America’s National Museum of the Cold World War Act of 2021
Bill: H.R.5447 | Sponsor: Rep. Fortenberry, Jeff (R-NE)
Policy area: Arts, Culture, Religion

Summary:
America's National Museum of the Cold World War Act of 2021
This bill authorizes the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum located in Ashland, Nebraska, to be referred to as America’s National Museum of the Cold War.
The bill states that the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum is not a unit of the National Park System.
The authorization to refer to the museum as America’s National Museum of the Cold War shall not be construed as requiring or authorizing federal funds to be expended for any purpose related to the museum.

To authorize the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum in Ashland, 
Nebraska, to be referred to as ``America's National Museum of the Cold 
                     War'', and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``America's National Museum of the 
Cold World War Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum, a 
        nonprofit corporation under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal 
        Revenue Code of 1986, was established ``to preserve the history 
        of Strategic Air Command, the Cold War, and related aerospace 
        artifacts and to inspire learning through imaginative, 
        innovative, and inspirational educational programs and 
        exhibits''.
            (2) The Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum is 
        responsible for the finances and management of the Strategic 
        Air Command and Aerospace Museum in Ashland, Nebraska.
            (3) The Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum is the 
        only large, professionally managed and staffed, and highly 
        visited museum in the United States that exists for the 
        exclusive purpose of interpreting, in totality and depth, the 
        American experience of the Cold War years (1946-1991), in all 
        theaters of conflict and containment, including all branches of 
        the Armed Forces and Intelligence Services.
            (4) The Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum was 
        founded by community-invested people seeking to preserve the 
        unique history of Strategic Air Command and the influential 
        impact Offutt Air Force Base has had on the history of the 
        United States.
            (5) From General Curtis LeMay to Strategic Nuclear 
        Deterrence, the Nuclear Triad, Looking Glass, and the fall of 
        the U.S.S.R., the Cold War flowed through the base located in 
        Bellevue, Nebraska.
            (6) The current museum is a legacy of the history of Offutt 
        Air Force Base, where President George W. Bush landed on 9/11 
        as Commander-in-Chief.
            (7) The Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum is the 
        steward of--
                    (A) a significant collection of Cold War aircraft 
                on loan from the United States Air Force that includes, 
                among many others, one of two remaining XF-85 Goblins, 
                one of two remaining B1-A's, one of four remaining B-36 
                Peacemakers, the first operational B-52, both an SR-71 
                and U-2, a record-breaking B-58 Hustler, an EC-135 
                Looking Glass, an F-105 Thunderchief with a confirmed 
                MiG kill, and the very last RB-45C in existence;
                    (B) one of only three Royal Air Force Avro Vulcans 
                in the United States;
                    (C) the first Apollo Crew Service Module launched 
                into space;
                    (D) the personal effects of Francis Gary Powers, 
                Sr., on loan from his family;
                    (E) a large collection of personal and professional 
                items of General Curtis LeMay, CINCSAC;
                    (F) thousands of Cold War artifacts, including 
                missiles and missile firing and command controls;
                    (G) Space Race artifacts from Mercury through 
                Apollo; and
                    (H) Cold War surveillance systems.
            (8) The Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum is home 
        to the B-47 Association Collection and has access to the SR-71 
        Association Collection.
            (9) Since the grand opening of the Strategic Air Command 
        and Aerospace Museum, the museum has attracted nearly 3,000,000 
        visitors from around the world, of which the largest percentage 
        are United States citizens from across the Nation.
            (10) There is an urgent need to preserve the stories, 
        artifacts, and heroic achievements of the post-World War II era 
        that saw the emergence of the United States as the sole 
        superpower before the proliferation of nuclear weapons that led 
        to Strategic Nuclear Deterrence and Containment of Communism, 
        eventually ending in the collapse of the Soviet Union.
            (11) The United States has a need to forever preserve the 
        knowledge and history of its most important post-World War II 
        responsibility of the 20th century, and to teach that history 
        to citizens, visitors, and school children for centuries to 
        come.
            (12) The Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum has not 
        sought congressional funding for its facility and operations.
            (13) Thousands of donors across the Nation have contributed 
        millions of dollars to help build this national institution, 
        including individuals and foundations.
            (14) The Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum should 
        always be the Nation's museum of the American experience in the 
        Cold War years (1946-1991) where people go to learn about this 
        critical period and where the history of the Nation's 
        monumental post-World War II responsibility will be preserved 
        so that future generations may understand the role the United 
        States played in the preservation and advancement of democracy 
        and freedom in the second half of the 20th century.
            (15) The Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum seeks 
        to educate a diverse group of audiences through its collection 
        of artifacts, photographs, letters, documents, and firsthand 
        personal accounts of the participants in the Cold War on the 
        home front during one of history's darkest hours.
            (16) The Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum is 
        devoted to the combat experience of the Nation's citizen 
        soldiers in all theaters of operation and to the heroic efforts 
        of the men and women domestically who supported the overt and 
        covert operations from the period beginning in 1946 and ending 
        in 1991.
            (17) The Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum 
        continues to add to and maintain one of the Nation's largest 
        personal history collections of the men and women who 
        participated in the Cold War.
            (18) No other museum seeks to describe, in such totality 
        and depth, the span of time from the era of George F. Kennan to 
        the collapse of the U.S.S.R. and the Cold War's influence on 
        pop culture, geopolitics, and its eventual influence on 
        contemporary history.
            (19) The Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum is 
        currently a 300,000-square-foot institution, including core 
        exhibitions on the Cold War, Strategic Air Command, and 
        Strategic Nuclear Deterrence.
            (20) The Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum is 
        planning an expansion that will include a Missileers Hall and a 
