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thank you
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my name is Chris Sturtevant I'm with the
Cold War Museum
my day job as a children's librarian
it's not often that I get to do both of
those but I'll talk a little bit about
some kind of cross references with the
Baltic excuse me the Soviet blocks many
of which are the Baltic states and all
these things
I'm sure a lot of you know about the
Cold War if you do know about the Cold
War if you live through the Cold War I'd
just like to see a show of hands how
many of you do know what the cold war is
okay a good portion of the crowd how
many of you have no idea what I'm
talking about
it's okay it can be your first time I'm
sure a lot of people at least heard the
reference one of the biggest issues I
came through in promoting Cold War
history over the last 20 years
is the references to the Cold War nobody
knows what that is at a certain point in
a generation when I would start talking
about Nike missile systems that dotted
the Milwaukee area here nuclear missile
systems and aircraft
they thought it was a shoe Nike is a
shoe right talk about the U2 incident
Francis Gary Powers U2 spy plane shot
down in 1960 made into a nice movie by
Steven Spielberg a bridge of spies if
you've seen that movie that's 100 bonus
points for you if you have not heard the
spies you'll see that Steven Spielberg
Tom Hanks but they thought U2 was a rock
band
so these are things that we're dealing
with talking about the Cold War Museum
where is the old war museum
where is the cold water Museum
blank stairs so one of my biggest
impetuses in promoting Cold War history
is writing books about how Wisconsin
at a major major portion of the Cold War
here with USS Pueblo was built here
that's still North Korea of all places
Stalin's daughter
hit in Spring Green Wisconsin for many
years she was off the radar she died in
obscurity
and of course nuclear missile systems we
could go on forever the Illinois book
Ronald Reagan Spies Like Robert Hansen
and my friend Warner jarretzko who was
here at cyphercon for many years so this
is how I got involved in the Cold War
and got to know Mike very well but
Soviet blocks I had to think who's going
to think that they are Legos
I'm sorry to disappoint you I think Joe
we should have some Soviet toys next
time for Cypher con we can try to put
these together they will fall apart
immediately they're not of good quality
any toy in the Soviet Union was military
related if you've ever been to a
communist country that's all they that
they're going to produce they're not
going to produce domestic sides so much
so that's why you would see these tanks
and planes and aircraft and so on and so
forth but the military toys I think
that's something we should do for next
year know I'm here to talk about the
Soviet Union mainly of Russia and the
Soviet black countries mainly we think
of that as the Central and Eastern
European countries that the Soviets
stuck around after World War II
of course we had one man who was wanted
to do something about the Soviets that
patent right he said we want to take
these guys on now
and patented
passing away uh
year or two after the war ended
so we really didn't have any voices that
were fighting to take on the Soviets
after the second world war we had some
Hawks obviously over the years I'll talk
a local connection here but when we talk
about Soviet block countries we're
thinking of East Germany Poland
Czechoslovakia
Hungary some of the peripheral countries
that you see there like Yugoslavia
Albania kind of went their own way at
one time China though Cuba North Korea
when you're talking Soviet Bloc
countries they're generally countries
that align themselves with the Soviet
Union some of the non-aligned countries
like India and Pakistan so you've got a
lot of countries that were still
communist oriented and a lot of that
didn't have just happened after World
War II obviously that would happen after
the first world war when Lenin's
Revolution you know was Uprising and
planting those seeds in a lot of those
countries
but I'll reverse chorus if you fell
asleep three days before school got out
in high school when they started talking
about the cold war or you're dreaming
out the window and you didn't know what
the heck the Cold War was I keep
thinking of the Simpson guy that ran out
the door and said hey you didn't see how
it ended
we did win
punchline
but of all the things that we do talk
about these cartoons are great the Cold
War reenactors are a lot of fun because
you can go anywhere in the country or
