FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Genia Hesser or Mark Halvorson
November 8, 2007
(701) 328-2666

RIBBON CUTTING FOR THE ATOMIC AGE ARRIVES: THE COLD WAR IN
NORTH DAKOTA EXHIBIT AT HERITAGE CENTER SET FOR NOVEMBER 11

BISMARCK – The atomic bombs that the United States dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan in 1945 marked the end of World War II and the beginning of a new period in history – the arrival of the atomic age.  This frightening era is explored in a new exhibit at the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck.  The Atomic Age Arrives: The Cold War in North Dakota explores how atomic weapons made North Dakota once more a military frontier, permanently changing the state.

A ribbon cutting ceremony opening the exhibit will be held in conjunction with the Veterans Day program at the North Dakota Heritage Center November 11.  The ceremony will take place at approximately 11 a.m.  Dignitaries and Cold War veterans will participate in the ribbon cutting.

The exhibit is produced by the state’s history agency, the State Historical Society of North Dakota (SHSND). 

Like other Americans, North Dakotans sought ways of protecting themselves if a nuclear attack should occur.  These ranged from instructions for school children on how to “Duck and Cover” to elaborate plans for fallout shelters, public and private, that were meant to protect people from a nuclear blast.  A centerpiece of the exhibit is the reconstruction of a fallout shelter like those built in the basements of some family homes in North Dakota in the 1960s.  The reconstruction displays the furnishings and supplies that were stocked in actual North Dakota shelters.

Also included are photographs, maps, a model of a Minuteman III missile launch facility, and uniforms of the airmen who staffed these defense systems.  They help give the viewer a better idea of how the weapons systems worked.                   

By the 1970s new treaties were signed that attempted to reduce the risk of nuclear war and led to the destruction of some of the missile sites in the state.  Many others, however, remain.  In addition to the nuclear bombers stationed at Minot Air Force Base, there are still 150 nuclear-armed missile silos in North Dakota.

The Atomic Age Arrives is an exhibit that is essential to an understanding of life in North Dakota in the last half century.  It will be at the North Dakota Heritage Center through November 11, 2009. 

To learn more about the Cold War in North Dakota and preserving this important part of the state’s history, visit the SHSND’s website at www.nd.gov/hist and find the link to the Oscar Zero Missile Alert Facility and November-33 Missile Launch Facility.  This is the Cold War missile site near Cooperstown, North Dakota that the SHSND is adding to its state historic sites system.  The Society has an agreement with the U.S. Air Force to take control of the site by December 31 but must raise additional funds to support the operation and maintenance of the site.  The website has information about this important site, the efforts to preserve it, and how interested citizens can help.

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Note: High-resolution JPEGs showing Cold War-era photographs related to North Dakota featured in the exhibit is available by contacting Communications and Education Director Rick Collin at (701) 328-1476 or e-mail at rcollin@nd.gov.