        large exhibition dedicated to the men and women that served in 
        the Cold War years and their families.
            (21) The planned Comprehensive Facility Redevelopment Plan 
        will describe the role played by every State and territory 
        during the Cold War years, and the database of the Strategic 
        Air Command and Aerospace Museum's exhibition program will be 
        made available to the teachers and school children of every 
        State and territory.
            (22) The Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum is an 
        official Smithsonian affiliate institution with formal 
        agreement to borrow Smithsonian artifacts for future 
        exhibitions.
            (23) The Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum 
        actively engages with other institutions and museums on the 
        history of the Cold War including the National Cryptologic 
        Museum, the National Reconnaissance Center for Interpretation, 
        NASA Space Centers, and USAF Museum Program, among others.
            (24) As the Strategic Air Command's motto was ``Peace is 
        our Profession'', and the heraldry of the organization includes 
        a Mailed Fist offering both Olive Branches and Thunderbolts, 
        with the former headquarters and two major bases within a 50-
        mile radius.
            (25) The Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum 
        supports opportunities for ethical discussion of both nuclear 
        and anti-nuclear defense policy within the context of the Cold 
        War; as the literal and figurative epicenter or ``ground zero'' 
        for an intercontinental thermonuclear exchange, the area 
        represents our national tradition of free speech that 
        simultaneously embraces both public support and protests.
            (26) As the Cold War did not ``end'' but was ``won'', it is 
        proper and fitting that the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace 
        Museum, generally located near the geographical center of our 
        great Republic in the breadbasket of the Nation, represents the 
        cultural, regional, and strategic geopolitical intersections 
        relevant to the history of the Cold War.
            (27) The 1992 stand-down of the Strategic Air Command 
        represented an awareness of the winning of the Cold War and 
        transition to a changed international leadership role.
            (28) Academics and academic institutions have engaged the 
        Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum favorably for 
        research and advanced degree seminars regarding the Cuban 
        Missile Crisis, General Curtis E. LeMay, the evolution of 
        aerospace, and the Cold War, including--
                    (A) the United States Army School of Advanced 
                Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas;
                    (B) Sandia National Laboratories; and
                    (C) Dr. James Blight and Dr. Janet Lang of the 
                Balsillie School of International Affairs (policy 
                advisors to governmental administrations and the United 
                Nations).
            (29) The Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum 
        collaborates with other museums to share the current story of 
        STRATCOM, Minuteman Missileers, The Cold War, the Post-Cold War 
        nature of the Nation's thermonuclear force, and NASA's 
        technological and human developments that resulted in both 
        winning the Cold War and a sense of national pride in 
        achievements.
            (30) The museum highlights that early on, the United States 
        Army Air Corps and then the United States Air Force developed a 
        culture of diversity, including--
                    (A) the Tuskegee Airmen (opened by the local 
                chapter president, with a national organization vice-
                president and the last surviving Tuskegee Airman in the 
                community);
                    (B) Women in Aerospace (featuring historic and 
                contemporary accomplishments in the field);
                    (C) the Black Holes Smithsonian Exhibit (featuring 
                the work of seven student interns of color);
                    (D) Strategic Air Command leading the United States 
                Air Force as the first fully integrated military 
                branch; and
                    (E) education involvement with community partners 
                in underserved communities.
            (31) The Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum is 
        actively collecting oral histories from the Cold War years 
        (1946-1991) to include all branches of service and civilians 
        (Alert Forces, Missileers, children of Vietnam POWs, Civil 
        Defense, Linebacker II Crew Members, etc.).
            (32) The Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum holds a 
        large collection of archival film and video from the Cold War 
        years (1946-1991) that include interviews with General Curtis 
        LeMay and other commanders in chief of the Strategic Air 
        Command, SAC training and promotional films, SAC Cold War 
        status reports, Civil Defense training, Missile Security, and 
        Cold War Propaganda.
            (33) It is fitting and proper to refer to the Strategic Air 
        Command and Aerospace Museum as ``America's National Museum of 
        the Cold War''.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that the following goals are worthwhile 
and should be sustained through America's National Museum of the Cold 
War:
            (1) Ensuring the continuing preservation, maintenance, and 
        interpretation of the artifacts, documents, images, and history 
        collected by the museum.
            (2) Enhancing the knowledge of the American people of the 
        American experience during the Cold War years, in combat, 
        surveillance, intelligence, counter-intelligence and on the 
        home front.
            (3) Providing and supporting a facility for the public 
        display of the artifacts, photographs, letters, documents, and 
        personal histories of the Cold War years (1946-1991).
            (4) Providing and supporting a facility for the public 
        display of the artifacts, photographs, letters, documents, and 
        personal histories of the Concept and Theory of Cold Wars, 
        past, present, and future.
            (5) Providing educational outreach programs for teachers 
        and students throughout the Nation.
            (6) Encouraging, for educational purposes, the further 
        expansion of the exhibits on Technology, Engineering, and 
        Innovation that emerged from Cold War.
            (7) Ensuring that all future generations understand the 
        magnitude of the American contribution to winning the Cold War, 
        the Strategic Air Command's mission of Strategic Nuclear 
        Deterrence, the sacrifices made to preserve freedom and 
        democracy, and the benefits of peace for all future generations 
        in the 21st century and beyond.

SEC. 4. AMERICA'S NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE COLD WAR.

    (a) In General.--The Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum 
located in Ashland, Nebraska, may be referred to as ``America's 
National Museum of the Cold War''.
    (b) Not a Unit of the National Park System.--The Strategic Air 
Command and Aerospace Museum is not a unit of the National Park System, 
and the authorization to refer to the museum as ``America's National 
Museum of the Cold War'' under subsection (a) shall not be construed to 
require or authorize Federal funds to be expended for any purpose 
related to the museum.
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