Cold War Museum
Encyclopedia
The Cold War Museum is a planned history museum in the United States
focused on Cold War
history.
Founded in 1996 by Francis Gary Powers Jr. and John C. Welch to preserve Cold War history and honor Cold War veterans, the Cold War Museum signed a lease
on December 1, 2009 with the Vint Hill Economic Development Authority for the use of a two-story building and secure storage facility at Vint Hill Farms Station
, Virginia
, in Fauquier County
, 30 miles (48.3 km) from Washington Dulles International Airport
. Vint Hill Farms is a 695-acre former Army
communications base. The museum is expected to open in 2011.
The Cold War Museum is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization
. As a result, it has pledges of support for loans of artifact
s from the Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of American History
, the National Portrait Gallery
, and the National Postal Museum
. The Museum is also working with the privately-owned International Spy Museum
in Washington, Diefenbunker, Canada's Cold War Museum
in Ottawa
, and the Atombunker Harnekop near Berlin
to temporarily display some of its artifacts.
The Cold War Museum has a chapter in the American Midwest based in Waukesha, Wisconsin
and a chapter in Berlin
.
, 1960 U-2 incident (including the helmet
used by Francis Gary Powers and the suitcase
carried by Powers across Glienicke Bridge
when he was exchanged
for Rudolf Abel
), a 5000 square feet (464.5 m²) display on the Cuban Missile Crisis
that includes a Soviet SA-2 missile
and four America Nike missiles
, and material from the USS Liberty incident
, USS Pueblo incident
, Corona
spy satellite
s, and Space Race
. The museum also has the largest collection of civil defense
items in America, mainly acquired from the former Civil Defense headquarters in Washington; a yellow East German Trabant
automobile; and Soviet
and East German flags and banners. The museum also has acquired the mailbox
used by Aldrich Ames
to contact his Soviet handlers
.
, A&E Television Networks
, the Learning Channel, C-SPAN
, and numerous public access stations.
The mobile exhibit on the U-2 Incident, the “Spies of Washington Tour,” and the Cold War Conversations lecture series continue to generate interest and support.
The mobile exhibit on the U-2 Incident of May 1, 1960 helps promote the need for a permanent Cold War Museum. The exhibit has been displayed at many museums across the United States
and internationally. The traveling exhibit acts as a catalyst for the creation of a permanent Cold War Museum. The mobile exhibit, currently on display at the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, Virginia through May 31, 2010, will travel to the EAA Museum in Oshkosh, WI in June 2010.
In collaboration with Carol S. Bessette, Certified Master Tour Guide, the Cold War Museum offers the original Spy Tour of Washington. Since its earliest days, Washington, D.C. has been the scene of international intrigue, espionage, and intelligence activity, as the U.S. government has tried to learn the plans of other countries while keeping its own plans secret. Key players in this non-ending drama include personalities as diverse as Rose Greenhow, Herbert Yardley, Major General “Wild Bill” Donovan, Aldrich Ames, and Robert Hanssen. This educational bus tour will introduce you to many of the locations in and around Washington that have been associated with intelligence and counter intelligence activities for the past two hundred years. Some walking is required. Optional stop at International Spy Museum not included in price.
On October 14, 2006, the museum hosted an international conference to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian and Polish Crises. Dr. Sergei Khrushchev, the son of Nikita Khrushchev, and David Eisenhower, grandson of President Eisenhower participated with VIPs from Hungary and Poland and well renowned scholars. The Hungarian and Polish Embassies, American Hungarian Federation, Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, the Hungarian Technology Center, as well as the Cold War Museum and the South County Secondary School were hosts for the program. Sponsors that included EnviroSolutions, Inc., K. Hovnanian Homes, Marriott Fairfax at Fair Oaks, Northern Virginia Community College, Verizon, and Vulcan Materials Company.
On October 2, 2007, Cold War Conversations-II took place to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the 1957 launch of Sputnik. Dr. Sergei Khrushchev, the son of Nikita Khrushchev and author of Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev 1953–1964 and Paul Dickson, author of Sputnik—Shock of the Century discussed this important Cold War historical event. Dialog between the two and Q&A from the audience followed their presentations. Washington Dulles Airport Hotel, Northern Virginia Community College – Loudoun Campus, NASA, and the Cold War Museum were event sponsors.
The Museum worked with the Embassy of the Czech Republic to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Prague Spring
and with the British Berlin Airlift Association to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift.
Periodically, the Cold War Museum hosts book signing lectures for authors who have written on the Cold War. The Cold War Times http://www.coldwar.org/education/coldwar_magazine.asp is a quarterly online publication produced for the Cold War Museum and Cold War Veterans.
In 1997, Congressman Tom Davis, with the assistance of the Cold War Museum, drafted legislation for the creation of a “Cold War Memorial” that will honor all the men and women who were part of Cold War events and activities.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
focused on Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
history.
