Now You See It, Now You Don't!

TellZall's object for November is the Fallout Shelter

Even as the war ended, friction arose between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The two nations had joined, perhaps not enthusiastically, to destroy fascism in Europe, but the ideological differences between the USSR's dictatorial communism and US's democratic ideals quickly put the former allies at odds.

At first, as the sole possessor of "the bomb" and with the world's strongest economy, the US appeared to be in an ideal position. But when the Soviets exploded their first atomic bomb in 1949, in part the result of information gathered in the US by Soviet spies, the playing field quickly leveled.

The Cold War was upon us, and the threat of nuclear annihilation caused Americans to fear for the future. The new weapons became ever more ominous, culminating in the fusion, or hydrogen, bomb that the US first tested in 1952, to be followed by the Soviets the next year. With the development of powerful rockets and missile-carrying submarines, no place on Earth was safe from nuclear threat.

The immediate and awesome destruction caused by a bomb "hit" was only part of the story. Nuclear weapons created huge clouds of windbourne radioactive dust that could travel for large distances. Those that escaped immediate destruction could suffer slow, agonizing deaths from radiation sickness brought on by this radioactive "fallout."

Americans were worried about nuclear holocaust. No longer were the oceans sufficient protection from distant enemies. In response, in 1951 Congress passed the Defense Emergency Act. The terms bomb shelter and fallout shelter entered everyday conversations as citizens comtemplated building underground shelters on their properties, and government designated certain buildings, usually large public buildings with ample basements, as fallout shelters. Both public and private shelters were stocked with food, water, and other necessities to enable occupants to stay inside until the danger from the deadly nuclear fallout fell to safe levels, a process that might take several weeks. No one imagined that any affordable shelter could withstand a direct hit from a nuclear weapon.

The private fallout shelter "fad" began in the mid-1950s and lasted through the mid-1960s. A number of companies sold them, and numerous magazines and government agencies offered plans for construction by "do-it-yourselfers."

The federal government hoped to provide public shelters for at least 50 million people. Well-stocked shelters could be found in all cities, their locations marked on the outside with distinctive yellow-and-black signs. The federal Office Civil Defense ensured that supplies for a two-week stay were in place and that each shelter had emergency medical supplies, communication equipment, and radiation monitors.

The passage of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963 marked the beginning of the long process of nuclear arms control. As the US and USSR came to terms with the awesome power of their ever-more-powerful weapons, all-out nuclear war became almost unthinkable. As the 1960s and 1970s unfolded, bomb shelters and fallout shelters became relics whose stores were not kept up to date. Private shelters were filled in or converted to such uses as wine cellars. Public shelters also suffered neglect. The breakup of the Soviet Union seemed to mark their end.

Today, we unfortunately face a renewed threat of nuclear weapons, but on a scale not nearly so widespread as that of the 1960s. Still, some Americans are restocking long-neglected backyard and basement shelters.