Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU) in Weatherford will host a free “Oklahoma & The Cuban Missile Crisis” symposium on Thursday, October 27, featuring SWOSU history professors Dr. Becky Bruce and Landry Brewer.
The event coincides with the 60th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Bruce and Brewer will speak in the Stafford Center, Room 104, at 7 p.m.
Bruce is a diplomatic historian who will discuss the Cold War in general and the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis in particular.
“The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest that the United States and the Soviet Union came to nuclear war,” Bruce said.
Brewer is the author of three books about the Cold War, including Cold War Oklahoma. He will discuss the nuclear-tipped Atlas missiles that ringed Altus Air Force Base in southwest Oklahoma during the height of the Cold War in the early 1960s, along with civil defense preparations to survive a nuclear attack.
“The state played a significant role during the Cold War’s most dangerous 13 days in October 1962,” Brewer said.
The public is invited to this free event.