31 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:13,640 Speaker 1: DUS President Eisenhower signed a bill approving the construction of 32 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 1: the Distant Early Warning Line. The network would be the 33 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:20,960 Speaker 1: primary line of air defense warnings for invasions of North 34 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:24,079 Speaker 1: America that came through the Arctic. It would be located 35 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:27,720 Speaker 1: above the Arctic Circle, roughly along the sixty nine parallel. 36 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:31,280 Speaker 1: A lot of that land was uninhabited, but there were 37 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:35,960 Speaker 1: indigenous people living in some areas. The Western Electric Company 38 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:39,000 Speaker 1: was tasked with completing the Dow Line by July of 39 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty seven. It took around twenty thousand people to 40 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:47,240 Speaker 1: plan and build the network, and thousands of tons of 41 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:51,200 Speaker 1: materials were moved across the continent to build radar domes, 42 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 1: communication towers, and other facilities and infrastructure necessary to build 43 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:59,240 Speaker 1: the stations on the line. The first phase of the 44 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:02,800 Speaker 1: Dow Line it into operation on July thirty one, nineteen 45 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 1: fifty seven. The Dow Line allowed for more than four 46 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:09,120 Speaker 1: hours of morning time before an attack. In addition to 47 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:12,600 Speaker 1: the stations across the Northern Arctic region of Canada, the 48 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:15,919 Speaker 1: Dow Line was supplemented by stations and air and sea 49 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 1: patrols in the Aleutian Islands, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, 50 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:25,560 Speaker 1: and the UK. The network proved an effective barrier against 51 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: Soviet attacks. As technology advanced, facilities aged in Soviet aggression 52 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:33,880 Speaker 1: during the Cold War became less of an issue, the 53 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:37,880 Speaker 1: Dow Line became obsolete. Starting in nineteen eighty five, the 54 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 1: Dow Line was reorganized and upgraded to a new system 55 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:44,720 Speaker 1: called the North Warning System. Many of the old Dow 56 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:48,920 Speaker 1: Line sites were abandoned or torn down. As these stations 57 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: have been cleaned up, there has been controversy over the 58 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:55,520 Speaker 1: preservation of the sites and their impact on the environment. 59 00:03:56,880 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 1: I'm Eve Jeffco and hopefully you know a little more 60 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:03,360 Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. You can keep 61 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:06,720 Speaker 1: up with us on social media on Twitter, Facebook, and 62 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:11,240 Speaker 1: Instagram at t d i h C Podcast. You can 63 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:15,280 Speaker 1: also email us at this Day at I heart media 64 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:19,279 Speaker 1: dot com. Thanks for listening. I hope to see you 65 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:28,599 Speaker 1: here again tomorrow. 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