Chapter 1
The Past Is Prologue: 1952-1991

When the Air Force was scouting locations for a new Strategic Air Command base after World War II, one group of citizens in Plattsburgh, New York, lobbied hard for their locale to be chosen. An equally respected group fought it. The opponents dared to suggest that the North Country, as the wider region is known, had enough resources and initiative to prosper without the military.

That argument would resurface 40 years later, when the future of Plattsburgh Air Force Base reached a dead end. It was almost as hard a sell the second time around.

However, as William Shakespeare wrote in his final play, The Tempest, "What is past is prologue." Looking back, no one argues that the community was better off with the base. Looking forward, virtually everyone agrees that the area will be better off once redevelopment is complete.

Plattsburgh is thriving after the closure. Getting to that point, though, has involved more than a few tempests. Some turned out to be tempests in teapots. Others were true upheavals. Certain harsh words and hard feelings linger, but most clashes have faded. In the 1990s, as in the 1950s, impassioned debate ultimately gave way to community acceptance.

The story of any base opening or closure involves human drama, bureaucratic tedium, and every benchmark in between. This is Plattsburgh's story.