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Week 4: Civil Defense,
Fallout, and Atomic Culture
Week 4 Study Guide:
Terms: Dwight D. Eisenhower Fallout Massive Retaliation X-Rays SIOP Radium Sputnik I Nevada Test Site ICBM Downwinder Herman Kahn Dirty Harry Duck and Cover Mutation Bert the Turtle Strontium- Interstate System Linus Pauling Suburbia Stan Lee Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization The Consumer’s Union Bomb Shelters SANE Dual Containment Ionization
Questions to consider:
- How did Cold War Civil Defense programs shape our built environment?
- Why do you think Science Fiction authors were so enamored with nuclear science during this period?
- Did the U.S. government take appropriate steps to safeguard against nuclear attack? Should they have done more or less? Why?
Week 4: Civil Defense,
Fallout, and Atomic Culture
President Dwight D. Eisenhower oversaw a revamping of U.S. nuclear strategy:
- Is explicit in stating that “the U.S. will consider nuclear weapons to be as available for use as other munitions.”
- Massive Retaliation
- SIOP central to SAC
- Attempts an ATOMS FOR PEACE plan although it fails
I. Ike’s America
Edward Teller warns of threat to major cities
majority of the U.S. population is
concentrated in big cities along the eastern
seaboard; this makes for a concentration of
viable targets
Like New York City
II. Civil Defense: Public Planning
“You can SURVIVE”, and “You can
live through an atom bomb raid and
you won’t have to have a Geiger
counter, protective clothing, or
special training in order to do it.”
“The secrets of survival are:
KNOW THE BOMB’S TRUE
DANGERS. KNOW THE STEPS
YOU CAN TAKE TO ESCAPE
THEM.”
Air-Raid drills become common in cities
Ike’s Interstate System:
-Provides easier access to the suburbs -Provides faster means of exit from cities in the case of nuclear war
- Makes Baby-boom mass housing developments— the Suburbs—possible -Influences a growing Car Culture in the U.S.
Interstates change the character of post- war America, not only are they central to evacuation plans, but also provide a means for families to:
-travel -see the nation -go on vacation -prime the economy -commute
Eisenhower establishes the U.S. Interstate System
Suburban Sprawl is one byproduct of the Interstate system
Interstate Highway System is designed for easy
evacuation from Urban Areas, as well as quick
deployment of U.S. troops in case of an invasion.
III. Bomb Shelters
BOMB SHELTERS begin to fascinate the nation
-They represent the American do it yourself ethos
-self-protection / protect your own family
-CONSPICIOUS CONSUMPTION
-Federal government won’t pay for public shelters, but encourages DIY shelters; builds prototype shelters around the country as examples;
-OCDM distributes free copies of FAMILY FALLOUT SHELTER – booklet that tells readers how to protect themselves
OCDM Free Pamphlet
Week 4 Study Guide:
Terms: Dwight D. Eisenhower Fallout Massive Retaliation X-Rays SIOP Radium Sputnik I Nevada Test Site ICBM Downwinder Herman Kahn Dirty Harry Duck and Cover Mutation Bert the Turtle Strontium- Interstate System Linus Pauling Suburbia Stan Lee Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization The Consumer’s Union Bomb Shelters SANE Dual Containment Ionization
Questions to consider:
- How did Cold War Civil Defense programs shape our built environment?
- Why do you think Science Fiction authors were so enamored with nuclear science during this period?
- Did the U.S. government take appropriate steps to safeguard against nuclear attack? Should they have done more or less? Why?
Week 4, Part II: Fallout and Atomic Culture
Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen
Found that a barium- coated screen brightened when he passed an electric current through a glass bulb with most of the air removed;
The tube must have been producing some kind of radiation—it went through paper, wood, and even the human body
He calls these new, fascinating rays X-RAYS
Radioactivity Intensity measured in ROENTGENS after
Nobel Prize in chemistry
In 1957, Pauling estimates that 10,000 people were either dead or dying of leukemia; nuclear tests are the cause.
He argues that continued testing will lead to 200,000 physically or mentally defective children in the next 20 generations
Radioactivity and Popular Culture
Changing Perceptions of Radioactivity in Popular Culture
Astounding Science Fiction was instrumental in shaping young minds, many of whom would go on to become scientists and writers during the Atomic Age.
For example, Judith Merril focused on atomic themes in “That Only a Mother”, in which Magraret’s husband, Hank, works around radioactive materials; the child is born without limbs.
Comic Books
“Atomic Comics”
Introduction by Gen. Leslie R. Groves Explain atomic science to young people Pushes for careers in atomic science
Stan Lee
1960s
Marvel Comics
Takes the resurgence of the
Superhero genre and
combines it with atomic
science fiction
Radioactivity transforms
ordinary people into
superheroes
