"I Don't Care about the Lost Payroll": Concerns about “Quality of Life” and Challenges to the Civilian-Military Partnership in Puget Sound

Lured by the area’s strategic location on the Northwest corner of the continental US and by its magnificent natural harbors, the US military developed a significant presence in the Puget Sound region beginning in the late 19^th century.  Puget Sound’s strategic importance increased during the Cold War as an ideal location from which to project U.S. power into the North Pacific and towards Eastern and Southeastern Asia.  Reflecting the economic contributions military spending made to the regional economy, over most of the century these developments met with widespread and uncritical support from the region’s residents.  Most people regarded the region’s landscapes and waterways in utilitarian terms and valued them for their role in attracting the military and its consequent economic contributions.  Beginning in the late 1960s, however, attitudes among some Puget Sound residents to the environment and the military’s presence began to shift, leading to a clash of cultures.  Reflecting changing attitudes toward the environment and economic growth across middle-class American culture, some locals began to challenge the military’s plans for new or expanded facilities and what they saw as its negative effect on the area’s “quality of life.”  These people argued that the region’s landscapes, and the scenic beauty and recreational opportunities they provided, were essential to regional identity and to what made the area an attractive place to live, and should not be sacrificed for national security purposes.  The differences between these approaches to the military and visions of the area’s landscapes led to the development of tensions in the late Cold War period between the armed services and their local supporters on the one hand, and opponents of expanded military facilities on the other.  These tensions would emerge over several new military installations from the 1960s onwards and would help to reshape civilian-military relations in the area.