Category Archives: space

The Flood of History

Posted on by under 1950s, Books, Cold War, Communism, e-books, fallout, Fiction, flood, history, missile race, Novel, space, spies, suspense, Television

It is the late 1950s, and the Andersen family is at war with itself. As back-to-back hurricanes ravage the rural town of Pennsboro, the family suffers an irredeemable loss. Georgia becomes mired in a haze of medication and TV. Marsh retreats into work and fantasies of the redhead next door. Wil, a precocious boy with a fondness for a girl with almond eyes, suspects his parents are possessed by the aliens from his favorite movie.

Adding to their private grief is the collision of consumerism and the Cold War, and the rising threat of Soviet missiles that may render obsolete America’s last hope for defense, the newly completed Distant Early Warning Line. With the launch of Sputnik, the family’s anguish comes to a head.

As the Andersens watch the first man-made satellite write history across the sky, they wonder if they, and the world, will ever find peace. Inspired by true events, Distant Early Warning portrays the fears and dreams of a generation as it navigates the promise and perils of mid-century America.

Central to the story is the Flood of ’55, which devastated the Atlantic seaboard from Pennsylvania to Connecticut. Our family was lucky. While the backyard flooded, the house, located a mile from the rampaging creeks, managed to stay dry. when the rain ended, my father piled me in the car for a view of the destruction. I would later call it the disaster tour.

Given that I’d interviewed countless survivors during my time as a journalist, the opening chapter of Distant Early Warning felt as if I were chest-deep in the water as it washed away the Andersen’s house. August 18 is the anniversary of that fateful event. Let’s hope we never see a repeat.

Chapter 1

THE RAIN FELL like darkness, like retribution, like madness. It poured for the better part of that week in August of 1955, great sheets of water blowing over ground baked to rock by drought. And then, as quickly as it had disappeared, the sun returned, lawns sparkling like champagne and children vaulting puddles despite their parents’ warnings of tetanus and polio. The urgent throb of water, pinging the roof, pooling the yard, sluicing the streets—disappeared within hours, the creeks high but confined to their banks, relief spreading over the town like a quilt on a winter night.

       Georgia Andersen was sick of the rain. Gazing at the yard, she thought it a miracle they’d survived Hurricane Connie. And now, six days later, Connie’s twin, Diane, gathered her skirts, taking aim, giving Georgia a narrow window between storms to finish the chores. She’d put Penny down for a nap and made sure Wil had something to do other than splashing through the grass with the dog. Slipping into rubber boots, the wicker laundry basket tight against her hip, she trudged through the yard to pull sheets from the line, keeping an ear tuned to the radio and the creek that after days of rain had reached a boil. An infamous waterway that joined the Pennsboro Creek below the Iron Bridge, it drew its name from John Sullivan, the Revolutionary War general who cut a swath through the Northeast before decimating the Iroquois in New York. The creek’s sudden rise seemed in honor of the general. It was not a good sign.

       With the first damp sheet, Georgia realized that, lured by the break between storms, she’d made a mistake in hanging laundry. The air, thick as tar, burrowed into the knit top she’d worn for Wil’s birthday—an impractical choice for a woman with a seven-year-old and a colicky baby, but Marsh would approve.

       From the radio in the kitchen, the announcer read the want-ads as if it were just another day.

       For sale: used mobile home, twenty-seven-foot Walco 1953, $2,200. Houck Trailer Sales. Dial Pennsboro 4-0902.

       Georgia wished they’d broadcast an update on the storm. The Pennsboro Post reported that, four days after Hurricane Connie hit North Carolina, Hurricane Diane made landfall at the same place, near Wilmington. The second storm was moving at fourteen miles an hour, bringing more rain and wind gusts of up to ninety-five miles an hour. The forecasters in Pennsylvania didn’t seem worried, predicting that Diane would exhaust herself against the Appalachian ridge. They called for rain and windy conditions, the rain diminishing to showers that evening, and compared Connie and Diane to rambunctious twins, harmless as a pair of two-year-olds bent on throwing a tantrum.

       How could they be right? All year, the weathermen had missed the mark, the excessive snow of February followed by a dearth of rain in March and April. Then the drought, July the driest month in years, with temperatures soaring into the nineties, far too warm for the Northeast, the hot spell dragging through August, with no relief in sight. Lawns baked. Patience withered with the grass. The creek by their house dried to a jagged stitch. Then, in early August, Connie hit, killing twenty-seven people in North Carolina and dumping more than ten inches of rain on eastern Pennsylvania. And now Diane, drawn into Connie’s wake, threatened to drench the already saturated ground. They couldn’t take another storm.

