During the winter seasons at Oscar Zero, there are fewer visitors, and only the breeze at times breaks the silence of a prairie resting between harvest and planting. We have welcomed a steady share of guests with an interest in the Minuteman missile system through March, though, and questions arise inevitably concerning tensions with North Korea.

“Have any townspeople expressed interest in coming out and going downstairs during an attack?” (No)

“Could this site ever become reactivated?” (No)

The questions are often asked with a feeling of curiosity rather than worry.

It is an interesting time, as many Cold War thoughts have come back to the forefront of the news. Sweden recently announced distribution of civil defense pamphlets to millions of households due to Russian activities, something that has not happened since the end of the Cold War.

On January 13, 2018, a ballistic missile warning was mistakenly broadcast in Hawaii, causing great concern and reminding all of us that nuclear weapons have not been confined to the history books.

"Facts About Fallout" by the Federal Civil Defense Administration provided tips on how to deal with fallout and radioactivity

Oscar Zero is a unique part of the State Historical Society of North Dakota system due to its study and interpretation of the state’s expansive Cold War history. We have civil defense pamphlets from the 1950s and 1960s (Perhaps our favorite is “Facts about Fallout,” with a cover showing a man in a porkpie hat nervously looking up as a mushroom cloud forms behind him). The Cooperstown siren blares momentarily at noon; during the Cold War and beyond its purpose is to warn of a tornado, another type of civil emergency, or even a nuclear attack.

An "Outdoor Warning Siren" in Fargo. More often designated as tornado sirens across the state than a "civil defense siren," a warning on the City of Fargo website denotes, "When you hear the sirens: Immediate seek shelter indoors and turn on local media; do not assume there is no emergency because skies are clear."

Today, Minot Air Force Base’s B-52 bombers and Minuteman III missiles carry on the state’s historic mission of nuclear deterrence – a word that is an important part of any tour here at the site. Deterrence has not changed much since Oscar Zero’s Minuteman missiles stood ready in late 1966. North Dakota continues to be a part of America’s strategic vanguard.

A document explaining the differences in "attack warning" and "attention alert signals" from sirens

Considering the news from Hawaii, Sweden, North Korea, and elsewhere, perhaps the old adage of “History repeats itself” is true in some regards. Much has changed since the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, but many effects of the Cold War linger on.

From the WS-133b (Minuteman II missile) manual at Oscar-Zero. An explanation of a Minuteman mission from launch to impact. It was approximately a 30-minute journey from November-33 east of Cooperstown, ND, to the Soviet Union.

Guest Blogger: Robert Branting

Robert Branting is the site supervisor at Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile State Historic Site near Cooperstown, North Dakota. Aside from providing site management and public tours at Oscar-Zero, Robert is thoroughly fascinated with Cold War history and is completing work on a book on the history of a Strategic Air Command base in Nebraska. He enjoys reading, interviewing veterans and exploring Cold War sites.

In October 2016 I wrote a “Year of the Plesiosaur” blog that showcased a chain of vertebrae from the neck of one of these Loch Ness-esque sea monsters. In a perfect world we would show the awesome size of this creature by hanging an entire cast of the skeleton (all 50 feet of it) in the Underwater World exhibit of the State Museum’s Adaptation Gallery: Geologic Time. However, we do not have the kind of space needed to facilitate that. What about hanging part of the cast instead? Even a portion of the 70-vertebrae-long neck is impressive to behold. As you enter Underwater World, there is a blank wall to the right of the mosasaur on display. We decided to paint the rest of the plesiosaur on the wall and have the cast neck and skull sticking out as a three-dimensional element.

Then the question was: what to paint? Do we paint a fleshed out creature and have the bones sticking out of the wall? Seems disconnected. How about a skeleton painted, and the 3D bones? Seems a little gruesome. What about an x-ray effect, with a fleshed out creature and the bones (real and painted) fading into obscurity? Perfect! What is the process now?

Initial sketch for the mural.

We measured the wall at 106” wide. Then we picked up a painting canvas at 40” wide. Since I’m the artist for this mural project, I can paint in the comfort of my office instead of pretending to be Michelangelo for weeks on end. The plesiosaur was drafted in a few different poses, until we found one that fit what we wanted. We needed an underbelly view, since the animal will be above the viewer. Take into account light sources, so there are not strange shadows. Next calculate how much the painting will need to be enlarged into a wall mural to fit the space (265%). Then check the size of the last cast vertebra – 9.5” tall. So, at 265%, the last painted vertebra needs to be 3.6” tall in order to fit the expanded painting.

Washes of blue acrylic get rid of the white void, and actually make it easier for me to concentrate.

Now it is time to paint. Redraw the critter on the canvas and rough out my lighting and shadows. I like to do an underpainting of acrylic first to get rid of the blank white of the canvas. Nothing is worse than a big white canvas staring at you. Acrylic dries fast, which is good and bad. Good because I can get a lot of color on fast. Bad because I’m terrible at going back and blending with established (i.e. already dry) colors.

After layers of acrylic, the painting is just about ready for oil paints.

Once the underpainting is done, I start in with oil paints. Sadly I have an allergy to standard oils, but I’ve found a walnut-oil based paint that is low odor and is smooth like butter. The oils I can blend on palette, as well as on canvas. As of right now, the painting is almost done – I’m not going to show the final image, however, until our grand unveiling of the exhibit including the mural and cast neck and skull. So come by the museum on April 27 and you will be able to see the finished product!