But 29 August 1949The Soviet Union successfully tested its first nuclear weapon. In the next one and a half years, US President Harry S. The Truman again survived the Civil Defense Office (which was abolished at the end of World War II) and signed the 1950s in the Federal Civil Defense Act Act, which gathered the government agencies to plan after a global nuclear war. Due to the Cold War, the Act discontinued a decades long attempt to ensure that at least some Americans survived the nuclear arms.
As the largest citizen federal agency with the presence across the country, the US Post Office was in the Department of Post Office. A unique position To monitor local radiation levels and shelter residents. By the end of 1964, about 1,500 postal buildings were designated as fallout shelters, providing location and emergency supply to 1.3 million people. Until the outside radioactivity was considered safe, the people living were expected to live in shelters. By 1968, around 6,000 postal staff were trained to use radiological equipment, such as the CD V -700 was depicted on top, for monitoring beta and gamma radiation. And a group of postal workers organized a volunteer Ham Radio Network to help with communication, regular networks must go down.
What was civil defense in the Cold War?
The basic basis of civil defense was that many people would immediately die in target cities directly by nuclear attacks. (Check out Alex WelsteinIs interactive Nukimap To estimate the casualties and impact, your hometown – or any place of your selection must hit.) This explosion was residents of other cities, suburbs and rural communities outside the area who would benefit the most from the preparation of civil defense. With adequate warnings, they could shelter in a preserved site and wait for the worst of collapse. For a day or two after the attack, they can help and help any leftover people in the harder-hit areas.
In 1957, an office committee drafted the report Preventive and existence in nuclear era, President Dwight D. For Eisenhower. Gaeren is better known as a report, called for the creation of a nationwide network of fallout shelters to protect citizens. Government publication Family Fallout Shelter Encouraged Americans who had space, resources and willpower to build shelters for their homes. City residents in apartment buildings warned only half the page in the booklet, suggested to the basement and collaborated with other residents.
This 1960 model Fallout Shelter was designed for four to six people. Betman/Getty Image
Finally, very few home owners actually created a result shelter. But Rod surlingManufacturer of television series “The Twilight Zone“Saw an opportunity for sharp social comments. Aired in 1961 collapse “Shelter” Showed how soon the civilization (a suburban middle -class family and the appetomized by their friends) broke the verdict as to who would be saved and who is not.
Meanwhile, President John F. Kennedy began to transfer the national strategy from individual shelters to community shelters. On their instructions, U.S. Ami coops of engineers Survey of existing buildings suitable for public shelters. The post office, especially at least 50 people, had a natural fit, capable of housing, a natural fit.
Each postmaster general was nominated as a local shelter manager and was given full rights to operate the shelter, including who would be recruited or excluded. Handbook for Fallout Shelter Management Gave guidance for everything from sleeping arrangements to cleanliness standards. Shelters were stocked with food and water, medicine and of course, radiological survey equipment.
What to do in case of nuclear attack
These community fallout shelters were released Standard kit to detect radiationThe kit came in a cardboard box with two radiation monitors, CD V -700 (A gigar counter, depicted at the top) and CD V -715 (A simple ion chamber survey meter); Size of two cigars CD V -742 DosimeterTo measure a person’s total risk when wearing a device; And a charger for dosimeters. It was also included Handbook for Radiological MonitorWhich provides instructions about using equipment and reporting results.
After the nuclear attack, standard kits were issued to the Post Office Fallout Shelter to measure radioactivity.National Postal Museum/Smithsonian Institute
The shelter radiation kit consisted of two radiation monitors, two cigars-shaped dosimters and a charger for the dosimter. Photocove/Getty Images
In the event of an attack, the operator will take reading with the CD V-715 at selected locations in the shelter. Then, within three minutes of completing the indoor measurements, he went out and read at least 25 feet (7.6 m) from the building. If there was high radiation level outside, there were procedures for refinement when returning to shelter. The “conservation factor” of the shelter was calculated by dividing the reading out of the inside. (Today the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, recommends at least 40 PF for a fallout shelter.) Operators were directed to take the measurement again and reorganize the protective factor at least once every 24 hours, or more often if the level of radiation has changed rapidly.
The CD V-700 was aimed at detecting beta and gamma radiation during cleaning and refining operations, and was also to detect any radioactive contamination of food, water and personnel.
Each station will report its dosage rates to a regional control center, so that the civil defense organization can determine when people can leave their shelter, where they can go, which routes to take, and which features require a refinement. But if you live through a natural or man -made disaster, you will know that immediately, communication does not always work so well. In fact, Handbook for Radiological Monitor Accepted that an atomic attack could disrupt communication. Fortunately, the US Post Office Department had a backup scheme.
In May 1958, Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield An appeal was made for all the postal staff, which were for licensed amateur radio operators to create an informal network, which would provide emergency communication in the event of telephone and telegraph network and collapse of commercial broadcasting. The result was a voluntary group of post office nets, Ham Radio operators; By 1962, about 1,500 postal staff signed in 43 states. That year, the pone was opened to non -employees who had the required license.
Although the pone was never activated due to nuclear threat, it transmitted the message during other emergency situations. For example, in January 1967, after an epic icy storm, Illinois and Michigan blank with heavy snow, Michigan went into Action, establishing contact with county weather services and relaying emergency requests, such as saving people trapped in vehicles on interstate 94.
The performance of amateur radio was shown at a 1954 civil defense fair. The US Post Office recruited around 1,500 employees, which in the event had regular communication to operate the Ham Radio Network. National archives
The post office retired the network on 30 June 1974 as part of its shift away from the preparation of civil defense. ,A volunteer citizen emergency-reaction is a radio network Still exists, under the aegis of the American Radio Relay League.) And until 1977, laboratory tests indicated that most food and medicine in the post office basements were no longer fit for human consumption. In 1972, the office of Civil Defense was replaced by the Defense Civil Preparation Agency, which was eventually converted into FEMA. And with the end of the Cold War, the civil defense program officially ended in 1994, fortunately without need for a nuclear attack.
Do we still need civil defense?
The idea for this column came for me the last time I was doing research Linda Hall LibraryIn the Canasus City, Mo., and I came in articles about civil defense in magazines and magazines since the 1950s and 60s. I knew that Smithsonian National postal museumIn Washington, DC, many civil defense artifacts were (including CD V -700 and a great “Emergency“Public Service Declaration Record album).
As a child of the late Cold War, I remember that nuclear was concerned with the possibility of war. But then the Cold War ended, and so was my fear. I imagined the column of this month to capture the complicated history of civil defense and the earnings of the era. That chapter of history, I had accepted, was closed.
A little I had imagined that by the time I started writing this, the possibility of an atomic attack, if there is not an all-out war, will suddenly become too real. These days, I understand the complications and nuances of nuclear weapons that I was better since I was a child. But I am just worried that an atomic conflict is imminent. Hopefully here history repeats itself, and it does not come on it.
Part of Verification series Given historical artifacts that embrace the immense capacity of technology.
A brief version of this article appears in the August 2025 print issue.
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