SDI helped pump new life into local defense programs

Ronald Reagan's peace-through-strength initiatives wed defense to space, enhancing Madison County's strength in the process.

The 40th president didn't introduce missile defense work to Huntsville, but his Strategic Defense Initiative, announced in 1983, pumped new life into defense and technological programs here. Reagan's "Star Wars" solidified Huntsville's role in national defense.

"He ended the Cold War with SDI and Huntsville was a major part of that," said state Rep. Howard Sanderford, R-Huntsville. "I don't know of any place that benefited more from SDI than Huntsville and Washington."

Even if missile defense importance waned, the impact of the research and development done in Huntsville would live on.

State Rep. Ray Garner, R-Monrovia, moved here in the mid-1980s as missile defense work was ramping up.

"The SDI work done here has led Huntsville in so many new directions, to so many new products," said Garner, 47. "There's no way to know what Huntsville would be if there hadn't been SDI.

"I'm sure it would've continued to grow, but I don't think it could've grown the way it did."

Today, almost $1 billion in local payroll dollars can be directly traced to 8,822 people working in missile development and missile defense. Economists say that payroll has a direct economic impact on North Alabama of $2.5 billion a year, though military spending can fluctuate wildly from budget to budget.

President Bush made a request this year of $9 billion for the Missile Defense Agency, an increase of nearly 20 percent over last year, to include the development of ground-based and sea-based missile interceptors.

The administration said the United States needs to develop missile defenses to guard against rogue nations such as North Korea that could fire missiles loaded with nuclear, chemical or biological warheads.

Efforts to provide the nation with a missile defense system began in the early 1960s on Redstone Arsenal when engineers turned Hawk and Nike-Zeus air defense missiles into a weapon that would shoot down other missiles.

The nation's first antiballistic missile defense system, Safeguard, was developed in Huntsville and deployed in North Dakota about 100 miles northwest of Grand Forks. But the site was shut down a few months later in 1976 because of strategic arms negotiations with the Soviet Union.

Reagan "made a very significant difference to Huntsville just from the missile defense standpoint and also from defense programs overall, too," said Dick Holloway. Holloway, a former Boeing manager in Huntsville, went on to become an executive at then-SCI Inc. and president of Teledyne Brown, all firms with SDI work.

Sanderford recalled when Reagan visited Huntsville more than 24 years ago for an appearance at the Elks Club on Franklin Street.

Reagan was running for president for the first time. "I thought it was just going to be 30 or 40 people," said Sanderford, "but the room was full." Reagan spoke to about 500 GOP supporters and reporters at a meeting of the Huntsville Press Club on Jan. 30, 1980. That fall, Reagan carried Madison County by just 135 votes against President Carter. The race drew 61,000 voters.

Sanderford also recalled Reagan spent the night at the Huntsville Hilton after he spoke at the Spirit of America Festival in Decatur on July 4, 1984. The next morning, Reagan spoke at the Hilton to campaign workers. And before he left he took time to have his picture taken with a hotel cook, Sanderford said.

Elbert Peters, the 5th Congressional District's Republican Party chairman, agreed that Reagan's presidency meant great things to Huntsville, but it meant an even bigger thing to the world.

"His efforts ended the Cold War, which was one of the biggest, best things to happen in the 20th century," he said. "He was an advocate of peace. He was a good man."

Times staff writer Mike Hollis contributed to this report.