On October 6, 1961, in a letter to the members of the Committee on Civil Defense of the Governors’ Conference, President John F. Kennedy addressed fears of a thermo-nuclear war. He called for a “national understanding” of the need for government and private bomb shelters. “In simple terms,” he urged, “this goal is to reach for fallout protection for every American as rapidly as possible.”
In the letter, President Kennedy recounted that the federal government was moving forward to make fallout shelter space available. But he also urged states and individuals to act. He noted, “The people of this country will be urged, by me, by the Governors and by other leaders to do what is within their means.”
Additionally, Kennedy predicted, “Protection against this threat is within reach of an informed America willing to face the facts and act.” A year later in October 1962, the Cuban missile crisis made fallout shelters seem even more necessary.
Atomic and Nuclear War Fears
Anyone who grew up between the late 1940s through the next several decades will remember these fears of atomic or nuclear war that peaked at various times. While such fears have changed over time, one may look back on those times through popular culture.
My seventh grade teacher gave our class a major assignment where we each had to design a fallout shelter. Each of our shelters had to be planned to protect and house our class indefinitely in the wake of a nuclear war. It was an interesting assignment, and I remember carefully calculating food supplies and the size of the shelter. I suspect today there would be complaints if a teacher gave the assignment to students due to the accompanying nightmares.
The fears of annihilation by the new powerful bombs did not begin and end with President Kennedy. The 1959 movie On the Beach with Gregory Peck was a story about survivors of World War III. In 1964, Henry Fonda played a president contemplating the possibility of nuclear war in Fail Safe. The same year director Stanley Kubrick addressed the insanity of nuclear bombs in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Decades later, the 1983 TV mini-series The Day After terrified a new generation.
Ladybug Ladybug
Many years ago, I was flipping around the TV channels very late at night and ran across a black and white movie about schoolchildren walking home from school after an alarm warning of a nuclear attack. The film, Ladybug Ladybug (1963), warned about the dark side of our fears. Watching the haunting movie at such a late hour led to me not getting much sleep that night, and the movie has stayed with me.
For full effect, watch Ladybug Ladybug late at night and contemplate the time period where they did not have the Internet or cell phones. The movie was directed by Frank Perry and starred Jane Connell and William Daniels.
Unfortunately, the whole movie is no longer available on YouTube. But here is a scene from Ladybug Ladybug.
Duck and Cover
One of the most famous “films” about these world-ending fears was the short film made by the U.S. Government’s civil defense branch in 1951 and first shown in 1952 during the Korean War. “Duck and Cover” was aimed at kids, and it begins with an animated Bert the Turtle.
Schoolchildren for many years would learn from Bert the Turtle how to protect themselves by ducking and covering themselves. The advice is ridiculous for someone near the bomb’s target area. But supposedly the suggestion is not so ridiculous for those further away seeking to protect themselves.
Still, like my teacher’s bomb shelter exercise, in retrospect it seems an odd thing to be teaching children. Check it out.
Modern Fears
Fortunately, through the hard work of many decent leaders, kids today do not have the same immediate fear of a nuclear war with another country. Unfortunately, human ignorance and brutality have not gone away and have survived in other forms. Today, we cannot even pretend that fallout shelters will protect us from the threats and fears of modern society.
Thus, we can no longer pretend that we are protected by a president’s idea of digging in the ground or a cartoon turtle’s suggestion to “duck and cover.” But at least we are still around.
What do you remember about the Cold War? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