certain places you can see Revolutionary
War reenactors you can see Civil War
reenactors what do you do for the Cold
War right under your desk Duck and Cover
kiss your butt goodbye if the bombs
start flying right everybody remembers
that duck and cover with with the turtle
right that's duck and covered turning
into a lounge act here
but you'd see those kids with the picnic
blanket you know that would like the
bombs you know the bombs coming you're
gonna put a picnic blanket over your
head or a kid on the bike that's going
to hide behind that brick wall it's
laughable to look at that these days but
imagine that's all you have
Boris and Natasha great loose and
squirrel we're going to get them smoke
smoke you know they're chasing after
Rocky and Bullwinkle you can see a lot
of that played at the Eisenhower Museum
in in Kansas there and who could forget
good old Charlie Brown testing the
h-bomb in the backyard imagine you're a
child growing up in the 50s during the
three more nuclear war era
but that Cold War I don't think ever
ended we were talking about Soviet block
countries they're still causing trouble
North Korea is in the news all the time
Ukraine we can't get away from it so you
see countries like Belarus and all those
countries that any hardly any American
can probably spot on a map as all of a
sudden the Forefront of a newer Cold War
tensions that are being fought in these
uh not directly but all oftentimes in
these Second World countries as we used
to call them we're in third world that
the Cold War really solid in the 1980s
obviously we're looking at El Salvador
places like Nicaragua places like
Afghanistan off the map but not directly
confrontational
but that Cold War era will remind him or
go down memory lane see these great
movies of the 80s
like damn Nation alley and the day after
and everything was going to blow up and
of course way back when I was a wheelad
reading the Weekly Reader if you're old
enough to remember that boy we're old
but the one I remember the most was
cockroaches were going to be the only
species surviving a nuclear war
we had no chance you know they were
scaring kids back then in the late 70s
and early 80s
the other one I always like is the
recurring headline killer bees are going
to come from South America and sting
everybody to death you see that headline
every two or three years it's hard to
take something seriously but the cold
war in the Nostalgia era Rocky IV man he
was taking on Ivan Drago and they asked
Rocky where are you gonna fight this
Russia
and everybody panics yes why are you
going to do that in Russia and of course
the Soviets are smug we're going to take
this guy out we're going to show those
Americans you know those American picks
you know and of course they show Rocky
out there training in the in the tundra
and what is he doing
pulling those logs and uh he's got the
big gray sweatshirt on he's running
through the snow and what are the what
is Ivan Drago doing high tech he's
running on that treadmill he's got
everything like hooked to him and beep
beep beep well thankfully the Americans
prevailed Russia you know the Russians
were defeated
Rocky Balboa did his proud you can see
how many of you maybe have seen the
Apollo Creed movies the second one is
Apollo Creed it's uh Apollo Creed's son
rather who fights Ivan Drago's kid so
we've got that continuation of that
series War Games would you like to play
a game that's Matthew Broderick and
Ellie Sheedy The Breakfast Club theme
that is the computer system they hacked
into and all of a sudden it's
tic-tac-toe flash flash flash flash
flash flash
and in the end the moral of the story is
we don't want nuclear war
James Bond of course Spies Like Us why
we would send Chevy Chase and Dan
Aykroyd into Russia to you know stop a a
war from going out who knows that's good
Hollywood creativity but the Red Dawn my
favorite movie growing up Patrick Swayze
Charlie Sheen there in Colorado and
they're going to take on you know the
Soviets and the Cuban troops and we're
going to show them a lesson they're
popping out of the ground and blowing up
stuff and they learned their lesson they
took hightail what else so they showed
the Soviets who was boss
some reason we had a lot of Cold War
veterans that uh became entertainers
became very famous people of course
there were drafts back then and whatnot
but we don't hear about the Cold War
vessels we don't hear about 20 million
Cold War veterans that took on the
Soviet Union
we hear about we've always heard about
the World War II era where Ted Williams
you know gave up his Boston Red Sox job
joined the service
