Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson joins Blytheville’s National Cold War Center advisory board

BLYTHEVILLE, Ark. – A former Arkansas governor continues his public service by joining an Arkansas museum’s board.

The National Cold War Center in Blytheville announced Thursday that Asa Hutchinson had joined its advisory board. Museum officials said while he was governor Hutchinson had been instrumental in developing initial funding for the center.

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Hutchinson said the museum had an important role.

“It is impossible to understand today’s world without understanding the Cold War,” Hutchinson said. “As the nation’s federally designated museum of the Cold War, the work of the National Cold War Center in educating visitors from America and abroad is incredibly valuable.”

The former governor added he was looking forward to the center becoming a world-class destination in the Arkansas Delta.

Advisory board chair Christan Ostermann praised Hutchinson’s past support of the center and the significance of his becoming a member of the board.

“Gov. Hutchinson has been a fierce advocate for the National Cold War Center since before its inception,” Ostermann said. “As the newest member of our growing National Advisory Board, he will play an integral role in the future of the center.”

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Hutchinson is a former two-term governor of Arkansas who left office in 2023 after reaching his term limit. Prior to being governor, he had been U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the Arkansas third district, administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Border and Transportation Security.

Most recently, the Bentonville-born Hutchinson had campaigned for the Republican nomination for president but dropped out of that race in January.

The museum is located on the former Blytheville Air Force Base for Strategic Air Command bombers through the Cold War. It closed in 1992 as the Cold War ended.

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Officials said the museum’s opening is planned for 2027, although a display of the base’s history beginning in 1942 is currently in place and open to the public.

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