       Clean, deep mined anthracite. Stove and nut, $12.90. Pea, $11.50. Low ash. Cramer’s Coal.

       Not fifty feet from their home, Sullivan’s Creek bounced over rocks and broken limbs as if it were running an obstacle course, shouting its challenge to the town. Wil said he could hear the water talk. Such an active imagination. She was afraid to ask what he heard. What would the other children think, his teacher or his father, for that matter? She feared for Wil, a small boy with big ears and shy eyes, his sandy hair fine as a girl’s. The world didn’t make room for dreamers. Then again, neither did the creek.

Wreckage of the Iron Bridge that linked the boroughs of Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg, Pa.

       Unknown to her son, she also heard the murmur, the warning beneath the gloss, the repudiation of their complacency, their obsession with comfort, with all things shiny and new. Tailfins and barbecue grills, Buicks and Breck. If nature wanted to reclaim the land, she would, and nothing they’d built would stand in the way.

       Baby carriage, good condition, reasonably priced. Phone PB 4-1892.

       Penny would turn six months in September. Georgia could sell the carriage, contribute to the new house.

       Thunder shook the clouds, dragging its bootheels across the treetops, beginning its march. Her nerves vibrated in response. Within those clouds, something coiled, something terrible that waited for them to drop their guard. Her head confirmed it. A change in the weather, her husband would say. A drop in barometric pressure, his brother the Civil Defense chief would offer. An early warning, she thought, but as with most premonitions, she guarded the feeling. Even her family might not make room for dreamers.

       The first pelt of rain stung her arms. Loading the basket, she turned to watch her son bound across the soggy yard, playing tag with an imaginary friend. He was almost too old for these games. And yet she wanted to preserve this part of him forever, the part that believed in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and the innate goodness of people. She chased Wil toward the back door and, two by two, they marched into the ark.

       Inside, the air tightened its grip, as if the storm would burst through the walls at any moment. Georgia opened the windows to the sound of the creek as it churned beneath the bridge, one of only four lifelines out of town. Before he’d gone to work at the newspaper that morning, Marsh had told her not to worry. The dams and bridges that held during Connie would survive Diane. Besides, forecasters said the storm was weakening. If there was an emergency, the authorities would tell them what to do. Yes, she’d said, but what if they had to leave? Where would they go? To the church or the fire hall or the basement of the courthouse, he’d said, even though each sat perilously close to the lowest part of town.

       Yes, it’s true. Two machineless waves for $7.00 or $3.95 each. Suzanne’s Curl & Twirl, Pennsboro.

       She hadn’t had a perm since Penny’s birth. As if those things mattered.

       Dampness clung to the sheets, to her clothes, to her hair. Everything smelled like the cellar. She had to make room in the next load for the baby’s diapers, so she folded the sheets and left them in the basket by the playpen. She’d air and iron them later, when she felt less unsettled.

       The sprinkles had turned to drizzle. If the creek rose any higher, their neighbor would be the first to evacuate—an early warning sign that should have calmed her nerves. She checked the thermometer tacked to the windowsill. The temperature had dropped to eighty-four, the sign of a front on the move.

       At the kitchen sink, Wil mounted a stepstool and ran water into a metal bowl for their beagle, an animal with perpetually droopy eyes and ears, as if, in her first months of life, she, too, had grown weary of the rain.

       “Didn’t you give her water this morning?” Georgia asked.

       “Skippy’s hot.”

       Wil dipped his head, the way he did when reprimanded. She hadn’t meant to shame him. She wished he never felt that way, never felt bullied at school, by the children or his teachers or any of the well-meaning adults who felt justified in disciplining other people’s children because no one would challenge their authority.

       Georgia forced a smile. “How did you know?”

       “Her tongue was sticking out.”

       She bent until his eyes met hers. “Doesn’t it always?”

       “That’s how they stay cool. They stick their tongues out.”

       “Now how do they do that?”

       She caught the cautious glance over his shoulder to see if anyone would scold him. Confident no one else could see, he stuck out his tongue. She laughed, which earned a smile in return.

       “Well, Skippy is just a puppy. She’s going to need a lot more water than that.” He could let the rain fill the bowl, but she topped it anyway. “There. That should hold her.”

       The screen door slammed. She watched her son slog across the side yard to the coop and set the bowl in front of the dog, the water sloshing over his sneakers. Kneeling, Wil scratched Skippy’s neck, the dog’s ear dwarfing his small hand. By the time Marsh got home, both would be soaked.

       Wanted: office girl, experienced. Write to Box No. 88, care of the Pennsboro Post. Sewing machine operators: hand sewers, experienced only. Apply in person at Kingdom Dress Co. No phone calls, please.