and Spencer Tracy and James Cagney in
Korea Ed McMahon Bob Newhart Alan Alda
you know we're going to go fight you
know in Korea Vietnam the rocky bliers
story Cold War nobody talks about them
but everybody knows that famous guy in
the left-hand Corner who's the most
famous Cold War veteran out there
shouted out that guy in the top left
corner
Elvis Presley Elvis Presley Elvis was
Hammond and Hine the colonels like you
should go in I don't want to go in well
Elvis joins the army they send him
immediately to West Germany
and talk about Soviet block countries
the East Germans looked at that and said
they're playing tricks on us we don't
want that guy shaking his hips and
corrupting Our Youth and they're wearing
their bobby socks those poodle skirts
why we got to take care of this before
he corrupts Our Youth and the East
Germans went so far as to make that
official dance you should dance like
this do not shake you know don't shake
like that you should don't have that
that long hair you got to cut your hair
like a good Soviet citizen
what about the guy to the right of Elvis
Presley they might recognize that famous
Cold War veteran Air Force
wanted to be a fighter pilot became God
in a couple of films
who's the guy in the top middle Morgan
Freeman 100 100 Cypher con points Morgan
Freeman was an Air Force veteran very
romantic romanticized version I'm gonna
go fight you know fly these jet fighters
well he got in that cockpit and he went
I don't want to die
so he decided to become a radar
technician became an actor became very
famous lower left hand corner that's
probably a little difficult to decipher
that guy was a Kung Fu Master was a
action here on his own right would go
inside Vietnam to get those Vietnam
prisoners left behind by himself does
anybody know who that is
Chuck Norris I heard that Chuck Norris
Air Force learned a lot of his obviously
karate in uh station in Japan he's an
Air Force guy became a very very famous
actor obviously what about that guy in
the Middle with the mop
any Star Trek fans here
that's Leonard Nimoy Leonard Nimoy in
the army
live long and prosper bottom right hand
corner that's an obvious one that is Bob
Ross Bob Ross that's a fun story Bob
Ross was from Florida joined the Air
Force in 1961 Air Force and their humor
sends him to Alaska
he's in Alaska and he decides he's got a
lot of time on his hands he's going to
pick up a hobby and he's going to start
painting and he loves that landscape he
loves those mountains and he's going
every day he's got a 30 minute lunch
really fast gets back to the base wet on
wet technique if you watch those Bob
Ross specials that was his technique all
because he had to hurry up and get back
to the base you know he eventually
became a drill instructor as the Air
Force we call them military training
instructors mtis
and he would be yelling all the time
and he thought I'm not I just hate all
this yelling I'm going to put in a
little happy happy Bush there and put a
little Happy Tree in there so you can
think the cold war for Bob Ross's
contributions to painting in his
military service top right hand corner
will end this
recognize that guy
very famous musician
the Ring of Fire
as Johnny Cash Air Force Air Force had
that ear they sent him in as an
eavesdropper in West Berlin he's on duty
in 19 early 1953 in March in particular
and he's listening to that Soviet East
German traffic cable and the baltics or
excuse me the Soviet block
border there in East Germany and here's
something very curious
he's purportedly the first American to
hear that Joseph Stalin has died because
of that radio traffic
now of course Johnny Cash will go on to
make an illustrious career the man in
Black
he would put on that you know that
guitar and he made his way to Memphis to
Sun Studio
got that record contract versus history
well people for years would sell Johnny
Cash I can't believe you had that you
had that sound and
after a while he's like pulled this guy
aside he said you know what
that's all my guitars could play
so you know that signature sound there
of Johnny Cash
heard that Joseph Stalin had died so
just a few more tidbits I'll wrap up
with if you're looking for that local
connection to Cold War the operation
rollback was one of those fun facts the
Marshall Plan passed we had to do
something about those Soviet black
States
so they put in a little
a little bit of money five percent of
the Marshall Plan went to funding
Guerrilla groups behind the Aaron
curtain thanks to that Milwaukee
Congressman there and a man named George
Cannon who went to school over in
Delafield at St John's Military Academy
