July 18, 2022
Press Release
Southwestern Oklahoma State University History professor Landry Brewer’s new book, Cold War Texas, will hit the shelves August 1.
In the book, Brewer argues that the Lone Star State played a significant role within American Cold War national security policy, when civilization’s survival hung in the balance.
Abilene’s Dyess Air Force Base operated 12 Atlas F intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch sites in the early 1960s that were identical to those operated near Oklahoma’s Altus Air Force Base at the same time. In fact, one of those Altus-area missile sites was located just south of the Red River near Fargo, Tex.
“Had these 13 ICBMs been fired, they would have reached their Soviet targets in less than 45 minutes, each delivering a nuclear bomb more than 250 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, at the end of World War II,” Brewer said.
Those missile launch sites cost millions of dollars to build, and five lives were lost in the process.
Nuclear-capable Nike Hercules surface-to-air antiaircraft missiles protected Austin and the Metroplex from a Soviet bomber attack.
An American pilot stationed at Laughlin Air Force Base near Del Rio was the only fatality of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Amarillo’s Pantex plant, where three employees died in a 1977 explosion, maintains the security and reliability of the nation’s nuclear weapons arsenal.
Abilene Christian University History professor Amanda Biles offered this praise in the book’s foreword:
“Professor Brewer’s research takes his readers through the entire Texas Cold War experience, from origins to early nuclear build-up, then through civil defense and even espionage. He tells of
universities, schools, and civic organizations banding together to provide shelter from possible
fallout….He provides needed insight on the relationship between cities and their nuclear neighbors.
“These efforts left a lasting impact on Texas communities. Her citizens knew they would likely be caught in the crosshairs of any Soviet attack, and they responded to this danger with Texas-sized resolve. Their stories are all chronicled here, in another excellent installment of our nation’s Cold War history.”
Brewer is also the author of Cold War Oklahoma and Cold War Kansas. “This book completes the trilogy,” Brewer said.
Cold War Texas is available from Arcadia Publishing/The History Press and may be preordered from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and several other booksellers.
Brewer is Bernhardt Assistant Professor of History for SWOSU and teaches at the Sayre campus.
He also co-hosts “The Early Morning Show” on KECO Radio with his twin brother Nathan.
Copyright 2022 Paragon Communications. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.
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