(BPT) – In 1987, President Ronald Reagan boldly stood before one of the iconic symbols of the Cold War and, in words that shape his legacy, demanded from the Soviet leader, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”
Two years later the Berlin Wall came down. Then, in 1991, the Cold War ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Lasting nearly a half-century, the war profoundly changed and, perhaps, saved the world.
During that time, the United States and Russia engaged in a global contest over different ways of life; threatened and deterred each other with vast arsenals of nuclear weapons; tested one another’s resolve in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis; raced to become the first country to put a human in space; and sought allies and influence throughout the world.
A key component of the U.S. military strategy during the Cold War was the Blytheville Air Force Base in northeastern Arkansas. It closed in 1992, but throughout the post-World War II conflict, the base – and especially its alert center – formed a vital part of the U.S. Strategic Air Command, which controlled most of the U.S. nuclear weapons and the aircraft and missiles that delivered those weapons.
Today, this former Arkansas Air Force base is being transformed into the home of the National Cold War Center (NCWC), a museum and historic site dedicated to honoring Cold War veterans, preserving history, and advancing understanding and debate about the world’s most protracted and expensive war and its legacies for today.
To elevate its mission on a national and international level, the NCWC has partnered with the distinguished Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (Wilson Center) in Washington, D.C. Chartered by Congress as a public-private partnership and affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, the Wilson Center is a premier research institute on Cold War history and its vast network of relationships and resources in the international policy research community will support and strengthen the NCWC’s goal to become America’s official museum of the Cold War.
The partnership is poised to enhance the NCWC’s unique mission “to comprehensively tell the story of the Cold War, informed by the experiences of those who fought, lived, and survived the conflict that has had such profound consequences for today’s world.”
Dr. Christian Ostermann, an award-winning historian and the longtime director of History and Public Policy at the Wilson Center, will direct the historic collaboration. A world-renowned scholar of the Cold War, he brings decades of experience and a strong vision for the future National Museum of the Cold War. Working with Blytheville community leaders, the NCWC’s National Advisory Board, and federal, state, and private-sector partners, Ostermann aims to help the NCWC turn its historic Ready Alert Facility into a state-of-the-art educational site that draws visitors from across the globe to learn about the Cold War.
“Understanding the history of the Cold War is critical to making sense of our world today,” Dr. Ostermann said. “The ideological and geopolitical rivalry between capitalism and communism defined global politics for nearly half a century, leading to a nuclear arms race, regional and proxy wars, as well as cultural, economic, and technological transformations that hold profound lessons still vital in the 21st century.”
Mary Gay Shipley, chairman of the National Cold War Center board of directors, has been at the forefront of its development efforts since they launched in late 2016.
“This partnership with the world-renowned Wilson Center gives our efforts even more credibility. We had a tremendous gain when the 118th U.S. Congress established the National Cold War Center as America’s federal museum of the Cold War, and this is another huge step forward,” Shipley said. “We look forward to welcoming thousands of people to our community annually to learn more about this important time in world history.”
While the grand opening of the NCWC is slated for 2027, the NCWC currently provides visitors the opportunity to experience the history of the Blytheville Air Force Base (BAFB) and its role in the Cold War via its BAFB Exhibition, which opened in November 2020. Once fully open, the Center expects to welcome more than 50,000 visitors in its first year, fueling education and providing a boon to the tourism economy of the Arkansas Delta.
As the NCWC expands its role to the global stage through its new partnership with the Wilson Center, the Center looks to develop an unparalleled experience providing visitors a window into a conflict that echoes throughout modern society and remains deeply relevant to geopolitics in 2024.
To learn more, visit the NCWC website at https://nationalcoldwarcenter.com/.
