1
00:00:20,666 --> 00:00:23,466
-I remember two phones 
on his desk.

2
00:00:23,466 --> 00:00:25,900
One was this red phone.

3
00:00:25,900 --> 00:00:29,400
Only a four-star general 
at the Pentagon and my dad

4
00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:31,400
had the number. 
-This was the '50s,

5
00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:32,700
this was the Cold War,

6
00:00:32,700 --> 00:00:35,266
and he would have been 
the first one to know

7
00:00:35,266 --> 00:00:37,700
if there was an attack 
on the United States.

8
00:00:37,700 --> 00:00:41,566
-So, first couple of weeks 
of December in 1955,

9
00:00:41,566 --> 00:00:45,100
Dad was at the office, 
and the red phone rang.

10
00:00:45,100 --> 00:00:47,400
He answered it, 
"This is Colonel Shoup."

11
00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:51,066
And then there was 
a small voice that just asked,

12
00:00:51,066 --> 00:00:52,633
"Is this Santa Claus?"

13
00:00:52,633 --> 00:00:55,533
-Dad was very straight-laced, 
very disciplined.

14
00:00:55,533 --> 00:00:57,333
-He was annoyed. 
-He was upset.

15
00:00:57,333 --> 00:00:58,666
-He thought it was a joke.

16
00:00:58,666 --> 00:01:00,466
-Yeah, and so now 
the little voice was crying.

17
00:01:00,466 --> 00:01:02,200
[ Laughs ] 
-And Dad realized

18
00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:03,766
that it wasn't a joke.

19
00:01:03,766 --> 00:01:05,733
So he talked to him, 
"Ho Ho Ho'ed,"

20
00:01:05,733 --> 00:01:07,733
and asked if 
he had been a good boy,

21
00:01:07,733 --> 00:01:10,233
and, "May I talk 
to your mother?"

22
00:01:10,233 --> 00:01:12,833
And the mother got on and said,

23
00:01:12,833 --> 00:01:14,633
"You haven't seen the paper yet?

24
00:01:14,633 --> 00:01:16,800
There's a phone number 
to call Santa.

25
00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:18,933
It's in the Sears ad."

26
00:01:18,933 --> 00:01:23,700
Dad looked it up, and there 
it was, his red-phone number.

27
00:01:23,700 --> 00:01:27,033
And they had children 
calling one after another,

28
00:01:27,033 --> 00:01:29,866
so he put a couple of airmen 
on the phones

29
00:01:29,866 --> 00:01:31,633
to act like Santa Claus.

30
00:01:31,633 --> 00:01:34,800
-It got to be a big joke 
at the command center.

31
00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:37,200
You know, "The old man's really 
flipped his lid this time.

32
00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:39,233
We're answering Santa calls."

33
00:01:39,233 --> 00:01:42,433
-The airmen 
had this big glass board

34
00:01:42,433 --> 00:01:45,100
with the United States on it 
and Canada.

35
00:01:45,100 --> 00:01:48,600
And when airplanes would 
come in, they would track them.

36
00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:52,066
-And Christmas Eve of 1955 
when Dad walked in,

37
00:01:52,066 --> 00:01:55,900
there was a drawing of a sleigh 
with eight reindeer

38
00:01:55,900 --> 00:01:57,433
coming over the North Pole.

39
00:01:57,433 --> 00:01:59,233
-Dad said, "What is that?"

40
00:01:59,233 --> 00:02:01,000
They says, "Colonel, 
we're sorry.

41
00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:02,633
We were just making a joke.

42
00:02:02,633 --> 00:02:04,300
Do you want us 
to take that down?"

43
00:02:04,300 --> 00:02:06,766
Dad looked at it for a while 
and next thing you know,

44
00:02:06,766 --> 00:02:09,466
Dad had called the radio station 
and had said,

45
00:02:09,466 --> 00:02:11,666
"This is the commander 
at the Combat Alert Center

46
00:02:11,666 --> 00:02:14,433
and we have 
an unidentified flying object.

47
00:02:14,433 --> 00:02:17,133
Why, it looks like a sleigh!" 
[ Laughs ]

48
00:02:17,133 --> 00:02:20,400
Well, the radio stations 
would call him like every hour

49
00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:22,433
and say, "Where's Santa now?"

50
00:02:22,433 --> 00:02:26,000
And later in life, he got 
letters from all over the world.

51
00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,533
People saying, 
"Thank you, Colonel, for having,

52
00:02:28,533 --> 00:02:30,100
you know, this sense of humor."

53
00:02:30,100 --> 00:02:33,366
And in his 90s, he would carry 
those letters around with him

54
00:02:33,366 --> 00:02:35,600
in a briefcase 
that had a lock on it

55
00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:38,300
like it was 
top-secret information.

56
00:02:38,300 --> 00:02:40,733
You know, 
he was an important guy,

57
00:02:40,733 --> 00:02:43,166
but this is the thing 
he's known for.

58
00:02:43,166 --> 00:02:44,366
-Yeah, it's probably the thing

59
00:02:44,366 --> 00:02:45,466
he was proudest of too. 
[ Laughs ]

60
00:02:45,466 --> 00:02:47,266
-Oh, I'm sure it was, yeah. 
-Right.