On 29 August 1949, the Soviet Union efficiently examined its first nuclear weapon. Over the subsequent yr and a half, U.S. President Harry S. Truman resurrected the Workplace of Civilian Protection (which had been abolished on the finish of World Battle II) and signed into regulation the Federal Civil Protection Act of 1950, which mobilized authorities companies to plan for the aftermath of a world nuclear struggle. With the Cold War underway, that act kicked off a decades-long effort to make sure that at the very least some Individuals survived nuclear armageddon.
As the biggest civilian federal company with a presence all through the nation, the U.S. Put up Workplace Division was in a unique position to observe native radiation ranges and shelter residents. By the tip of 1964, roughly 1,500 postal buildings had been designated as fallout shelters, offering area and emergency provides for 1.3 million folks. Occupants had been anticipated to stay within the shelters till the radioactivity outdoors was deemed protected. By 1968, about 6,000 postal workers had been skilled to make use of radiological gear, such because the CD V-700 pictured at prime, to observe beta and gamma radiation. And a bunch of postal workers organized a volunteer ham radio community to assist with communications ought to the common networks go down.
What was civil protection within the Chilly Battle?
The fundamental premise of civil protection was that many individuals would die instantly in cities immediately focused by nuclear assaults. (Take a look at Alex Wellerstein’s interactive Nukemap for an estimate of casualties and affect ought to your hometown—or any location of your selecting—be hit.) It was the residents of different cities, suburbs, and rural communities outdoors the blast space that might most profit from civil protection preparations. With sufficient warning, they might shelter in a shielded website and await the worst of the fallout to decay. Wherever from a day or two to a couple weeks after the assault, they might emerge and support any survivors within the harder-hit areas.
In 1957, a committee of the Workplace of Protection Mobilization drafted the report Deterrence and Survival in the Nuclear Age, for President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Higher often known as the Gaither Report, it referred to as for the creation of a nationwide community of fallout shelters to guard civilians. Authorities publications reminiscent of The Family Fallout Shelter inspired Individuals who had the area, the assets, and the desire to assemble shelters for his or her properties. Metropolis dwellers in condominium buildings warranted solely half a web page within the booklet, with the suggestion to go to the basement and cooperate with different residents.
This mannequin fallout shelter from 1960 was designed for 4 to 6 folks. Bettmann/Getty Photographs
In the end, only a few owners really constructed a fallout shelter. However Rod Serling, creator of the tv collection “The Twilight Zone,” noticed a possibility for pointed social commentary. Aired within the fall of 1961, the episode “The Shelter” confirmed how rapidly civilization (epitomized by a suburban middle-class household and their associates) broke down over selections about who can be saved and who wouldn’t.
In the meantime, President John F. Kennedy had began to shift the nationwide technique from particular person shelters to group shelters. At his instruction, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started surveying current buildings appropriate for public shelters. Put up workplaces, particularly ones with basements able to housing at the very least 50 folks, had been a pure match.
Every postmaster basic was designated because the native shelter supervisor and granted full authority to function the shelter, together with figuring out who can be admitted or excluded. The Handbook for Fallout Shelter Management gave steering for all the pieces from sleeping preparations to sanitation requirements. Shelters had been stocked with meals and water, medication, and, in fact, radiological survey devices.
What to do in case of a nuclear assault
These group fallout shelters had been issued a standard kit for radiation detection. The equipment got here in a cardboard field that contained two radiation screens, the CD V-700 (a Geiger counter, pictured at prime) and the CD V-715 (a easy ion chamber survey meter); two cigar-size CD V-742 dosimeters, to measure an individual’s whole publicity whereas carrying the gadget; and a charger for the dosimeters. Additionally included was the Handbook for Radiological Monitors, which offered directions on learn how to use the gear and report the outcomes.