Founded in 1996 by Francis Gary Powers Jr. and John C. Welch to preserve Cold War history and honor Cold War veterans, the Cold War Museum signed a lease
Lease
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the lessee to pay the lessor for use of an asset. A rental agreement is a lease in which the asset is tangible property...
on December 1, 2009 with the Vint Hill Economic Development Authority for the use of a two-story building and secure storage facility at Vint Hill Farms Station
Vint Hill Farms Station
Vint Hill Farms Station was a United States Army facility located in Fauquier County, Virginia. It was used primarily mainly for eavesdropping on military and diplomatic communications from European and Soviet nations, also domestic signals of anti-war/anti-government activists broadcasting...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, in Fauquier County
Fauquier County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 55,139 people, 19,842 households, and 15,139 families residing in the county. The population density was 85 people per square mile . There were 21,046 housing units at an average density of 32 per square mile...
, 30 miles (48.3 km) from Washington Dulles International Airport
Washington Dulles International Airport
Washington Dulles International Airport is a public airport in Dulles, Virginia, 26 miles west of downtown Washington, D.C. The airport serves the Baltimore-Washington-Northern Virginia metropolitan area centered on the District of Columbia. It is named after John Foster Dulles, Secretary of...
. Vint Hill Farms is a 695-acre former Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
communications base. The museum is expected to open in 2011.
The Cold War Museum is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
. As a result, it has pledges of support for loans of artifact
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
s from the Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of American History
National Museum of American History
The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific and military history. Among the items on display are the original Star-Spangled Banner and Archie Bunker's...
, the National Portrait Gallery
National Portrait Gallery (United States)
The National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in Washington, D.C., administered by the Smithsonian Institution. Its collections focus on images of famous individual Americans.-Building:...
, and the National Postal Museum
National Postal Museum
The National Postal Museum, located opposite Union Station in Washington, D.C., USA, was established through joint agreement between the United States Postal Service and the Smithsonian Institution and opened in 1993. The museum is located across the street from Union Station, in the building that...
. The Museum is also working with the privately-owned International Spy Museum
International Spy Museum
The International Spy Museum is a privately owned museum dedicated to the field of espionage located within the 1875 Le Droit Building in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington, D.C., across the street from the Old Patent Office Building and one block south of the Gallery Place Metro...
in Washington, Diefenbunker, Canada's Cold War Museum
CFS Carp
Canadian Forces Station Carp is a former Canadian military facility located in the rural farming community of Carp, Ontario, approximately 30 km west of Ottawa....
in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, and the Atombunker Harnekop near Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
to temporarily display some of its artifacts.
The Cold War Museum has a chapter in the American Midwest based in Waukesha, Wisconsin
Waukesha, Wisconsin
Waukesha is a city in and the county seat of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, in the Upper Midwest region of the United States. The population was 70,718 at the 2010 census, making it the largest community in the county and 7th largest in the state. The city is located adjacent to the Town of Waukesha...
and a chapter in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
Collection and holdings
The museum has over $3 million worth of international Cold War artifacts in its collection. Museum holdings include items from the 1948-1949 Berlin AirliftBerlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War and the first resulting in casualties. During the multinational occupation of post-World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway and road access to the sectors of Berlin under Allied...
, 1960 U-2 incident (including the helmet
Helmet
A helmet is a form of protective gear worn on the head to protect it from injuries.Ceremonial or symbolic helmets without protective function are sometimes used. The oldest known use of helmets was by Assyrian soldiers in 900BC, who wore thick leather or bronze helmets to protect the head from...
used by Francis Gary Powers and the suitcase
Suitcase
A suitcase is a general term for a distinguishable form of luggage. It is often a somewhat flat, rectangular-shaped bag with rounded/square corners, either metal, hard plastic or made of cloth, vinyl or leather that more or less keeps its shape. It has a carrying handle on one side and is used...
carried by Powers across Glienicke Bridge
Glienicke bridge
The Glienicke bridge is a bridge on the edge of Berlin that spans the Havel River to connect the cities of Potsdam and Berlin near Klein Glienicke...
when he was exchanged
Prisoner exchange
A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners. These may be prisoners of war, spies, hostages, etc...
for Rudolf Abel
Vilyam Genrikhovich Fisher
Vilyam Genrikhovich Fisher was a noted Soviet intelligence officer...
), a 5000 square feet (464.5 m²) display on the Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
that includes a Soviet SA-2 missile
S-75 Dvina
The S-75 Dvina is a Soviet-designed, high-altitude, command guided, surface-to-air missile system...
and four America Nike missiles
Project Nike
Project Nike was a U.S. Army project, proposed in May 1945 by Bell Laboratories, to develop a line-of-sight anti-aircraft missile system. The project delivered the United States' first operational anti-aircraft missile system, the Nike Ajax, in 1953...
, and material from the USS Liberty incident
USS Liberty incident
The USS Liberty incident was an attack on a United States Navy technical research ship, , by Israeli Air Force jet fighter aircraft and Israeli Navy torpedo boats, on June 8, 1967, during the Six-Day War. The combined air and sea attack killed 34 crew members , wounded 170 crew members, and...
, USS Pueblo incident
USS Pueblo (AGER-2)
USS Pueblo is an American ELINT and SIGINT Banner-class technical research ship which was boarded and captured by North Korean forces on January 23, 1968, in what is known as the Pueblo incident or alternatively as the Pueblo crisis or the Pueblo affair. Occurring less than a week after President...