and he became the Soviet but first
former Soviet expert for the United
States became an ambassador so he was
the containment policy and that's how
his idea was to counter the Soviets
instead of directly going into nuclear
war
there's a lot of fun books out there if
you're interested especially in the kids
level the Iron Curtain as you can see
right there which straddles a number of
those
Soviet Bloc countries the Aaron Curtin
was a 4 000 mile just on land there if
you conclude Finland it's over 6 000
miles you'd be happy to know that they
are restoring that as a walking and
running excuse me biking trails you
could take a month off and actually go
to the Iron Curtain there where the land
mines were or the fences the iron fences
were the barbed wire where the snipers
were standing so you can have more
peaceful ride across Europe you know as
Churchill said from the baltics to the
Adriatic you know you know there's an
iron curtain descending in Fulton
Missouri
and so that's what he was talking about
we've had a number of authors that have
come over the United States especially
Peter cease who talks about his
childhood growing up in a Soviet black
country that is in Czechoslovakia
as you can see everything that he
remembered as a student and growing up
in in Iron Curtain country in a Soviet
black country very black and white and
red being told what to say what to think
what art he could do but in his mind and
what the student and youth of 1968
wanted was they wanted color they wanted
to hear about the Harlem Globetrotters
they wanted to beat poets they wanted
rock and roll they wanted the Beach Boys
they wanted to wear their hair long
that's a great book to read
but of course eventually all good things
have to end the Cold War ended Ronald
Reagan stood up and said tear down this
wall and he did eventually contribute to
the end of the Soviet Union into the
Soviet system all went down one of the
more famous figures to stand on that
wall and do a little song and dance was
David Hasselbeck
who said Ernie went up there and he's up
dancing on the David Hasselhoff rather
so he's up there dancing and dancing so
David Hasselhoff you see a joke going
around for a long time that David
Hasselhoff end of the Cold War probably
didn't have that big of a contribution
but Germans love David Hasselhoff as
Norm Macdonald told us on Saturday Night
Live but if you want to go visit these
countries you are welcome and free too
as long as there's no shooting going on
you can go see the Berlin Wall yet in
Germany you can go to places like
Chernobyl where if the firing stops you
can actually go visit there it's a great
place to visit I've went there for three
days a few years ago got to go up to
reactor number four that blew up in
1986. that's the last photo you will see
of that roof because they have a giant
sarcophagus that they rolled over about
six months after my visit that was the
original one that they replaced that
with in April of 1986 it had a 30-year
shelf life and they finally got
something over there there's birds
flying in and out of their rodents you
know Lord's knows when going to the
ecosystem producing the lower left hand
corner with the tanks these Russian
tanks are in this latest conflict
you can even go to places like
Afghanistan if things have calmed down
that's a great place to the most
beautiful country I've visited but you
can see some Soviet tanks you can see
the Soviet remnants you can use it and
see and talk with mujideen Warriors that
fought the Soviets and from 1979 1989
that guy is stands about five foot ten
he sells rugs on chicken Street in Kabul
we talk quite a bit through a translator
I said what was the greatest thing
America did for you
money
and those missiles right because it has
those missiles and they shot those
helicopters down
contribution to the Soviet unfolding how
it ties back into Chernobyl and when
Chernobyl exploded they need to recall a
lot of those helicopters back to try to
put out that fire they didn't really
know what they were doing but you can
see the demise happen in real time it's
something I watched on TV read about
growing up ended up visiting a number of
these countries so I encourage you if
things ever if you have the opportunity
to visit some of these countries they're
really beautiful and really nice
especially those areas like in the like
Romania look really beautiful Bulgaria a
lot of natural wonders Macedonia Albania
those are great so anyway thank you for
paying attention I hope you have a good
rest of the conference thanks for having
me
foreign
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