When 35,000 leaflets fell on McCleary

In the early 1950s, McCleary, Washington was one of several locations in an:
"American peacetime operation aimed at determining the ability of the airdropped propaganda leaflet to spread information".

The name of the overall project was Project Revere and the name of the specific experiment McCleary was in was Operation Eight Towns.

Project Revere was an Air Force and University of Washington operation. Test 1 used eight communities in western Washington that were small, reasonably close to Seattle, and locations that would be taking in refugees if larger cities were attacked.

McCleary was Town H, population 1,175. Necessary local authorities were contacted before the leaflet drop, they agreed to keep information out of the media until the experiment was done. Aerial photos and maps were created prior and then on a Wednesday around noon, leaflets were dropped by plane over the town, unannounced. In McCleary the greatest number of leaflets were dropped - about 35,000.

Two light planes were used for McCleary because of the large quantity of leaflets. One plane at a time, with pilot and a leaflet dropping crew of two. I haven't yet found out the exact date of this McCleary drop, it would have been some time between 1951 - 1953.

The leaflets stated:
"One raid by an enemy bomber could paralyze... radios - telephones - newspapers. In such a disaster leaflets like this could be dropped from airplanes to give official instructions. You are an important part of this scientific test to find out how effective leaflets are for spreading vital information to everyone."

Readers were asked to be modern day Paul Reveres and help spread the word. A survey was also included and postage was paid so participants could mail the leaflets in as instructed.

The next Saturday (media still not talking about the drops) face to face interviews were done.

Some findings of the overall project were that children were universally the fastest and most thorough at picking up the leaflets. 4-8 leaflets per person were found to be the sweet spot of message diffusion. Also in some locations the color yellow did not work for the leaflets, aphids were attracted to the color and covered the leaflets. Photos of aphids on leaflets could be used as counter propaganda by an enemy.

Altogether, Project Revere dropped approximately 750,000 leaflets involving 51 message versions in 44 flight missions over 35 unwarned communities. In the process of this experience a list of 50 measurable factors which might influence the accurate distribution of leaflets on the ground was compiled. These 50 factors concerned only the plane-to-plane speed, packaging, wind and weather, visibility, timing (day and hour), terrain, population density, drop patterns, etc. The experience of the Project developed some information on many of these patterns. (source The Flow of Information: An Experiment in Mass Communication, by Defleur, Melvin L.;Larsen, Otto N.)


DeFleur, M. L., Larsen, O. N. (1958). The Flow of Information. New York: Harper

Dodd, Stuart Carter. (1959). Formulas for Spreading Opinions. The Public Opinion Quarterly, 22(4), 537-554.

Hertzler, Robert L. (1953, November 29). Measuring Firepower of "Paper Bullets". The Seattle Times

Pearson, J. Bruce. (1957). Message diffusion under uncontrolled conditions. Boulder: University of Colorado Press

Thanks to SGM Herbert A. Friedman (Ret.) for insights

(May 31, 2025. This now co-owned blog is revived. Still musing about our hometown McCleary.)

From "They" to "We" : the McCleary Bear Festival

Still no phone camera, but I will occasionally offer links of interest. Here's a documentary from the mid-1990s about the history of the McCleary Bear Festival--

https://vimeo.com/23558998

 

 

 

Be prepared to stop

Jan. 3, 2020

After all these years my little flip cellphone is starting to fail and Verizon seems to be already pulling support bit by bit as the ancient gizmo I use has been deemed obsolete. So this is my final post on this blog. Adios.

[Update: Apr. 7, 2021:  Shortly after this final post the COVID-19 pandemic broke out changing the world forever. In many ways the dramatic transition to a new reality has made me glad I stopped this blog when I did. The changes since Jan. 3, 2020 have been so enormous that the images on the posts have become nostalgic in a very short time period, faster than one would expect]

Taking a rest

Jan. 3, 2020

After a busy holiday season the Christmas wreath takes a break on a park bench.

Parsonage?

Dec. 23, 2019

This structure was, and I could very well be mistaken, the parsonage at one time for the Assembly of God Church.

Pickleball Court

 Dec. 23, 2019

This part of Beerbower Park was first developed as a tennis/badminton court. Yes, as if enough McCleary people in the late 1950s/early 1960s were going to actually go out and spend energy playing these sports. What were the planners thinking?

So in short order the area became kind of a weird nothing spot. I took my daughter there when she was first learning to ride a bike with training wheels as it was a safe area from cars. For a spell there was an effort to turn it into a skateboard park.

Today it has been made into a court for pickleball, which has become a fast-growing sport across the country. I do see folks playing there now and then and it looks fun!

McCleary City Band Bandstand

Dec. 23, 2019

Around the area of this corner, Maple and Third, there used to be a bandstand for the McCleary City Band. Yes, such a group actually existed. The story goes someone ordered a ton of musical instruments and then they were handed out to interested and no doubt bored out of their mind workers, many of whom had not the slightest idea of how to play any instrument or read music.

So the bandstand was built and uniforms were issued. For short time the muddy metropolis of McCleary had a city band. It must have been a hoot to hear. The placement of the bandstand would indicate this was considered close to the center of the action at that time, more so than it is today.

After the probably merciful short life span of the band, the bandstand was enclosed as a small building and served as the office for a dentist for a brief time.

The current McCleary City Hall is in the background and a sandwich sign for an espresso stand in the foreground attempts to divert coffee addicted Washingtonians. It still amazes me that McCleary has not had a tavern for several years yet we have not one but two, two drive-thru coffee stands.

When future historians write about McCleary's creeping gentrification, this switch from alcohol to caffeine will be an early indicator. Not making a judgment here, just an observation.