Cold War Conversations cover art
Podcast · 68 episodes

Cold War Conversations, page 3

by Ian Sanders · English

"Listening to even one episode of "Cold War Conversations" will make this sprawling, potentially intimidating period of history feel vivid and compelling." The New York Times Experience the Cold War like never before with Cold War Conversations — an award-winning podcast. Each week, host Ian Sanders brings you raw, firsthand accounts from the people who lived through one of history’s most tense and transformative eras — soldiers, spies, civilians, and more. These aren’t stories from textbooks. They’re unfiltered voices from the frontlines of history — emotional, gripping, and deeply human. This is Cold War history, told from the inside out.

All episodes, page 3

The German Democratic Republic The Rise and Fall of a Cold War State (428)Ned Richardson-Little’s book and discussion of how the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was built, governed, and ultimately collapsed—emphasizing a complex mix of repression, social control,…1 Nov 2025 · 1 h 12 min · 33 chapters
Trust but Verify: When the Soviets Came to South Dakota (427)Dennis Green, a former Minuteman II missile officer, recounts Soviet verification visits during START-1 deactivation at Ellsworth AFB (South Dakota), including warhead removal and the “trust but…24 Oct 2025 · 1 h 3 min · 21 chapters
Help Cold War Conversations win an awardThe host, Ian, asks listeners to nominate Cold War Conversations for the Discover Pods Awards 2025 (Best History Podcast) to help it reach the finals.22 Oct 2025 · 1 min
From Racially Segregated Savannah to Nuclear Missile Crew Commander (426)Dennis Green’s life story from childhood in racially segregated Savannah, Georgia, through a 32-year U.S.17 Oct 2025 · 57 min · 26 chapters
The KGB defector who saved MI5 and changed the Cold War (425)KGB officer Oleg Lialin’s 1971 defection to MI5 and how his intelligence helped Britain disrupt KGB sabotage/assassination plans and expel 105 Soviet diplomats, reshaping Cold War counterintelligence.10 Oct 2025 · 1 h 3 min · 25 chapters
Cold War Kids: The Unique Life of US Military BRATs (424)The episode profiles Cold War “military brats” through author Tom Hapgood’s childhood in West Germany, focusing on identity as a “third culture kid,” life on U.S.3 Oct 2025 · 1 h 7 min · 24 chapters
The Cambridge Five Cold War Spy Ring: Philby, Burgess, Maclean, Blunt & Cairncross (423)The episode recounts the Cambridge Five Soviet spy ring—Kim Philby, Donald McLean, John Cairncross, Guy Burgess, and Anthony Blunt—covering their recruitment at Cambridge, infiltration of…26 Sep 2025 · 1 h 7 min · 22 chapters
Cold War Britain: Fifty years in the shadow of the bomb (422)Fraser McCullum’s book Cold War Britain: Fifty Years in the Shadow of the Bomb explores how the Cold War shaped Britain beyond US–Soviet politics—through nuclear policy, espionage scandals, popular…19 Sep 2025 · 1 h · 21 chapters
D.B. Cooper: The Unsolved Cold War Aircraft Hijack (421)The 1971 Dan/D.B. Cooper hijacking of Northwest Airlines Flight 305, his ransom demands, the Boeing 727’s rear stairs used for an in-flight jump, and why the case remains the only unsolved U.S.12 Sep 2025 · 1 h 2 min · 20 chapters
A Royal Scots Dragoon Guard in Cold War Berlin (420)Peter Stewart, a former Royal Scots Dragoon Guards tank driver, recounts Cold War life in West Berlin (arrived c.5 Sep 2025 · 1 h 12 min · 31 chapters
The 2nd Most Famous Voice In Cold War Romania (419)Romanian communist-era media censorship and the underground distribution of Western films via VHS, focusing on Irina Nistor’s secret voiceovers that made banned titles accessible to families.29 Aug 2025 · 56 min · 29 chapters
Codename Sunbeam - The story of MI6’s greatest Cold War spy (418)The Cold War story of Oleg Gordievsky (“Codename Sunbeam”), a KGB colonel who became MI6’s most valuable double agent, feeding London detailed KGB intelligence, helping avert nuclear escalation, and…22 Aug 2025 · 55 min · 22 chapters
A 98 Year Old USAF Veteran Remembers the Berlin AIrlift (417)The Berlin Airlift during the early Cold War—how the Allies responded to the Soviet blockade of West Berlin with air corridors, logistics, and Allied/West Berlin cooperation.15 Aug 2025 · 49 min · 21 chapters
The Atomic Bombing of Japan - The First Shots of the Cold War? (416)Stephen Walker discusses the August 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, focusing on what aircrews and bomb-assembly personnel knew, how the missions were executed, and how the bomb shaped…8 Aug 2025 · 1 h 6 min · 27 chapters
Berlin: A Spy’s Guide to its Cold War History (415)Cold War espionage in divided Berlin, told from CIA/Special Forces perspectives, covering major East-West intelligence players, recruitment methods, clandestine communications, and notable spy/terror…1 Aug 2025 · 58 min · 17 chapters
With the US 1st Armored Division in Cold War West Germany (414)U.S. Army 1st Armored Division service in Cold War West Germany, focusing on basic/advanced training at Fort Knox, then life and exercises in northern Germany (Grafenwöhr/Hohenfels and “on the…25 Jul 2025 · 1 h 17 min · 41 chapters
Cold War Short Stories Ep 1 (413)Listener “Cold War Short Stories” episode 1, mixing personal memories tied to major Cold War flashpoints: Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), a chance meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev (mid-1990s), Korean War…22 Jul 2025 · 16 min · 7 chapters
Korea: War Without End (412)The Korean War as a “war without end” and a key Cold War case study for how wars start, are prosecuted, and end without formal resolution.18 Jul 2025 · 1 h 12 min · 24 chapters
The Night a Nuclear Missile Exploded: A Firsthand Account of Survival (411)Greg Devlin’s firsthand account of the 1980 Titan II nuclear missile silo accident at Launch Complex 3747 near Damascus, Arkansas—how a routine propellant-transfer/refueling task led to a…11 Jul 2025 · 1 h 17 min · 24 chapters
The Cold War Origins of the War in Ukraine (410)How post–Cold War European security negotiations—especially NATO-Russia relations and the Budapest Memorandum—help explain the origins of the war in Ukraine, arguing that “security guarantees” after…4 Jul 2025 · 56 min · 21 chapters