Put up workplace fallout shelters had been issued customary kits for measuring radioactivity after a nuclear assault.Nationwide Postal Museum/Smithsonian Establishment
The shelter radiation equipment included two radiation screens, two cigar-size dosimeters, and a charger for the dosimeters. Photoquest/Getty Photographs
Within the occasion of an assault, the operator would take readings with the CD V-715 at chosen places within the shelter. Then, inside three minutes of ending the indoor measurements, he would go outdoors and take a studying at the very least 25 ft (7.6 meters) from the constructing. If the radiation stage outdoors was excessive, there have been procedures for decontamination upon returning to the shelter. The “safety issue” of the shelter was calculated by dividing the surface studying by the within studying. (At the moment the Federal Emergency Administration Company, FEMA, recommends a PF of at the very least 40 for a fallout shelter.) Operators had been directed to retake the measurements and recalculate the protecting issue at the very least as soon as each 24 hours, or extra often if the radiation ranges modified quickly.
The CD V-700 was meant for detecting beta and gamma radiation throughout cleanup and decontamination operations, and likewise for detecting any radioactive contamination of meals, water, and personnel.
Every station would report their dose charges to a regional management heart, in order that the civil protection group may decide when folks may go away their shelter, the place they might go, what routes to take, and what services wanted decontamination. However in the event you’ve lived by a pure or artifical catastrophe, you’ll know that within the quick aftermath, communications don’t all the time work so properly. Certainly, the Handbook for Radiological Screens acknowledged {that a} nuclear assault would possibly disrupt communications. Fortunately, the U.S. Put up Workplace Division had a backup plan.
In Might 1958, Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield made an enchantment to all postal workers who occurred to be licensed beginner radio operators, to type a casual community that would supply emergency communications within the occasion of the collapse of phone and telegraph networks and industrial broadcasting. The consequence was Put up Workplace Internet (PON), a voluntary group of ham radio operators; by 1962, about 1,500 postal workers in 43 states had signed on. That yr, PON was opened as much as nonemployees who had the mandatory license.
Though PON was by no means activated because of a nuclear risk, it did transmit messages throughout different emergencies. For instance, in January 1967, after an epic blizzard blanketed Illinois and Michigan with heavy snow, the Michigan PON went into motion, establishing liaisons with county climate companies and relaying emergency requests, reminiscent of rescuing folks stranded in autos on Interstate 94.
A 1954 civil protection truthful featured a show of beginner radios. The U.S. Put up Workplace recruited about 1,500 workers to function a ham radio community within the occasion that common communications went down. Nationwide Archives
The put up workplace retired the community on 30 June 1974 as a part of its shift away from civil protection preparedness. (A volunteer civil emergency-response ham radio network nonetheless exists, beneath the auspices of the American Radio Relay League.) And by 1977, laboratory checks indicated that many of the meals and medication stockpiled in put up workplace basements was not fit to be eaten. In 1972 the Workplace of Civil Protection was changed by the Protection Civil Preparedness Company, which was ultimately folded into FEMA. And with the tip of the Chilly Battle, the civil protection program formally led to 1994, fortuitously with out ever being wanted for a nuclear assault.
Can we nonetheless want civil protection?
The concept for this column got here to me final fall, after I was doing analysis on the Linda Hall Library, in Kansas Metropolis, Mo., and I saved coming throughout articles about civil protection in magazines and journals from the Nineteen Fifties and ’60s. I knew that the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum, in Washington, D.C., had a number of civil protection artifacts (together with the CD V-700 and an incredible “In Time of Emergency” public service announcement report album).
As a baby of the late Chilly Battle, I bear in mind being concerned by the prospect of nuclear struggle. However then the Chilly Battle ended, and so did my fears. I envisioned this month’s column capturing the intriguing historical past of civil protection and the earnest preparations of the period. That chapter of historical past, I assumed, was closed.
Little did I think about that by the point I started to put in writing this, the prospect of a nuclear assault, if not an all-out struggle, would instantly develop into far more actual. Nowadays, I perceive the complexities and nuances of nuclear weapons significantly better than after I was a baby. However I’m simply as involved {that a} nuclear battle is imminent. Right here’s hoping that historical past repeats itself, and it doesn’t come to that.
A part of a continuing series taking a look at historic artifacts that embrace the boundless potential of expertise.
An abridged model of this text seems within the August 2025 print challenge.
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