Table Of ContentA Telephone for the World
This page intentionally left blank
A Telephone for the World
Iridium, Motorola, and the Making of a Global Age
Martin Collins
Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore
© 2018 Smithsonian Institution
All rights reserved. Published 2018
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Johns Hopkins University Press
2715 North Charles Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363
www.press.jhu.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Collins, Martin J., 1951– author.
Title: A telephone for the world : Iridium, Motorola, and the making of a
global age / Martin Collins.
Description: Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, [2018] | Includes
bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017030370 | ISBN 9781421424835 (hardcover : alk. paper)
| ISBN 9781421424842 (electronic) | ISBN 1421424835 (hardcover : alk.
paper) | ISBN 1421424843 (electronic)
Subjects: LCSH: Iridium Communications, Inc. | Telecommunication—
United States—History. | Artificial satellites in telecommunication—
United States—History.
Classification: LCC HE7797.I75 C65 2018 | DDC 384.5/34—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017030370
A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Special discounts are available for bulk purchases of this book. For more
information, please contact Special Sales at 410-516-6936 or specialsales@
press.jhu.edu.
Johns Hopkins University Press uses environmentally friendly book materials,
including recycled text paper that is composed of at least 30 percent post-
consumer waste, whenever possible.
Contents
Preface vii
Introduction 1
1 Iridium and the Global Age 6
2 The Global and the Engineers 26
3 The Global and Iridium the Business 81
4 “Freedom to Communicate”: Ideology and Culture
in the Global 123
5 From “It’s a bird, it’s a phone” to “Edsels in the
sky”: Or, The End of Iridium’s Global Vision 184
Conclusion 215
Notes 223
Bibliography 249
Index 259
This page intentionally left blank
Preface
How does one tell a story of recent globalization? Where to place the focus? What
scale of argument—personal, local, national, or planetary—seems right? A core ar-
gument of this book is that the 1980s and 1990s were a critical formative period
in the globalization we know today. My aim is to show that, through a case study
of Motorola’s Iridium satellite venture, we can see the outlines and some of the
details of how this period of globalization was composed and enacted. And given
this choice of case study, the lens through which we look is that of the corpo-
ration, the then Fortune 500 multinational Motorola and its start-up, Iridium.
The hope is that this narrative provides critical insight into globalization as a
phenomenon and does so in a way that stimulates the work of other scholars.
When I started this project (too many years ago), my first thought was to do
a different history, to use Iridium as a private-market, big space technology ef-
fort, conceived at the end of the Cold War, and compare it with state-sponsored
big technology in the years after World War II. How did state and market aus-
pices and political economy differ in these two contexts? But as I explored the
possibilities—spurred on by my collecting an Iridium satellite for the Smithso-
nian National Air and Space Museum—I realized the Cold War / post–Cold War
distinction, though important, was embedded in a larger problematic of 1980s
and 1990s globalization and of the place of the United States therein. The en-
gineers, managers, politicians, advertisers, military personnel, government bu-
reaucrats, in the United States and elsewhere, at the heart of this story took the
“global” as a central category in their own work and thought. It was an experience
they saw themselves living in and creating at the same time—it was a fast ride to
a place not yet realized. This recognition led to this attempt to understand what
was being composed, with what meaning and with what consequence.
Recent history, of course, is a tricky affair. It can be harder to grasp how the
story comes together, whether themes and their historical weight have been
astutely identified, related, and assessed. Or whether fresh empirical evidence
might lead one to reframe one’s organizing questions. But it also can be provoc-
viii Preface
ative on a personal, scholarly level. This book relies heavily on oral history in-
terviews with Motorola and Iridium personnel and a few others. To a person,
people gave generously of their time (some for hours and hours) and invited me
into their offices and homes (even a seagoing boat) and gave me my first taste
of rattlesnake, somewhere near Phoenix. But what I valued and benefited from
most was their generosity in entering into the spirit of my enterprise. The book
would not have been possible without their collegiality and sense of “yea, let’s do
this, it’s a great story.” It was a wonderful privilege to get to know them and see
the world through their eyes. With the note on sources in the bibliography there
is a list of those interviewed. I can’t say “thanks” enough.
I expect in many ways this narrative may seem off the mark to them. They
worked at Motorola or Iridium every day, experiencing up close the nuance and
texture of the project and the larger world. For many, Iridium was a visionary
undertaking, fueled by individual passion and commitment. Perhaps, too, they
will have a different view of what was important or how I have tried to limn the
bigger meanings of their effort. I hope my broader structural approach to a story
that is fundamentally theirs does not seem too out of kilter with their own sense
of this history.
I owe thanks to my institutional home at the National Air and Space Museum.
The Smithsonian provided two grants in support of this research. I thank my
colleagues in the Department of Space History, a quirky, delightful crew, looking
always to sustain and enliven our collegial, scholarly life together. That’s been an
indispensable boon through the years. A shout out to JoAnn Morgan, the depart-
ment’s administrative assistant, who will be retired by the time this book is pub-
lished: bless you for everything. My greatest intellectual debts during this project
are to Philip Scranton, Paul Forman, and John Krige. They have been great in-
tellectual companions, always deepening my sense of scholarship and history as
a critical mode of knowing the world. Through the years, a number of museum
interns and volunteers helped with the project; I thank them profusely. Not least,
through the final stages of book preparation, I benefited from the collegiality of
Iridium Communications, Inc. (successor company to the original Iridium) and
its CEO, Matt Desch.
To my sons (your very own paragraph!), all my love.
A Telephone for the World
