Cold War Years

The Cold War was a period of intense geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, along with their respective allies in the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. This era of hostility between the two superpowers was coined by George Orwell in a 1945 article. Despite not engaging in direct combat, the US-Soviet Cold War had grave consequences, bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war during events like the Berlin Crisis and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Additionally, it led to devastation in many Third World countries, including those on the Korean Peninsula.

In addition to the US-Soviet tension, the Cold War era saw numerous conflicts where the United States was involved. Soldiers were deployed to various parts of the world to defend democracy, restore peace, and stand up against oppressive regimes. The mural presented here showcases some of these significant events.

Upper Left:

B-52 Crew scrambles. The Strategic Air Command was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile components of the United States military's strategic nuclear forces from 1946 to 1992

Middle Left:

On 1 May 1960, Captain Francis Gary Powers in a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Defense Forces while conducting photographic aerial reconnaissance deep inside Soviet territory. Following his capture, Powers was convicted of espionage and sentenced to three years of imprisonment plus seven years of hard labor; he was released two years later, in February 1962, in a prisoner exchange for Soviet intelligence officer Rudolf Abel.

Bottom Left:

Nike Hercules Missiles and there crew on the ready in Alaska. ICBM-Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles silos were very common throughout the U.S.

Middle Images: Somalia Operation Restore Hope.

During the course of RESTORE HOPE, some 38,000 soldiers from 23 different nations and representatives from 49 different humanitarian relief operations worked together to put food into the mouths of the starving people of Somalia.

Grenada: The US invaded Grenada in 1983 to protect American citizens living on the island, including medical students, and had been carried out at the request of the Governor-General.

Panama: The United States invasion of Panama, codenamed Operation Just Cause, began in mid-December 1989. The primary purpose of the invasion was to depose the de facto ruler of Panama, General Manuel Noriega, who was wanted by U.S. authorities for racketeering and drug trafficking.

Lebanon: Early on a Sunday morning, October 23, 1983, two truck bombs struck buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, housing American and French service members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon, a military peacekeeping operation during the Lebanese Civil War.

Upper Right:

Airforce F-15 encounters Soviet Bomber at the end of the Cold War over Russia

Middle Right: The Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989The fall of the Berlin Wall was the first step towards German reunification. In 1989, political changes in Eastern Europe and civil unrest in Germany put pressure on the East German government to loosen some of its regulations on travel to West Germany.

Bottom Right:

The world's first operational nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine was USS George Washington (SSBN-598) with 16 Polaris A-1 missiles, which entered service in December 1959 and conducted the first nuclear submarine deterrent patrol from November 1960 – January 1961.

The Trident missile is a submarine-launched ballistic missile equipped with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles. Originally developed by Lockheed Missiles and Space Corporation, the missile was armed with thermonuclear warheads and launched from nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines.

Bottom Middle:

The Cuban Missle Crisis. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey were matched by Soviet deployments of nuclear missiles in Cuba.

This is the image of a US Navy P-2H Neptune flying over a Soviet cargo ship with crated missiles on deck during the Crisis

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