ABSTRACT
On 27 June 1968, the Danish Prime Minister met with two high level government ministers to discuss several projects proposed by US military services that would take place in Greenland. They accepted all but one: a gigantic research project that would involve the launching of 34 sounding rockets by the US Air Force from Thule Air Base in remote North Western Greenland. Only five months before, in January, this large American air base had been the site of a dramatic nuclear accident when a B-52 bomber—laden with four hydrogen bombs—crashed near the base. The diplomatic stakes were high on both sides of the Atlantic. In the summer of 1968 the Danish Government would and could not tolerate more bad news from Thule. The rocket-project—of profound military significance for the US Department of Defense—was the largest single scientific project that had been proposed for Greenland by US military agencies. It was however only one of a number of US-Danish collaborations to be carried out during the late 1960's solar maximum. Since its beginning in the early 1950s funding and support from US government agencies had been instrumental for the growth and direction of Danish ionosphere research in Greenland. The veto was therefore met with surprise and anger by Danish scientist involved who had offered to assist the proposal in gaining official acceptance from the Government of Denmark. This case study explores the hegemonic sentiments and the role of Danish scientist caught between their scientific ambitions and allegiance towards US collaborators, and the changing domestic political views on American military activities in Greenland.
