In 1955, Sears Roebuck & Co. ran a newspaper advertisement in Colorado Springs with a phone number children could call to speak with Santa, but a printing error connected eager kids not to the North Pole but to the red phone on the desk of Continental Air Defense Command director Col. Harry Shoup, a line so important that only a four-star general at the Pentagon and Shoup had the number. When the phone rang that December and a small voice asked for Santa, Shoup was initially annoyed but chose to play along rather than disappoint the child, and as more calls flooded in throughout the night, he staffed the line with airmen to answer for Santa and even added Santa’s sleigh to the glass tracking board used to monitor flights over the United States. Shoup called local radio stations declaring they had an unidentified flying object that looked like a sleigh, with stations calling back every hour asking for Santa’s location, inadvertently launching what would become a cherished global tradition. His daughter Terri Van Keuren recalls her father receiving letters from all over the world thanking him for having a sense of humor and starting something so magical, with the family sharing the heartwarming origin story with StoryCorps decades later.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command took over responsibility for tracking Santa in 1958 when it was formed, and the tradition has grown more technologically advanced and popular every year since. Today, NORAD uses its powerful 47-installation North Warning System radar across Alaska and northern Canada, globally integrated satellites with infrared sensors that detect Rudolph’s glowing nose, and F-15, F-16, F-22, and Canadian CF-18 fighter jets that escort Santa safely through North American airspace. More than 500 uniformed personnel, Defense Department civilians, their families and supporters volunteer their time on Christmas Eve to answer children’s questions, with the operation now reaching millions through NORADSanta.org, mobile apps, social media, Amazon Alexa, and the traditional phone line at 1-877-Hi-NORAD. In 2020 alone, the website received more than 11 million visitors from over 200 countries and territories, volunteers answered more than 20,000 calls, and millions more tracked Santa through various digital platforms, proving that one accidental phone call 70 years ago created something truly special that continues bringing holiday magic to families worldwide.