       She could sew. When Penny got older, she could work outside the home, help them save for one of their own. If Marsh would allow it.

       The screen door complained of rust and age. Wil had pushed halfway through the opening when Georgia said in a forced whisper, “Shoes, please!” Shucking them into the corner, he sat at the kitchen table, waving his feet as if treading water, and asked if he could change the radio station. He fanned through Frank Sinatra, the Les Baxter Orchestra, the Mitch Miller Chorus, and a bouncy new song called “Rock Around the Clock” before landing on KYW News Radio in Philadelphia. The announcer described the flooding in North Carolina and the path of Diane, now headed up the steep slope of the mountains through Virginia and Maryland. The wind speed and rainfall amounts had dropped, but the storm marched on.

       “Not so loud,” Georgia said. “We don’t want to wake the baby.”

       Through the ceiling, Georgia heard the faint murmurs of a waking child. Soon, she’d need to change and feed Penny and start dinner—Italian meatloaf with Parmesan cheese and tomato sauce—but she could not wrest her eyes from the window. The rain had turned the air to tinsel. It pelted the roof in a steady tattoo. It would lie in wait all night, watching for an open window, a broken board, a crack in the foundation, any chance to wash them from their beds. For the umpteenth time that day, she mounted the stairs, the loose rubber treads clacking under her heels. Hefting Penny from the crib, she buried her nose in the whorl of hair at the baby’s crown, the warm scent of powder giving way to the faint tang of the bathroom.

Our house outside the flood zone

       “Time to get you some new duds.” Dropping the old diaper in the pail, pushing the oversized safety pins through the cloth, she let the Chordettes’s “Mr. Sandman” drift through her mind, along with a fantasy very different from the song. Bring me a dream, she thought, but make sure he knows how to feed and change a child.

       Baby clamped securely in her arm, she made her way downstairs. In the kitchen, she lowered the volume of the radio, set Penny in the playpen, and gave into Wil’s incessant request to watch TV. Regardless of the storm, Marsh would arrive at his usual time. He would rest a hand at the small of her back, nuzzle the lobe of her ear, and tell her not to worry. He would assure her the hurricane wasn’t as terrible as she’d imagined and that this, too, would pass. She would inhale his aftershave and brush the stubble of his cheek, and sway to the murmur in her ear.

       Her insides stirred, one of the few times since they’d had Penny. She stole a look to see if Wil had noticed. He squinted at the television as if it were an eye chart, oblivious to everything except the world on the screen. In the playpen, Penny crawled toward imagined freedom beyond the bars. Stepping outside, sheltered by the overhang, she watched for her husband as rain burst through the trees, bringing with it the smell of ancient things—rotting wood, decaying leaves, the dying lawn. In the shifting currents, the grass moved like seaweed, resigned to its fate, waving farewell to a former life.

       She crossed her arms against the dampness, the coming night, the storm that hid within its folds. What had happened to them? While Penny’s birth had gone as well as expected, it had opened a gap with Marsh, giving her a kind of vertigo. What had upset their careful balance? Was it lack of sleep, a change in Georgia’s appearance, the presence of another child, another mouth to feed? The baby’s colic exacerbated that distance. Even Wil noticed it, claiming she spent all of her time with the baby. He must have felt deeply to risk discipline for speaking his mind. Yet she could not ignore the child they’d prayed to conceive. Wil and his father would have to accept the little of herself she had to spare, until Penny grew old enough to care for herself. How long would they wait? That drought of attention could last forever.

       By 8:30, the sky had turned to ink. Rain continued to thrum against the roof. Retrieving the baby from her playpen, Georgia shooed a protesting Wil upstairs, reminding him to change into his jammies and brush his teeth. With the baby down for the night, her time had finally arrived. Switching on the television, she settled on the couch and tried to watch Fear Strikes Out, a movie Marsh would have liked about center fielder Jimmy Piersall. But at 9:30 the lights vanished with a snap. Suddenly blind, she groped toward the telephone. It was out, too. Now there was no way to call Marsh, even if she knew where to find him. And he had taken the car.

       From the street, shouts competed with the swish of tires, then a shudder as something heavy struck the bridge, rattling the house as if the earth had broken in two. The room squeezed her heart. Inhaling through her mouth, she told herself she was responsible for the children and had to think of their welfare. Marsh said that, if the town declared an emergency, the fire chief would blow the siren, and someone would come to their rescue. She could wait for the siren, but not in this stifling dark.

