Brian D. Laslie, Ph.D. It is always treacherous to ask a historian when an event began or ended. “It depends” will likely be the answer. Take, for example, the beginning of World War II. Americans might use the date December 7, 1941. Many in Europe would say September 1, 1939, or even January 30, 1933, when Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany. Again, “it depends” largely on where and when an event began for “us.” The same is true for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). NORAD’s official birthday is May 12, 1958, the date the United States…