Learn more about the Cold War at these tourist destinations

   A Minuteman missile in its silo.

During the 1950s, the U.S. government built an emergency relocation center for members of Congress. This secret underground bunker had 30-ton doors that were meant to withstand a nuclear blast. It was designed with living space for up to 1,000 people and included a hospital, kitchen and television studio. The facility was never used but was kept operational for 31 years, from 1961 to 1992. Amazingly, the bunker was built underneath a luxury hotel, the Greenbrier Resort, whose owners maintained an agreement with the government to turn over the property in the event of a war. Today, you can tour the bunker and marvel at the lengths to which the government once went to plan for a possible nuclear attack.

In Tucson, Arizona, there is the Titan Missile Museum, which I wrote about in my previous article. In South Dakota, visitors can now tour the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site and see an underground launch control center, a missile silo, and the living quarters for military personnel. It's an intriguing glimpse into the Cold War era, when the United States and the Soviet Union stared each other down with thousands of intercontinental ballistic missiles. Similar sites in other states include Nike Missile Site SF-88 in Marin County, California, and the Nike Hercules Missile Site HM-69 in Everglades National Park, Florida.

In the 1940s, when there was a race between American and German scientists to develop atomic weapons technology, Oak Ridge National Laboratory was founded as a nuclear research facility. It was here that scientists first separated uranium-235 from uranium-238, which was a key step in the development of nuclear weapons. Today the laboratory conducts research for a variety of scientific endeavors, but anyone interested in the facility or its history can take a bus tour of the grounds. Tours leave from the nearby American Museum of Science and Energy, where some of the exhibits chronicle the region's role in the Manhattan Project.

During the height of the Cold War, the Strategic Air Command was responsible for managing the nation's air defense and maintaining its nuclear arsenal. The command controlled the country's intercontinental ballistic missiles and its bomber aircraft. The Strategic Air and Space Museum  tells this history. Within its 300,000-square-foot facility are dozens of aircraft and a few missiles that were once operated by the Strategic Air Command, along with other exhibits dedicated to the history of aviation.