       Groping through a drawer in the kitchen, she found a small flashlight, thumbed the button and, checking that Skippy was safe, traced a path upstairs. Awakened by a noise in the street, Wil emerged from his room draped in sleep. Cradling Penny—the baby fussed but didn’t cry, the cereal settling for once—Georgia led him downstairs, where she rummaged through another drawer to find their good tapers and a box of matches. Placing the candles on the table, she opened the screen door and peered into the dark. She didn’t need a light to hear the rush of water across their yard. The town’s storm sewers were designed to handle a hard rain. Their home was not.

       Wil noticed it first. Lifting a hand to stay his questions, she listened to the tinny sound of water trickling into the house. Opening the door to the basement, she played the flashlight over a small lake, the surface foaming like root beer. The seasonal items they’d stored bumped against the bottom of the steps—boxes of clothing, Christmas decorations, a pair of lawn chairs Marsh had promised to fix. Within the time it took to identify each object, the water rose to the second step, then the third. In minutes, it would reach the kitchen, sweeping them and their possessions through the front door.

       The playpen sat a good nine inches above the living room floor. She set Penny inside and turned to her son.

       “You’re a big boy now. I need you to help Mommy move some things upstairs.”

       Slipping into her boots, assuring herself that Wil had buckled his, she tottered down the basement stairs, hanging onto the railing, calling for Wil to be careful. The water had risen so rapidly, she had to duck to see under the rafters. Playing the light over the walls, she watched as water gushed between the stones, flooding the furnace and coalbin and inching dangerously close to the fuse box. They’d used the last of their spares, and there was no way, once the power came back, she was going to wade through that water and use a penny to complete the circuit.

       Urging Wil up the stairs, she closed the door and leaned her head against it. Even with the curtains open, the windows appeared blank, the streetlamps dead. The flashlight cast a narrow cone in one direction only. There was no place to set it and see clearly enough to climb the stairs to the bedrooms. Georgia would have to hold the light and the furniture, and her hands were already slick with sweat. She and Wil were able to lift the lamps, books, and ottoman onto the dining room table. The rugs they lugged upstairs and piled into the bathtub. There would be a mess to clean before she could bathe Penny, but it was the best they could do.

       Where was Marsh, and was he all right? And where were the firemen he was supposed to send? Wil’s bedtime prayer rang in her head. Now I lay me down to sleep.

       The radio had died. Rain thrummed against the roof, the sound clotting her ears. She considered leaving, but where could they go on foot? Besides, there was a house between them and the creek and a concrete retaining wall lining one side of the bank. The town must have thought it would hold the water or they wouldn’t have built it.

       Thunder rolled over the house, rattling the windows, shaking the floor. Wil took her hand. Penny issued a startled cry. Lifting her from the playpen, Georgia moved to heat water for a bottle before she realized the appliances were as dead as the lights. Dumb, she thought and dutifully pushed a nipple through its plastic ring, mixed the formula with tepid water from the tap, and let it sit.

       If I should die before I ’wake.

       The fire sirens came on with the whoosh of a gas burner, the sound oscillating between panic and fear. It cut through her chest. The creek would ignore the warning. Georgia pictured it as a mythic creature rising on stout legs, beating its chest, thundering its demands. She, too, would not be moved. They would ride out the storm until help arrived.

       The sound of rain intensified. It seemed to buckle the walls. Holding Penny and the flashlight, she instructed Wil to jam towels under the back door. That would keep some of the water at bay. The basement posed the real threat. The old stone walls could collapse. Before sealing the cellar, she ventured a last look. Clasping the light to the baby’s back, Georgia aimed at the door. With her free hand, she reached for the knob and hesitated, her fingers suspended in the beam, her body sensing the weight of something trapped beneath the stairs, the pressure on a dam ready to burst. As if watching herself, she grasped the handle and cracked the door.

       Even as she stumbled back, she knew she’d made a terrible mistake.

The back of our house after the Flood of ’55

A Not-So-Distant Warning

Posted on by under 1950s, Advertising, Books, Cold War, Commerce, Communism, Culture, e-books, fallout, Fiction, flood, history, missile race, Novel, space, spies, Television

August 18, 1955 is a day that will live in infamy for people of the Northeast. That was the day the Flood of ’55 ravaged our small town. Back-to-back hurricanes Connie and Diane turned peaceful creeks into raging torrents, sweeping aside towns from Pennsylvania to Connecticut and killing hundreds, seemingly in the blink of an eye.

As a child, I don’t remember much of that time, but years later, as a journalist investigating the events of that terrible night, I was stunned by the hardship and heroism of those who survived. With the benefit of hindsight, I decided to explore their stories through a series of novels.

