Smithsonian Institution , National Postal Museum
This mailbox may look ho - hum , but when it was strapped to a projectile and fired from a Cuban sandwich on June 8 , 1959 , the only hum was that of aRegulus I missilehurtling a hundred miles with significant letters in tow . That ’s right — this missile was the first ( and last ) of an challenging , abandoned programme to send chain mail across the U.S. using Cold War - earned run average arms .
That weaponry was n’t exactly in short supplying in 1959 . That year , despite Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev’svisit to the United States , East and West were still in a tense impasse . On both sides of the Iron Curtain , tons of atomic weapons were produced , and each side had a vested pursuit in showing just how terrifying its arsenal could be .
Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield , whohelped Dwight D. Eisenhower win the presidency , was steeped in postwar American exceptionalism . It ’s no wonder , then , that he dreamed of helping the country ’s abundant atomic technology go postal . Inspired by taradiddle of the accuracy of the United States ’ new projectile , Summerfield daydream up a means for the Post Office and the Department of Defense to collaborate to make the mail service even more efficient . Why not use the immobile , targeted missiles being developed by the U.S. military to deliver mail ?
Summerfield ’s idea was n’t precisely raw — citizenry had been experimenting with chain armour delivery via rocket salad for X . In 1936 , an data-based rocket - power gliderdelivered mailfrom Greenwood Lake , New York to Hewitt , New Jersey in the first successful American attempt , and the idea was repeated in Germany and other state through World War II . And just months before this mailbox made its fateful mission , naval officer had shown off the capacities of their new guide projectile byloading them with letters .
New or not , Summerfield was determined to make an official attempt to raise that missile chain armour was executable . At his suggestion , a highfalutin experiment was undertaken by the Post Office Department , as it was then known , and the U.S. Navy .
Two special alloy mailbox were designed to withstand a total of 3000 letters and be strapped onto the side of theRegulus I missile , a formidable weapon and the United States ’ first nuclear deterrent to be entirely sea - found . The 42 - foot - long missile count about seven tons and was design to be guided and scud from submarines .
On the assigned day , the mailbox were stuffed with 3000 monovular missive from Summerfield to a quite a little of dignitaries , let in the president , his storage locker , each appendage of Congress and members of the Supreme Court . The projectile was fired from the USSBarbero , one of the subs assign to police the Pacific and Atlantic and menace Soviet target area , while it was off the coast of Florida . Twenty - two arcminute after , it down at the Naval Auxiliary Air Station in Mayport , Florida , about 100 mile away [ PDF ] .
The letters were given special postmarks , the formerly secret experiment was publicized , and missile mail was declared a success — not least because it not - so - subtly suggested that mess up around with the United States ’ hyperaccurate guided missile organisation was n’t impertinent .
“ Before man reaches the moonlight , ” Summerfield triumph , “ chain armour will be delivered within hours from New York to California , to England , to India , or Australia by guided missiles . ” But he speak too soon — ostensibly no serious consideration was ever given to his idea , and by the fourth dimension his heir took post the idea wasdead in the water . Today , one of the 11x11.5 - column inch mailbox sit in the compendium of theSmithsonian National Postal Museumin Washington , D.C. , a reminder of the first and only clip the United States used guide missile to deliver post … and a substance .
