How Santa Claus Ended Up on U.S. Military’s Radar

I've always maintained that this was not an accident at all. This was an attempt by the Soviet Union of psyops against NORAD. I would imagine they uncovered the number through other means and created the ad as a way to launch a "denial of service" against NORAD by having kids call them.

The official story says that the ad was placed by a Sears store. What kind of department store would be able to handle calls "day and night"? And the ad specifically mentions "Kiddies be sure and dial the correct number". Has anyone bothered to figure out what the actual number for the Sears store was back then?

Really, the idea an ad could print a random number and have it be THAT number is fascinating. I wonder if the person creating the ad had knowledge of how phone numbers were assigned for the military and just randomly got that one? I assume they themselves never called to see if it actually rang through.

It is still an incredibly uncomfortable non-separation of church and state.

Unless maybe we are just going to rename it santa-mas and celebrate it on solstice.