SURVIVING A NUCLEAR ATTACK WITH SPAM (IMAGES COLD WAR FALLOUT SHELTERS)

Atlas Obscura ^ | October 23, 2015 | ANIKA BURGESS

[NYer]

FULL TITLE: SURVIVING A NUCLEAR ATTACK WITH SPAM, AND OTHER IMAGES FROM COLD WAR FALLOUT SHELTERS

A display of essential survival supplies for a well-stocked fallout shelter, c.1961. (Photo: NARA)

During the Cold War, as the arms race between Soviet Russia and the United States escalated, the perceived threat of nuclear attack became increasingly heightened. In response, the U.S. developed procedures to protect its citizens should the worst happen. In 1956, the National Emergency Alarm Repeater—NEAR—warning siren device was implemented to alert citizens to a nuclear attack. Students were drilled in "duck and cover" practices at schools. Books with titles such as Nuclear War Survival Skills were issued. And the only means of protection against radiation in the event of such a catastrophe was a fallout shelter.

Designs for fallout shelters appeared in pamphlets, subway advertisements and displays at civil defense fairs.  President Kennedy even got involved. In September 1961, the same month that the Soviets resumed testing nuclear weapons, Life magazine published a letter from the President advocating the use of fallout shelters. Rather terrifyingly, it was printed over an image of a mushroom cloud.

But that was just one of the many interesting graphical representations of the threat of annihilation. Below, check out our collection of fallout shelter designs and photographs that show just how people in the 1950s and 1960s tried to prepare for the unthinkable.    

A 1958 drawing of a family fallout shelter designed to accommodate four to six people. (Photo: NARA)

A Civil Defense bus/subway poster from 1959. (Photo: Public Domain/Courtesy Civil Defense Museum)

A fallout shelter in Michigan, c. 1960, for a family of four. It had a 10-inch reinforced concrete ceiling and concrete walls. (Photo: NARA)

"See the Family Fallout Shelter": the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization exhibit at a local civil defense fair. ca. 1960. (Photo: NARA)

Directions to a fallout shelter at a high school in Boston, 1962. (Photo: NARA)

A display for different types of family shelters from the 1960s. (Photo: Public Domain/Courtesy Civil Defense Museum)

Fallout shelter supplies being distributed to nuns in Goffstown, New Hampshire, 1963. (Photo: NARA)

A woman takes an inventory of supplies for her household's fallout shelter, c. 1950s. A tub of potato chips sits under the table. (Photo: NARA)

An artist's rendition of a temporary basement fallout shelter, ca.1957. (Photo: NARA)

A basement family fallout shelter, including a 14-day non-perishable food supply, a battery-operated radio, auxiliary light sources, a two-week supply of water, and first aid, sanitary, and other miscellaneous supplies and equipment, ca.1957. (Photo: NARA)

[NYer]

I remember seeing a target scenario where the Russians would hit Seattle, Portland, San Fran and LA. Then they would create a vertical line of 30+ hits mid-country. That mid-line hit would blanket the east coast with radiation.

I again recall watching a video in school, back in the late 50's, on the DEW Line.

The Distant Early Warning Line, also known as the DEW Line or Early Warning Line, was a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic region of Canada, with additional stations along the North Coast and Aleutian Islands of Alaska, in addition to the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It was set up to detect incoming Soviet bombers during the Cold War, and provide early warning of any sea-and-land invasion.

The DEW Line was operational from 1957 to the late 1980s and it was the northernmost and most capable of three radar lines in Canada and Alaska; the joint Canadian-US Pinetree Line ran from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island, and the Mid-Canada Line ran somewhat north of this. Between 1988 and 1993, most stations were deactivated. Those that remained were upgraded as part of the new North Warning System.
Source.

Here's a US Army video on the DEW Line.

DEW Line 1956 US Army "The Big Picture" Distant Early Warning System

[bgill]

With the hurricane bearing down on Mexico, some aren’t bugging out but going on last minute grocery runs. Can’t imagine that there’s anything left on the shelves at this late date or that it won’t get washed away two hours after they get it home.

[discostu]

They don’t show guns because it would go against the narrative they were selling. They were pushing the idea that people in shelters would hang out for a bit, then come out and remake America; and everybody not in shelters would be dead. No need for guns then, as all survivors will be part of the new America united in their purpose.

[NYer]

Fallout shelter supplies being distributed to nuns in Goffstown, New Hampshire, 1963. (Photo: NARA)

[bgill]

shield the kids from the shards of flying glass and debris that would surely be arriving after the blast wave from a nuclear detonation miles away hit their school, breaking and imploding the windows INTO their classrooms.

Someone figured that out and moved us to the hallways away from the windows.

[SkyDancer]

I bet everything in its path will be blasted into rubble. They don’t have basements there (?) so even if they did, it’d fill with water. As big as it is people will have to travel quite away either north or south to escape it.

[laplata]

That’s right. And most of the men had served and fought in World War II which was in the recent past.

[McGruff]

“That mid-line hit would blanket the east coast with radiation.”

I'd rather be vaporised in the first few milliseconds.

[Vermont Lt]

You would die happy I guess.....

[Norm Lenhart]

“You live your life, I’ll live mine...Underground!”

Ratt - Dancing Undercover / Body talk

[SaraJohnson]

Wow! Did this scare the kids?

[JoeProBono]

[NYer]

Wow! Did this scare the kids?

No. If anything, it made us feel safe knowing there was a plan in place. We never expected it to happen but, just in case, we were prepared.

[greeneyes]

Our school never did the duck and cover drills for a nuclear threat - we did tornado drills and most of the instructions were the same. Part of the school had the nuclear shelter logo.

My husband taught civil defense classes in the late 60s. Our basement has a space reserved for a shelter, but did not have the bucks to complete it.

Interestingly, I feel like we are more likely to see a nuclear event now than at any time since the Cuban Missile crisis. I even had a printed architectural plan, which I can no longer locate.

I looked at a lot of this old stuff a couple of years ago, because I had checked to see if there had been any Government updates since then. Nada. Guess the Feds don’t really care if we the people survive- but we can prepare anyway.