January 26, 2025 - 7 pm EST: Cold War Virginia: Speakers: Francis Gary Powers Jr and Chris Sturdevant will talk about their book on Cold War sites, personalities, and spies associated with the Commonwealth of Virginia. - Click HERE for tickets (NOTE: To avoid paying the suggested Service Fee of 17%, click on the drop-down menu and select "Other" to enter your own amount which could also be zero).
February 23, 2025 - 7 pm EST: STARGATE - The Best-kept Secret of the Cold War: Speaker: Dale Graff will talk about his time as Director of the remote viewing unit at Fort Meade, MD that applied remote viewing for intelligence operations. His 30-year intelligence career was with the Foreign Technology Division (FTD) of the Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in Washington, D.C. - Click HERE for tickets (NOTE: To avoid paying the suggested Service Fee of 17%, click on the drop-down menu and select "Other" to enter your own amount which could also be zero). Photo Credit: Tobias Gawrisch / Credit: Getty Images.
March 23, 2025 - 5 pm EST: "The Black Cats: U-2 Operations over China from Taiwan: Speaker: Chris Pocock from London, UK will talk about the Black Cats AKA the 35th Reconnaissance Squadron (35RS) and their missions over China from Taiwan. On Dec. 14, 1960, Detachment H was created in Taiwan. The "Blackcat" nickname associated with today's 5th Reconnaissance Squadron was started by Det. H. Det. H flyers would frequent an establishment called the "Blackcat" in a nearby town. The name "Blackcat" soon became synonymous with the members of the U-2 detachment. - Click HERE for tickets (NOTE: To avoid paying the suggested Service Fee of 17%, click on the drop-down menu and select "Other" to enter your own amount which could also be zero).
April 27, 2025 - 7 pm EST: US Defense during the Cold War: Speaker: John Bronson will talk about how the US during the Cold War defended against air, submarine, and missile attacks by the Soviet Union. These defenses detected and tracked manned bomber aircraft, hostile submarines, and missiles launched from the other side of the world. The US created deterrence to Soviet attack by means of long-range attacks in response. This session shows how these defenses grew from fledging stop-gap steps into a complex fabric of interconnected combinations of high-tech equipment over 40 years. - Click HERE for tickets (NOTE: To avoid paying the suggested Service Fee of 17%, click on the drop-down menu and select "Other" to enter your own amount which could also be zero).
May 18, 2025 - 7 pm EST: The Fall of Southeast Asia: The Last Plane Out of Cambodia: Speaker: Capt. Neil Hansen will talk about his time as a pilot for Air America and what it was like to be the pilot for the last plane out of Cambodia prior to 1.7 million of Cambodians being slaughtered. Hansen began his aviation career as a pilot for the now disappeared Teamster boss, Jimmy Hoffa. In 1964, he became a captain for Air America, the CIA's secret airline. Air America pilots risked their lives over the skies of Southeast Asia during the days of the Vietnam War and the Secret War in Laos. Air America did not operate within the context of the U.S. military, instead performing their duties as "shadow warriors," owned and operated under the Central Intelligence Agency. Capt. Hansen had a total of 29,000 flight hours, 9,000 hours in a combat zone. - Click HERE for tickets (NOTE: To avoid paying the suggested Service Fee of 17%, click on the drop-down menu and select "Other" to enter your own amount which could also be zero).
June 22, 2025 - 7 pm EST: Cold War Tales from Forbes Adventure Journalist Jim Clash: Jim Clash will talk about his Cold War experiences including but not limited to supersonic rides in Cold War era aircraft, pulling up to 9 Gs in an F-16, flying at MACH 2.6 to 84,000 feet in a MiG-25 Foxbat, a U-2 flight to the edge of space, two visits to the North Pole via the Russian military, HAM Radio contacts with Soviet operators in the 1960s, and more.. - Click HERE for tickets (NOTE: To avoid paying the suggested Service Fee of 17%, click on the drop-down menu and select "Other" to enter your own amount which could also be zero).
July 13, 2025 - 7 pm EST: Ed Yeilding’s Record-Breaking SR-71 Flight: Ed Yeilding, Lt Col (ret) will talk about his time in the USAF and as an SR-71 pilot including his Coast-to-Coast SR-71 speed record, 67 min 54 sec, Mach 3.3 cruise, 2,190 mph, 83,000 ft with RSO JT Vida as they delivered an SR-71 to the Smithsonian where it is displayed at the Udvar-Hazy Center. Its speed records still stand. After military retirement, Ed flew the DC‑9, DC-10, and 747-400 with Northwest/Delta Airlines. - Click HERE for tickets (NOTE: To avoid paying the suggested Service Fee of 17%, click on the drop-down menu and select "Other" to enter your own amount which could also be zero).
August 24, 2025 - 7 pm EST: The UFO Phenomena and Area 51: Myths and Facts: Former CIA Specialist and AREA 51 expert TD Barnes will talk about his new book, The UFO Phenomena: Myths and Facts and his time at Area 51. Explore the captivating history of UFOs, from ancient sightings to modern-day encounters. This comprehensive talk delves into the myths, legends, and scientific investigations surrounding unidentified flying objects. Learn about secret government programs such as Project Blue Book, AATIP, and the enigmatic role of Area 51. TD Barnes will provide a balanced exploration of one of humanity’s most enduring mysteries. - Click HERE for tickets (NOTE: To avoid paying the suggested Service Fee of 17%, click on the drop-down menu and select "Other" to enter your own amount which could also be zero).