The first book in the trilogy, Distant Early Warning, introduces us to the Andersen family as they struggle to recover from the devastating flood. The novel, and the ones to follow—Cold Fire and Good People—portray the dreams and fears of a family, town, and country as they navigate the promise and perils of Cold War America. Distant Early Warning doesn’t only refer to the DEW Line, the system of Arctic radar stations designed to detect incoming Soviet bombers. The title serves as a metaphor for the internal system that warns us of impending danger, warnings we often ignore.

Russia, rockets, race, and repression—issues the Andersens tried to resolve in the ’50 that revisit us today. As does their struggle for mercy and hope.

Theirs is a journey from darkness to light. Follow it here. Or start with that terrible night of August 18 in this excerpt from Chapter 4.

The Iron Bridge that before the Flood of ’55 connected the boroughs of Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg, Pa.

AT TEN TO NINE, Georgia let Skippy out for a short walk, wiped the dog’s back with a dishtowel, and moved her box into the kitchen. This was Georgia’s time. Switching on the television, she settled on the couch and tried to watch Fear Strikes Out, a movie Marsh would have liked about center fielder Jimmy Piersall. But at 9:30 the lights vanished with a snap. Suddenly blind, she groped toward the telephone. It was out, too. Now there was no way to call Marsh, even if she knew where to find him. And he had taken the car.
       From the street, shouts competed with the swish of tires, then a shudder as something heavy struck the bridge, rattling the house as if the earth had broken in two. The room squeezed her heart. Inhaling through her mouth, she told herself she was responsible for the children and had to think of their welfare. Marsh said that, if the town declared an emergency, the fire chief would blow the siren, and someone would come to their rescue. She could wait for the siren, but not in this stifling dark.
       Groping through a drawer in the kitchen, she found a small flashlight, thumbed the button and, checking that Skippy was safe in her makeshift bed, traced a path upstairs. Awakened by a noise in the street, Wil emerged from his room, still dressed in his life vest and rocket pack, ready to battle whoever he imagined had attacked the house. Cradling Penny—the baby fussed but didn’t cry, the cereal settling for once—Georgia led him downstairs, where she rummaged through another drawer to find their good tapers and a box of matches. Placing the candles on the table, she opened the screen door and peered into the dark. She didn’t need a light to sense the rush of water across their yard. The town’s storm sewers were designed to handle a hard rain. Their home was not.
       Wil noticed it first. Lifting a hand to stay his questions, she listened to the tinny sound of water trickling into the house. Opening the door to the basement, she played the flashlight over a small lake, the surface foaming like root beer. The seasonal items they’d stored bumped against the bottom of the steps—boxes of clothing, Christmas decorations, a pair of lawn chairs Marsh had promised to fix. Within the time it took to identify each object, the water rose to the second step, then the third. In minutes, it would reach the kitchen, sweeping them and their possessions through the front door.
       The playpen sat a good nine inches above the living room floor. She set Penny inside and turned to her son.
       “You’re a big boy now. I need you to help Mommy move some things upstairs.”
       Slipping into her boots, assuring herself that Wil had buckled his, she tottered down the basement stairs, hanging onto the railing, calling for Wil to be careful. The water had risen so rapidly, she had to duck to see under the rafters. Playing the light over the walls, she watched as water gushed between the stones, flooding the furnace and coal bin and inching dangerously close to the fuse box. They’d used the last of their spares, and there was no way, once the power came back, she was going to wade through that water and use a penny to complete the circuit.
       Urging Wil up the stairs, she closed the door and leaned her head against it. Even with the curtains open, the windows appeared blank, the streetlamps dead. The flashlight cast a narrow cone in one direction only. There was no place to set it and see clearly enough to climb the stairs to the bedrooms. Georgia would have to hold the light and the furniture, and her hands were already slick with sweat. She and Wil were able to lift the lamps, books, and ottoman onto the dining room table. The rugs they lugged upstairs and piled into the bathtub. There would be a mess to clean before she could bathe Penny, but it was the best they could do.
       Wil hovered at her side, jittering as if he had to go to the bathroom. “Can we bring Phil upstairs?”
       Marsh had spoken to Wil about how, as people grew older, they said goodbye to their imaginary friends, but now was not the time for a sermon. Besides, the Philco had cost nearly five hundred dollars, more than a tenth of what Marsh earned at the paper, and Georgia wasn’t about to lose it. She and Wil tried to drag the television up the narrow stairwell but couldn’t shove it past the first few steps. They left it on the landing and made their way to the kitchen.
       Where was Marsh, and was he all right? And where were the firemen he was supposed to send? Wil’s bedtime prayer rang in her head.
       Now I lay me down to sleep.
       The radio had died. Rain thrummed against the roof, the sound clotting her ears. She considered leaving, but where could they go on foot? Besides, there was a house between them and the creek and a concrete retaining wall lining one side of the bank. The town must have thought it would hold the water or they wouldn’t have built it.
       I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
       Thunder rolled over the house, rattled the windows, shook the floor. Wil took her hand. Penny issued a startled cry. Lifting her from the playpen, Georgia moved to heat water for a bottle before she realized the appliances were as dead as the lights. Dumb, she thought and dutifully pushed a nipple through its plastic ring, mixed the formula with tepid water from the tap, and let it sit.
       If I should die before I ’wake.
       The fire sirens came on with the whoosh of a gas burner, the sound oscillating between panic and fear. It cut through her chest. The creek would ignore the warning. Georgia pictured it as a mythic creature rising on stout legs, beat its chest, thundering its demands. She, too, would not be moved. They would ride out the storm until help arrived.
       I pray the Lord my soul to take.
       The sound of rain intensified. It seemed to buckle the walls. Holding Penny and the flashlight, she instructed Wil to jam towels under the back door. That would keep some of the water at bay. The basement posed the real threat. The old stone walls could collapse. Before sealing the cellar, she ventured a last look. Clasping the light to the baby’s back, Georgia aimed at the door. With her free hand, she reached for the knob and hesitated, her fingers suspended in the beam, her body sensing the weight of something trapped below the stairs, the pressure on a dam ready to burst. As if watching herself, she grasped the handle and cracked the door.
       Even as she stumbled back, she knew she’d made a terrible mistake.

