What if Truman Tried to Buy Greenland?

Really, silly, huh? ERMAHGERD!^TM TRUMAN trying to buy Greenland?!

Well, actually, he did.

The possibility of buying Greenland was floated seriously enough that in February 1946 Gallup polled Americans whether they should pay one billion dollars to buy Greenland from Denmark. Thirty-three percent of Americans said yes, while 38 percent said “no”. Twenty-eight percent had no opinion, which seems fitting given that only 45 percent of respondents correctly identified where it was and only 10 percent knew how many people lived there.

I’d love to see this poll done again and see how many people these days know where Greenland is!

The first time the United States thought about buying Greenland was under President Andrew Johnson. William Seward, United States Secretary of State, negotiated a deal to acquire Alaska from Russia. He had also hoped to acquire Puerto Rico, Greenland and Iceland.

When Denmark was invaded by Nazi Germany, Denmark requested that the United States protect Greenland. This is how the airbase at Thule Greenland came to be.

Thule Air Base is home to the 21st Space Wing’s global network of sensors providing missile warning, space surveillance and space control to North American Aerospace Defense Command and Air Force Space Command. Thule Air Base is also home to the 821st Air Base Group and is responsible for air base support within the Thule Defense Area for the multinational population of “Team Thule.” The base hosts the 12th Space Warning Squadron who operates a Ballistic Missile Early Warning System designed to detect and track ICBMs launched against North America. Thule is also host to Detachment 1 of the 23rd Space Operations Squadron, part of the 50th Space Wing’s global satellite control network. In addition, our modern airfield boasts a 10,000-foot runway and more than 3,000 U.S. and international flights per year. Finally, Thule is home to the northernmost deep water port in the world.

In summary, Thule Air Base is pretty strategic in detecting a Russian threat.

For the oldsters out there, you may also remember that a B-52 loaded with four thermonuclear weapons crashed near Thule in 1968. The conventional high explosive that were part of the weapons detonated dispersing the nuclear material. This was not good.

It also turned out that Denmark had signed an agreement to be a nuclear-free zone but knew of the weapons in Greenland. This was all hushed up for a number of years until 1995. The resulting scandal was, of course, referred to as “Thulegate”.

By the way, who lives in Greenland? The population of Greenland is 56,480 plus or minus. That’s about 1/2 the population of Boulder, Colorado. 88% of Greenlanders are Inuit, which includes mixed persons. The rest of are white European descent, mostly Danes.

Looks like a perfect acquisition target to me! It sure looks like the poor Inuits are being subjugated by the evil Danes to me! Did you know that they don’t even have a McDonalds? I’m sure we can throw a couple of those in as well.

FREE THE GREENLANDERS!

And this just in from the Man Hisself!