In 1957, during the frosty years of the Cold War, Ike and Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker established the North American Air Defense Command in anticipation of defending the continent from Soviet long-range bombers — Sputnik was still a few months away — and NORAD went on alert.
Joe Biden was 14 years old at the time and Justin Trudeau’s father Pierre wouldn’t make his first run for Parliament for another eight years.
But on Saturday afternoon, for the first time in NORAD’s 66 years, President Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau jointly authorized the long since renamed North American Aerospace Defense Command to shoot down something out of the sky.
