Cold War Oklahoma - by Landry Brewer (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Oklahoma might seem like an unexpected place for Cold War tensions to boil over, but the state played a key role in a conflict that threatened global annihilation. Altus Air Force Base served as a hub for twelve intercontinental ballistic missile launch sites; in 1964, a missile housed at the Frederick site exploded, although the nuclear warhead remained unaffected. Ordinary citizens lived under the shadow of nuclear war as well. A former OU faculty member accused of committing espionage for the Soviet Union fled the country, while a SWOSU professor dug his own fallout shelter in Weatherford--by hand. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, an emergency siren malfunction sent terrified Elk City parents scurrying to local schools to pick up their children. Landry Brewer presents a fascinating cross-section of the era, from top-level strategy to the details of daily life.

Review Quotes

Cold War Oklahoma is a valuable contribution to Oklahoma history and contains careful research and important information that should be in the hands of every Oklahoman, every American. In these uncertain political times, this work could not have come at a better historical moment. Brewer encapsulates this well as he offers us this directive: 'Our task is to remember the events, the sacrifices, the stakes, the failures, the successes and the lessons learned so that we don't repeat them'

Brett D. Burkhart, Ph.D., Oklahoma State University

This work constitutes a masterful overview of ordinary Oklahomans in no ordinary time. Citizens were learning to live with the threat of a nuclear holocaust. Perhaps the most significant theme is what the author references on page 121, that is, the deep ties that emerged between the citizens of the Sooner state and what President Eisenhower famously called the military industrial complex. It is a delight to read from beginning to end, because it features several lighthearted vignettes about the strange and wonderful adaptations that shaped the Cold War era. After surveying the origins of the arms race, the author delves carefully into the Atlas F missile program and describes the 11 sites in the southwestern portion of the state. While turning the pages, I could almost hear the Thunderbolt sirens blare in Elk City during the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962! I could almost see ordinary people in Weatherford digging fallout shelters with their bare hands! The folksy examples of civil defense preparedness are revealing, to say the least, as the passages really bring the global clash to a local stage and insinuate the profound impact on home and hearth. The descriptions of military installations are accurate. The careers of Carl Albert and Thomas Stafford are compelling. The investigation into the espionage case of Maurice Halperin builds on what we now know, judiciously pointing to key facts and fresh insights from Venona decryptions. What distinguishes most of the chapters is the clarity, wit, and succinctness with which an exciting story is told.

Brad Lookingbill, author of The American Military: A Narrative History (Wiley, 2013).