The Cold War Vault

The Cold War Vault


Latest Episodes

EP56: Doom Inflation -the Doomsday Clock
March 26, 2023

Recently, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved the minute hand of the "Doomsday Clock" to 90 seconds to midnight. Since 1947, the clock has been a symbol of existential dread. But has it outlived i

A SHOW UPDATE and Cuban Missile Crisis Project Report
November 03, 2022

This is a short one. It's a show update for the new YouTube series on the alternate end of the Cuban Missile Crisis on this 60th Anniversary. And a little speculation on how things might have been. I

EP54: Movies of the Cold War AFTERMATH
August 10, 2022

The final installment of the series on cinema of nuclear war brings us to the uncertain world of the "aftermath." From immediate effects to decades after, who knows what the world after a nuclear war

EP53: Movies of the Cold War STRIKE
June 14, 2022

In the third episode of this series of nuclear war on film, we look at the moment the missiles land and how it was depicted through the decades of the Cold War--from survival to hopeless destuction.

EP 52: Movies of the Cold War LAUNCH
March 08, 2022

This is the second part of a series about the films of the Cold War. This time we go beyond escalation to launching the war. What kinds of glitches and mistakes might have caused the balloon to go up

EP51: Movies of the Cold War ESCALATION
January 20, 2022

In this series we'll break down the greatest films of the Cold War and see each phase of a conflict through the lens of the movies. The first episode is "escalation." What do films have to say about t

EP50: Aliens in the Sound Channel
November 16, 2021

We start with whales and end with aliens on this episode of the Cold War Vault. By exploring geophysicist Maurice Ewing's contributions to the national defense in submarine warfare, we will go on a jo

EP49: An Interview with John McEuen
September 28, 2021

John McEuen was a founding member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and in 1977 was invited on a musical tour of the Soviet Union. On this episode, John McEuen recounts some stories about the tour and tho

EP48: The Taiwan Crisis of 1958
August 17, 2021

Recently uncovered documents reveal how close the 1958 Taiwan Crisis came to going nuclear. Important context to have in the current world.

EP47: Sleeper Agent with Ann Hagedorn
July 22, 2021

An interview with author Ann Hagedorn about an early Cold War espionage ring and the American-born spy who escaped to the Soviet Union--but only after stealing secrets from the Manhattan Project. Slee