![]() ![]() On July 25, 1961, he said, “We have another sober responsibility. That year, the majority of Americans believed a nuclear war would occur within five years, according to the Smithsonian Institute.Īs the threat of nuclear war became more real, Kennedy addressed the nation. Kennedy to do the same thing on a national level.īy 1961, tensions between the Soviets and the United States had escalated, and the United States was facing the sobering prospect of nuclear warheads being stationed in Cuba. New York’s Governor Nelson Rockefeller started a fallout shelter program in New York in 1960, and he urged newly elected President John F. At the time, citizens were encouraged to stockpile enough food and supplies for two weeks, since it was believed that the radiation levels from a nuclear explosion would drop to a safe level by that time.ĭiscover The Secrets Of The Word’s Top Survivalists! Another was to build and stock an underground shelter in your backyard. One option was to create temporary shelter in your basement. Beginning with the Eisenhower administration, the government launched a program to convince private citizens to build fallout shelters in or near their homes. Office of Civil Defense even issued a series of manuals that instructed Americans on how to construct their own home fallout shelters.įallout shelters were distinct from bomb shelters in that they were not to protect you from ground zero of a nuclear blast – which would be impossible – but from the widespread radioactive fallout that resulted from a blast. In an effort to promote home fallout shelters, the U.S. ![]() government actually encouraged people to create fallout shelters in the late 1950s and early 1960s. You would be wrong.Īs strange as it seems today, the U.S. ![]() You might think that the construction of such a shelter was the brainchild of only a few people who were concerned about heightening Cold War tensions and the possibility of nuclear war. Cots, books and games are neatly placed on subterranean shelves. We see packaged foods - such as breakfast cereals and crackers with labels that indicate a time gone by – along with first-aid supplies, tools, clothing and batteries. If you have seen photos of recently discovered backyard fallout shelters, you would agree that they look like fascinating time capsules from early 1960s America. ![]()
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