A Story for Our Time

Posted on by under 1950s, Advertising, Books, Cold War, Communism, fallout, Fiction, flood, history, missile race, Novel, space, spies

Nearly 70 years ago, twin hurricanes devastated our small Pennsylvania community. The flooding was horrific. Overnight, the small creeks and streams we’d taken for granted became raging rivers, crushing towns under a wall of water. Some 78 people died in our area alone.

For those who survived, August 18, 1955, would change their lives.

Our house was spared, but neighbors weren’t so lucky. Days after the event, my father took me on what we’d later call the disaster tour. I remember standing in the blistering sun, a cruel irony after so much rain, to gaze at mudflats that went on for miles, the ground dried and cracked, stones protruding like skulls. Once there’d been woods and houses along the creek. Now, there was nothing but a mocking trickle of water.

I became a journalist and went to work for the local newspaper. Every few years, it would print an issue to commemorate the flood. My editor asked me to interview some of the survivors. I tried to capture their fear and faith, but there’s only so much that will fit into an article. One day, I promised myself, I’d write a truer account of those times, one that put that fear, bravery, and love in the broader context of the Cold War, told through the eyes of a family struggling with the everyday concerns of the 1950s—Communism, polio, bullies, sexual repression, mass consumerism, and the ever-present threat of nuclear war.

It took some time, but I published the first novel in 2022. Distant Early Warning tells the story of the Andersen family—Georgia the housewife, Marsh the ad salesman and fireman, and 10-year-old Wil—as they struggle with the promise and perils of mid-century America. The book takes its title from the DEW Line, a system of radar stations designed to warn America of an impending Soviet attack. The title also encapsulated the idea that all of us have a built-in personal warning system that we often ignore.

To explore the Andersens’ recovery from the flood and the paranoia of the era, I followed that novel with a sequel, Cold Fire, which takes its title from a description of radioactive fallout that. Cold to the touch, fallout burns. So, for the Anderson family, does guilt. Each member carries a secret fear—that they are responsible for the tragedy consuming their lives. Just as each will discover that they alone hold the key to surviving this brave new world. As with the DEW Line, cold fire became a metaphor of the times.

The capstone of the series, Good People, takes place as the family and the country enter the most intense period of the Cold War. Georgia yearns to break free from the isolation and grief that has gripped her for years. Marsh wrestles with a passion for possessions and the redhead next door. And ten-year-old Wil struggles with bullies, a violent cousin, and a surprising attraction to girls.

Conflicts explode as flirtations invite danger, the cousins uncover a spy, and an arsonist targets the town. Yet despite their loss, the Andersens continue to search for the goodness in others—as well as themselves.

Good People lays bare the dreams and desires of 1950s America. A story of trial and triumph, it illuminates a crucial time in history while shedding a light on our own.

Good People is on sale now. You can preview the novel here.

