USA

Defending the Cold War Pershing 2 nuclear missile

Phil Logan served in the US Army from 1986-1991.  He went through infantry school at Fort Benning, Georgia was sent to Germany and assigned to the ground defence force for the Pershing II tactical nuclear missiles.  He describes in some detail defence tactics including against Warsaw Pact Special Forces, the West German Red Army Faction … Read more

The early days of the US Space program and origins of GPS

  Richard Easton is the co-author of GPS Declassified which examines the development of GPS or Sat Nav as some of us call it now, from its secret, Cold War military roots. Roger Easton, Richard’s father, assisted in laying the foundations for the GPS system.  However, Roger Easton also worked on the early US space program and … Read more

The Apollo 11 Moon Landing

  In a world divided by the ideological struggles of the Cold War, the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement, more than one-fifth of the people on the planet paused to watch the live transmission of the Apollo 11 mission. To watch as humanity took a giant leap forward exactly 50 years ago. Now … Read more

The Cold War Blood Tattoo

  Today’s episode is a bonus episode celebrating our 50th episode which came out on 23rd Feb 2019.  I honestly never thought we’d get this far, but it’s thanks to you the listener. In 1951, a small pilot program was launched in Indiana and Utah as a civilian defense measure to aid in the aftermath … Read more

Freedom’s Laboratory – The Cold War Struggle for the Soul of Science

Audra J Wolfe is writer, editor, and historian based in Philadelphia. With a background in  both science and history her work specifically focuses on the role of science during the Cold War, a period when science held a special place in maintaining and projecting state power. Now if you’d like to support us with a … Read more

Gillian – A US Student visits Cold War Poland in 1989

Gillian Cox visited Poland in October 1989. In this episode you will hear her eyewitness of account of a country undergoing fundamental change. The free trade union Solidarity has just won it’s first election, although at this point it has to power share with the communist party. The writing is on the wall for major … Read more

Gillian – A US Student visiting Cold War East Germany

Gillian Cox visited the GDR as a student in October 1989 just before the Wall came down. In this episode you will hear her eyewitness of account of what she saw in East Germany on the cusp of it’s destruction. Before we start the episode I wanted to thanks everyone who is supporting the podcast … Read more