Diary of a Cold War Patriot

Diary of a Cold War Patriot presents a unique view of United States Cold War weapons complex. The complex was an outgrowth of the Manhattan Project, spanning the entire nation from uranium mining to final testing of weapons. The thousands of engineers, scientists, construction and operations personnel who built and operated these facilities were the Cold War Patriots.

Since 1942, more than 700,000 Americans worked to maintain the nation’s nuclear deterrent. In the process, many contracted illnesses from radiation or toxic exposures. They provided the weapons for the B52 flight crews on 24/7 alerts, soldiers with boots on ground, missileers at ICBM complexes, and boomer submariners deep beneath the oceans. The Cold War Patriots were scientists, engineers and production workers at the far-flung United State’s weapon complex. Nuclear scientists at Los Alamos and Livermore designed the weapons; engineers, designers, construction workers, and production personnel designed, built and operated the facilities that made up the nuclear weapons complex. The book not only describes the challenges and dangers faced by the workers, it also portrays the arrogance of government agencies towards residents (Downwinders) in communities bordering the weapons facilities while hiding behind a veil of secrecy. It provides an intimate view of the woefully, inadequate approach to the managing the enormous volumes of radioactive wasted generated during the production of nuclear weapons that require massive efforts to safely mediate the glut of waste and restore the land for unlimited access.