ABSTRACT
In April 2000 an exhibition called Fast Attacks & Boomers: Submarines in the Cold War opened in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. Both submarines and the Cold War were firsts for a major exhibition in the museum, and how that came about is one of the two central concerns of this chapter. The second is how we structured the exhibit to attract visitors and teach them something about history and technology. Although the exhibition closed in June 2003, plans to reinstall it at the US Navy’s historical museum in the Washington Navy Yard are well under way. In late 2006 the necessary funding has been secured and planning proceeds, but no opening date has yet been set.
