Christian Ostermann Named Executive Director of National Cold War Center

Christian Ostermann (Photo provided by the National Cold War Center)

The National Cold War Center in Blytheville announced the hiring of historian Christian Ostermann as executive director.

Ostermann most recently served as director of the History and Public Policy Program at the Wilson Center in Washington D.C., a nonpartisan foreign policy think tank. Almost all Wilson Center employees were placed on leave in April as part of broad federal funding cuts by the Trump administration.

Ostermann has more than 30 years of experience in Cold War research, public history and public policy management. He has been working with the Cold War Center since 2022 as co-chair of its national advisory board and in November became its first full-time director.

In his new role, Ostermann will work with the center’s board of directors and the national advisory board, chaired by Jillian Hartley, to realize the center’s goal of becoming the premier educational and historical resource for the Cold War.

Fundraising efforts are underway for the construction of a museum at the former Eaker Air Force Base in Blytheville, which Congress designated in 2023 as the site of the federal museum of the Cold War. The base served as a Strategic Air Command facility during the Cold War, a key element in the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal, as well as the aircraft and missiles that delivered those weapons.

The base was closed in 1992.

“The ideological and geopolitical battle between capitalism and communism defined our global politics for almost half a century, resulting in a nuclear arms race, regional wars, and cultural and technological changes that remain vital here in the 21st century,” Ostermann said in the release. “Our vision is for a state-of-the-art museum that tells the story of the Cold War as lived history and connects with younger generations.”

The National Cold War Center projects that more than 50,000 people will visit the museum in its first year, adding significantly to the $156 million spent by visitors to Mississippi County in 2023.