, Corona
Corona (satellite)
The Corona program was a series of American strategic reconnaissance satellites produced and operated by the Central Intelligence Agency Directorate of Science & Technology with substantial assistance from the U.S. Air Force...
spy satellite
Spy satellite
A spy satellite is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications....
s, and Space Race
Space Race
The Space Race was a mid-to-late 20th century competition between the Soviet Union and the United States for supremacy in space exploration. Between 1957 and 1975, Cold War rivalry between the two nations focused on attaining firsts in space exploration, which were seen as necessary for national...
. The museum also has the largest collection of civil defense
Civil defense
Civil defense, civil defence or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state from military attack. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation, and recovery...
items in America, mainly acquired from the former Civil Defense headquarters in Washington; a yellow East German Trabant
Trabant
The Trabant is a car that was produced by former East German auto maker VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau in Zwickau, Sachsen. It was the most common vehicle in East Germany, and was also exported to countries both inside and outside the communist bloc...
automobile; and Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and East German flags and banners. The museum also has acquired the mailbox
Post box
A post box is a physical box into which members of the public can deposit outgoing mail intended for collection by the agents of a country's postal service...
used by Aldrich Ames
Aldrich Ames
Aldrich Hazen Ames is a former Central Intelligence Agency counter-intelligence officer and analyst, who, in 1994, was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and Russia...
to contact his Soviet handlers
Agent handling
In intelligence organizations, agent handling is the management of agents, principal agents, and agent networks by intelligence officers typically known as case officers.-Human intelligence:...
.
Educational Activities and Publications
The museum has developed various educational programs and activities to help educate future generation about the Cold War. Museum speakers have visited numerous grade schools, high schools, colleges, and universities in order to teach students about the Cold War. The Museum also assists with educational programming for the History Channel, the Discovery ChannelDiscovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
, A&E Television Networks
A&E Television Networks
A&E Television Networks is a U.S. media company that owns a group of television channels available via cable & satellite in the US and abroad...
, the Learning Channel, C-SPAN
C-SPAN
C-SPAN , an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels , one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming...
, and numerous public access stations.
The mobile exhibit on the U-2 Incident, the “Spies of Washington Tour,” and the Cold War Conversations lecture series continue to generate interest and support.
The mobile exhibit on the U-2 Incident of May 1, 1960 helps promote the need for a permanent Cold War Museum. The exhibit has been displayed at many museums across the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and internationally. The traveling exhibit acts as a catalyst for the creation of a permanent Cold War Museum. The mobile exhibit, currently on display at the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, Virginia through May 31, 2010, will travel to the EAA Museum in Oshkosh, WI in June 2010.
In collaboration with Carol S. Bessette, Certified Master Tour Guide, the Cold War Museum offers the original Spy Tour of Washington. Since its earliest days, Washington, D.C. has been the scene of international intrigue, espionage, and intelligence activity, as the U.S. government has tried to learn the plans of other countries while keeping its own plans secret. Key players in this non-ending drama include personalities as diverse as Rose Greenhow, Herbert Yardley, Major General “Wild Bill” Donovan, Aldrich Ames, and Robert Hanssen. This educational bus tour will introduce you to many of the locations in and around Washington that have been associated with intelligence and counter intelligence activities for the past two hundred years. Some walking is required. Optional stop at International Spy Museum not included in price.
On October 14, 2006, the museum hosted an international conference to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian and Polish Crises. Dr. Sergei Khrushchev, the son of Nikita Khrushchev, and David Eisenhower, grandson of President Eisenhower participated with VIPs from Hungary and Poland and well renowned scholars. The Hungarian and Polish Embassies, American Hungarian Federation, Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, the Hungarian Technology Center, as well as the Cold War Museum and the South County Secondary School were hosts for the program. Sponsors that included EnviroSolutions, Inc., K. Hovnanian Homes, Marriott Fairfax at Fair Oaks, Northern Virginia Community College, Verizon, and Vulcan Materials Company.
On October 2, 2007, Cold War Conversations-II took place to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the 1957 launch of Sputnik. Dr. Sergei Khrushchev, the son of Nikita Khrushchev and author of Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev 1953–1964 and Paul Dickson, author of Sputnik—Shock of the Century discussed this important Cold War historical event. Dialog between the two and Q&A from the audience followed their presentations. Washington Dulles Airport Hotel, Northern Virginia Community College – Loudoun Campus, NASA, and the Cold War Museum were event sponsors.
The Museum worked with the Embassy of the Czech Republic to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Prague Spring
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II...
and with the British Berlin Airlift Association to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift.
Periodically, the Cold War Museum hosts book signing lectures for authors who have written on the Cold War. The Cold War Times http://www.coldwar.org/education/coldwar_magazine.asp is a quarterly online publication produced for the Cold War Museum and Cold War Veterans.
In 1997, Congressman Tom Davis, with the assistance of the Cold War Museum, drafted legislation for the creation of a “Cold War Memorial” that will honor all the men and women who were part of Cold War events and activities.
External links
- Cold War Museum website
- The Cold War Times - Cold War Museum's quarterly newsletter