Historical Society closes lecture season with Cold War missile talk
Ralph L. Hollis Jr. will tie Minuteman III software to Cold War life in the Pajarito Room, with books for sale and signing at Fuller Lodge.
Ralph L. Hollis Jr. will bring a Cold War missile story shaped by rockets, early computers and the software behind Minuteman III to Fuller Lodge as the Los Alamos Historical Society closes its lecture season. The final talk is set for Tuesday, May 12, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Pajarito Room, with Hollis signing copies of his book afterward and copies also available in the museum shop.
Hollis is the author of Countdown to Launch!: Rockets, Computers, and Coming of Age in the Cold War, a 2024 memoir published by Butterfly Book Group. His lecture, Countdown to Launch! A Cold War Story of Minuteman III, focuses on the technology and history that surrounded the missile program and the people who helped build it. Minuteman III began development in 1964, entered service in 1970 and originally deployed with 550 missiles. It remains the only operational U.S. land-based intercontinental ballistic missile.
The setting gives the talk added weight for Los Alamos. Fuller Lodge was built in 1928 and designed by architect John Gaw Meem, using more than 700 ponderosa pines harvested from the nearby forest. It first served as the dining hall and staff quarters for the Los Alamos Ranch School, then became a community center for Manhattan Project workers. Today, Los Alamos County describes it as being in the heart of downtown Los Alamos in the Historic District near Ashley Pond Park, with the Pajarito Room able to hold about 100 to 150 people.
For the Historical Society, the lecture fits its mission to preserve, promote and communicate the history of Los Alamos and its people. The society’s lecture series typically begins at 7 p.m. in the Pajarito Room unless otherwise noted, and Enterprise Bank & Trust is listed as a sponsor of the 2025-2026 series. The organization also keeps past lectures available on YouTube, extending the reach of the talks beyond the room at Fuller Lodge.
The program links one resident’s story to the larger world that shaped Los Alamos, where national security, weapons development and scientific innovation remain part of the town’s identity. By ending the season with a book rooted in rockets, computers and Cold War memory, the Historical Society is placing local history in direct conversation with the missile age that still echoes through the community.
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