September 28, 2025 - 7 pm EST: Avoiding the Apocalypse: How Science and Scientists ended the Cold War. Speaker: Jeff Colvin has spent the past 45 years as a research physicist helping to develop the science that has made technically possible a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), one linchpin of the Cold War stand-down discussed in his new book, Avoiding Apocalypse: How Science and Scientists Ended the Cold War. He is the author or co-author of nearly 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications; has written (with Jon Larsen) what has now become the standard graduate-level text book in the new field of physics that grew out of Cold War era nuclear weapons development, Extreme Physics; played a leadership role in organizing the scientists' boycott and aiding dissident and refusenik Soviet scientists; held an appointed position in the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington, D.C. during the George H. W. Bush administration; and has written and published several Op-Ed columns on these and related topics in different newspapers over the years. Click HERE for tickets (NOTE: To avoid paying the suggested Service Fee of 17%, click on the drop-down menu and select "Other" to enter your own amount which could also be zero).
November 23, 2025 - 5 pm EST: The role of the Paneuropean Picnic in the fall of the Berlin Wall". Speaker: László Nagy will talk about his involvement with the August 1989 Paneuropean Picnic that opened the border gate between Austria and Hungary. The opening of this border gate at the Pan-European Picnic was an event in the chain reaction which resulted in the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the ultimate reunification of Germany. The history of the Pan-European Picnic is very didactic, from idea to realization. To have a true understanding of the interconnections, the weight of the events and their consequences, László Nagy will recall the age, the political constellation of the time, which for many is already fading away. He will also discuss how the operation of the `iron curtain` was brought to an end. Click HERE for tickets (NOTE: To avoid paying the suggested Service Fee of 17%, click on the drop-down menu and select "Other" to enter your own amount which could also be zero).
December 28, 2025 - 7 pm EST: Kaarlo Tuomi’s Tale as a Communist Turned Counterspy. Speaker Carol James will talk about KGB / FBI double agent Kaarlo Tuomi’s tale as a communist turned counterspy. In 1972, when she was editor of The Cooperative Builder, Tuomi shared with her stories about the role he played in the Cold War and how he felt as a participant. According to www.fi.wikipedia.org, Kaarlo Tuomi was recruited by the KGB in 1954. Because he could speak English fluently and still had a U.S. passport, he was trained by the KGB and the GRU and sent to the United States in 1958 as a spy. However, the FBI found out about Tuomi's actions and made him become a double agent. Tuomi worked under the direction of the FBI, but he still continued as a KGB/GRU spy, supplying the Russians with material provided by the FBI. This continued until 1963. Click HERE for tickets (NOTE: To avoid paying the suggested Service Fee of 17%, click on the drop-down menu and select "Other" to enter your own amount which could also be zero).
January 25, 2026 - 7 pm EST: Hexagon: The history of film-based space intelligence: Speaker: Ricky Deutsch will talk about the evolution of US reconnaissance technology, resulting in today’s real-time video capabilities. Initially, film was used in satellites to monitor treaty compliance and intelligence gathering of the Soviet Union and other "denied areas.” The vehicle, HEXAGON, was 60-feet long and took pictures from 100 miles up. The program was urgent and required cooperation between the CIA and the Air Force, guided by the National Reconnaissance Office. This unclassified briefing by someone "who was there,” gives a first-person historical look at how high-resolution images were not only taken, but returned via parachute to be caught in mid-air. Essential to success was the work of the launch team, command & control, tracking stations and the aircrews who made the daring catches of the film buckets. Click HERE for tickets (NOTE: To avoid paying the suggested Service Fee of 17%, click on the drop-down menu and select "Other" to enter your own amount which could also be zero).
February 22, 2026 - 7 pm EST: In Extremis Project Management and Crisis Leadership: The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962
Speaker David S. Maurer will talk about his book which explores how the application of project management and crisis leadership principles led to the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the balance was the fate of the entire world. The tumultuous and now famous thirteen days that precipitated the negotiated peaceful resolution have been viewed and reviewed through thousands of interviews, hundreds of books and dozens of documentaries and movies, yet the ordeal has never been analyzed through the lens of project management and crisis leadership. This presentation examines the possible courses of action presented to and conceived by the President and his chosen advisors. On a deeper level, it considers how these advisors formed a team of sorts, identified a leader, developed a process, and presented a set of deliverables (in this case, options) to the President. Click HERE for tickets (NOTE: To avoid paying the suggested Service Fee of 17%, click on the drop-down menu and select "Other" to enter your own amount which could also be zero).
Cold War Conversations Presentation Series
The Cold War Conversations Presentation Series is a monthly virtual program presented by eyewitnesses, experts, and or authors on Cold War events, activities, and personalities that shaped this 46 year period of time.
The presentations are currently 100% online in the museum’s Zoom Room. This has the great advantage of allowing both our presenters and audience to be sitting in their homes or offices anywhere in the world for both the presentations and question-and-answer sessions that take place virtually
There is a modest $20 charge for tickets to attend these presentations. The Cold War Conversations Lecture Series substantially helps maintain our usual free admission to The Cold War Museum on the weekends, so that visitors can bring their whole families and enter without worrying about their budgets.
If you would like the chance not only to learn more about historic Cold War events, activities, and personalities but also to converse with eyewitnesses--people who were professionally trained to evaluate the significance of what they observed--and other experts who have in depth knowledge of the context, please consider joining the conversation and engaging.
Click the links above to sign up and pay for the program you would like to attend.