Second Pennsboro novel launches Aug. 18

Posted on by under 1950s, Advertising, Art, Books, Cold War, Communism, e-books, fallout, Fiction, flood, history, Novel, space, spies, surveillance, Television

The long awaited (at least by me) sequel to Distant Early Warning arrives today. Cold Fire continues the saga of the Andersen family as they struggle with the tragic aftermath of the Flood of ‘55. Georgia redoubles her fight to recover from unbearable grief. Marsh yearns for a safer home and the affection of his once-vibrant wife. And ten-year-old Wil retreats into the fantasy of TV to escape the confusing world of bullies, air-raid drills, and the girl next door.

There are new challenges, too, at home and abroad. While Sputnik has launched the space race, America’s conspicuous consumption has fueled a class war. Cold War paranoia pits neighbor against neighbor as word spreads of a spy in their midst. An explosion at the Russian couple’s farm, a near-fatal blizzard, and the death of a close friend threaten to shatter everyone’s peace.

Yet the Andersens’ greatest challenge has less to do with Communists than compassion. Each carries a secret fear—that unyielding fate is responsible for the tragedy consuming their lives. As each will discover that they alone hold the key to surviving their brave new world.

The launch of Cold Fire coincides with the 68th anniversary of the Flood of ’55. You can find both e-book and print versions here: https://amzn.to/44NtUMC

What people are saying about the work:

“Widmer’s writing is compelling, filled with empathy for his characters and sprinkled with gentle wit.”

— Ellen Brosnahan, The Second Mrs. Ringling

“Jeff Widmer is a master at putting the reader in the setting, and his gift for dialogue is unparalleled.”

— Jo Horne, Monica’s War

“Gripping and poignant, a satisfying and enlightening read.”

— Eric Sheridan Wyatt, In Loco Parentis

“A magnificent story. This book deserves a second read. And maybe more.”

— Amy’s Bookshelf Reviews

Ten infamous episodes of the 1950s

Posted on by under 1950s, Cold War, Communism, fallout, flood, missile race, space

People living in the 1950s faced a host of existential issues. Many reverberate with us today. Here are ten episodes and influences that shaped the culture, then and now.

10. The Korean conflict

9. Rosenberg executions

8. Hydrogen bomb

7. McCarthy Communist hearings

6. Polio epidemic

5. Flood of 1955

4. Death of Joseph Stalin

3. Building the DEW Line

2. Little Rock Nine

1. Sputnik

What would you choose for your top ten?

Next: 10 significant cultural influences

Jeff Widmer’s latest book is Distant Early Warning, a novel of the Cold War.

Replica of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite launched into space, Oct. 4, 1957

The final frontier

Posted on by under Commerce, Culture, history, space

George Diller, the voice of NASA’s launch control, provided the commentary for many of NASA’s missions, from the space shuttle to the probes to Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. I interviewed the former Sarasota, Florida resident in 1978 and again a few years ago, as the shuttle program was ending. While Diller has embarked on his final frontier, retirement, his spirit lives on.

He is the voice of launch control. When the space shuttle takes off in a blaze of fire, the sound you hear over the roar of the rockets is George Diller, a former radio journalist turned spokesperson for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

I met Diller forty years ago on a runway at the Kennedy Space Center, at the dawn of the space shuttle program, when women and men dreamed of space flight as routine as taking the train to work. As a journalist I’d landed in Florida to cover the construction of the first shuttle that would fly into space, the orbiter Columbia. Diller, a contract public relations specialist assigned to show me the inner workings of KSC, gave me a glimpse at that future, and the vehicle that would take us there.

After thirty years we met again, this time by phone, for an interview about the legacy of the space shuttle program and the future of human space flight. This post was first published on June 12, 2017.

Space Shuttle Enterprise at the Kennedy Space Center (Photo © 2022 by Jeff Widmer)

JW: When people write the history of the space shuttle program, what will they say?

GD: I think it will be recalled as a storied program because the space shuttle has had so many different roles and mission objectives during the thirty years it’s been flying. Initially we looked at it as something that would take everything into space, both commercial payloads as well as NASA’s planetary spacecraft. At that time the International Space Station was still on the drawing boards.

The shuttle started by taking a combination of payloads, commercial payloads on a cost-reimbursable basis and then the other things that NASA wanted to put in low-earth orbit. As a stepping stone to the International Space Station we had Spacelab, designed to lay the groundwork for the space station. Some of our most historic payloads were deployed from the space shuttle bay, and they included the Hubble Space Telescope, the Galileo probe to Jupiter, the Magellan mission to Venus and the Ulysses mission to the sun.

