Cold War Alabama

The 50-year Cold War began following World War II and was a struggle between ideologies, militaries, economies, athletes, and each nation's ability to reach space. Alabama played a key role in that conflict. Huntsville led the efforts in ballistic missile as well as rocket propulsion development. From Enterprise to Montgomery to Anniston, the military prepared for and served in battles abroad. While the United States promoted democracy globally, the civil rights movement fought for a "more perfect union" at home. Not everyone supported the US involvement in proxy wars; groups of college students in Alabama protested the Vietnam War. All these aspects of the Cold War are captured from across Alabama through pictures and words.

Melvin G. Deaile, PhD, is an associate professor at the Air Command and Staff College in Montgomery, Alabama. A retired US Air Force colonel, he holds a doctorate in American history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He holds master's degrees from Louisiana Tech University, the US Army Command and General Staff School, the Air Force School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, and University of Alabama. He flew the B-52 Stratofortress and the B-2 Spirit and combat operations as part of Operations Desert Storm and Enduring Freedom, including a record-setting 44.3-hour combat mission. His first book, Always at War, chronicles Strategic Air Command's contributions to the Cold War. The Alabama Department of Archives and History provided the majority of this book's images.