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Current Conditions & Advisories
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Nuclear Reactions: background materials
GGNPC - Tung Chee John Porter assists students during a visit to the Nike site. The curriculum for Nuclear Reactions includes resources to help teachers prepare for a trip to the Nike missile launch facility in the Marin Headlands, along with materials to aid in learning about the history of this unique historic site. Prior to bringing your class to the Nike site, please complete the lesson, How do competing ideologies exist?, on pages 2 and 3 of the curriculum. Included in this lesson is a short, introductory video. The video link is on our Nuclear Reactions home page. Following your visit to the Nike site, use any of the resources described below to delve deeper into the Cold War experience. The Nike missile fact sheet provides an overview of the Nike missile site in the Marin Headlands. To begin to consider Nike site SF-88L in the historical context of the Cold War, read a short history of Nike Hercules, written by the park historian of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. To consider the dialectic of peace and war in a military landscape, view a slide show, Dissonant Vistas. An essay, Alternative Perspectives on the Cold War, provides a summary of global impressions of and responses to the nuclear arms race from the 1940s though the 1980s. Download What We Have We Will Defend (61 MB) for a detailed history of Nike site SF-88L, including the National Park Service's interim preservation plan for this Cold War historic site. A doctoral dissertation by John Smoley provides an in-depth discussion of historic preservation and the public memory of the Nike missile system. Return to this page periodically for additional materials and historic photographs from the Nike missile site in the Marin Headlands. Nuclear Reactions curriculum introduction and a list of applicable education standards A short history of the Nike Hercules missile system Dissonant Vistas: A Nike landscape powerpoint What We Have We Shall Defend: A detailed history and preservation plan for Nike Site SF-88L (61 MB) Alternative perspectives on the Cold War (written in 2008) |
Did You Know?
A 1° F increase in average temperature seen in California over the last 100 years has led to Sierra snow melting 2 to 4 weeks earlier and flowers blooming 1 to 2 weeks earlier. Temperatures are predicted to increase another 1° to 2° F in the next 25 years.