After we resumed flying after the Challenger accident we had a very different objective. We looked to one day commercializing the space shuttle. We would move to the moon or Mars, leaving the private sector to do the lower-orbit missions. That is almost exactly what will happen under President Barack Obama’s mission. The Columbia accident also caused us to think of what the long term mission of the shuttle would be. We divested ourselves of the idea that the shuttle would be a commercial vehicle we could launch every two weeks, more as a delivery truck, and doing space science missions as well. We took it back to being a research-and-development spacecraft.

There are three more launches, including the one on May 14. The final launch will be in November but we’re still talking about one after that. (The last space shuttle launch, the Atlantis orbiter STS-135, launched on 8 July 2011.)

JW: What is the legacy of the shuttle program?

GD: The space shuttle gave NASA and human space flight the flexibility to do things that no other vehicle had done. Because of the size of the shuttle and the volume of payloads it could take into space, nothing else we can see can haul things that weight as much or are as outsized. The shuttle gave us a capability that we never had before and won’t have in the future.

JW: What has the shuttle program contributed to science and society?

GD: That’s what Spacelab was all about. We wanted to prove the kind of science we wanted to do on the International Space Station, in terms of developing new pharmaceuticals, computer substrates and metals. We were also testing whether humans could survive in space for long periods of time—six months or more. That has spun off to us here on the ground. We can take full advantage of that scientific and commercial innovation.

JW: You’re one of the voices of the launch of the shuttle. How do you feel when it takes off?

GD: For me it’s not much different than it was thirty years ago when we launched the first one. It is such an awesome feeling to see that power, to hear the sound and feel its effect on your chest. The visual effect is particularly alluring during a night launch. It is still thrilling to watch, fascinating and breathtaking.

JW: How do you feel when it’s coming in for a landing?

Workers assemble a solid-rocket booster in the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center (Photo © 2022 by Jeff Widmer)

GD: It’s pretty neat to watch if it’s in the daytime. You see it coming overhead like a silver streak. It’s dropping like a rock, extremely fast. As the wheels come down and the parachute comes out you’re dropping from thousands of miles an hour to about 200 miles an hour in a few minutes. When it goes by it sounds just like a jet.

JW: Do you get anxious when the shuttle comes in for a landing?

GD: I feel like we have a capability since the Columbia accident to know whether we have anything to be concerned about. I have a little apprehension in the launch control center while we’re waiting for Kennedy to make contact. We don’t have communications until 500 miles out and 12 minutes before landing. When we had Columbia going over Texas we were waiting for that contact to happen. We were having communications problems. We know in reentry there can be brief blackout periods. None of the acquisition systems here at the Cape could pick it up.

JW: What’s next for NASA?

GD: It’s still a little hazy. We know that President Obama has cancelled the Constellation program, which offered a smaller version of the shuttle to go back and forth to the space station and a larger version to go back to the moon. Obama has penciled out the craft to the moon. Astronauts will go on commercial rockets in about five years. Since the moon is not in the president’s vision for the agency, we might be going to an asteroid. But we have to have a vehicle different from the one that would go to the moon.

We’re developing technologies that that would go beyond the moon, and that’s going to take about five years to do. We have to decide what kind of rocket that is going to be, who is going to design it and who is going to build it. We need to develop new propulsion technologies.

The rockets that go to the space station will be owned by commercial interests. In the long term all things will be commercially launched by commercial space taxis. It’s not far from NASA’s mission of twenty-five years ago. It wanted to move on to higher programs. It can’t own and maintain all launch vehicles. Commercial rockets will be reconfigured so they can carry astronauts back and forth to the space station. We’re going to reconfigure Complex 39 and Cape Canaveral Air Force station for commercial low-earth orbits.

JW: What’s the future of human space flight?

GD: In the near term the International Space Station is where it’s at. The capabilities that NASA is going to help the private sector develop will create more human potential in low-earth orbit. Beyond that it’s a little hard for me to see. This change in direction from what we’ve be doing over the past five years is a 180, a completely different approach. You have to design and build a new propulsion system. You have to have funding. The legislative process has to weigh in. The Congress feels we need more answers. We’re going to need more time to see. In the meantime our geophysics loads will continue to be launched on unmanned vehicles. We’ve got some exciting planetary flights and earth observation satellite launches planned. That will all continue without missing a beat.

JW: You were there at the inception of America’s space shuttle program. How do you feel when you look back on it?

GD: I feel like I’m privileged to be with NASA. At some point in history we’ll look back at the shuttle much as we did the Apollo program. I was there for the first one and I’ll be there for the last one.

JW: Thanks. I’ll see you in another thirty years.

Jeff Widmer’s latest book is Distant Early Warning, a novel of the Cold War.

NASA’s firing room No. 2 under construction in 1978 at the Kennedy Space Center (Photo © 2022 by Jeff Widmer)