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Duck and Cover and Bert the Turtle
As Americans, we learned in the 1950’s that it might not be a good idea to take life for granted. In particular, children were deeply affected by the threat of annihilation by a nuclear bomb. The Virginia Historical Society described that period in this way:
Air raid drills. Conelrad. Bomb shelters. Duck and cover. All of these were familiar terms to Americans in the Cold War culture of the 1950s. The future looked uncertain in the new Atomic Age, and there was growing tension between America and the Soviet Union. People lived with the threat of nuclear war as part of their daily lives.
President Harry Truman established the Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA) in 1950 after the outbreak of the Korean War. As part of the Alert America campaign, the FCDA flooded the public with some 400 million pieces of survival literature that attempted to educate and reassure people that simple civil defense procedures would protect them from a nuclear attack. People received maps showing evacuation routes, families were encouraged to build their own bomb shelters, and countless schoolchildren watched the movie “Duck and Cover” and practiced hiding under their desks when they “see the flash.”
As a child, I don’t remember being terrified. I didn’t read newspapers when I was young, and my parents didn’t discuss politics or world issues with us. Maybe we were accustomed to drills, since we had earthquake and fire drills in California, and “duck and cover” was just one more exercise for some of us. We know now that scampering under our desks for a nuclear explosion would have been a waste of time.
Many films were produced to aid the public in dealing with a nuclear bomb. One of the most well-known films, which I had never seen, was “Bert the Turtle.” I know that this 10-minute film was intended to reassure children that they could take action, but I found it frightening, even today.
In 1986, two psychologists wanted to develop a curriculum called “Choices: A Unit on Conflict and Nuclear War.” They said the program wasn’t intended to take a political position, but help students “understand what choices can be made to ensure a peaceful and secure future for the United States and the world.” They emphasized, however, “peace through strength” and treating the Soviet Union as an “intractable enemy” should be replaced with compromise, negotiation, and trust. It’s noteworthy that the original curriculum was published by the Union of Concerned Scientists in cooperation with the Massachusetts Teacher Association and the National Education Association.
According to some studies, the Cold War had a significant effect on children during that period:
One of those studies, published in 1986 in the journal Canadian Family Physician (and aptly titled “Psychological Effects of the Threat of Nuclear War”) found that those who were most affected by ‘threat of annihilation’ were, perhaps unsurprisingly, some of the most vulnerable members of society: children, teenagers, unemployed people, and caretakers. Among children, anxiety was very high; teens, on the other hand, were more likely to respond with cynicism . . . another study, published in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry in 1982, found that the possibility of nuclear catastrophe was common knowledge among young people during the Cold War. Even without round-the-clock cable news coverage or a steady flow of information through platforms like Facebook and Twitter, kids of the time were readily exposed to (often horrifying) facts and speculation about nuclear tensions.
So the Cold War and the fears that accompanied it had serious consequences in the 1950s and into the 1960s. It raises a couple of questions for me, given our issues with Russia, North Korea, and Iran:
Were you affected by the rhetoric of the Cold War? If so, do you think the effects were lasting?
Second, are your children being exposed to information about nuclear dangers? In what way and by whom is it being communicated? How are you handling this information, or are you choosing not to discuss it with others or your own children?
If you teach children in school, are you discussing the issues?
For a comprehensive collection of Cold War propaganda, go here.
Published in Domestic Policy
I was born in 1970. I grew up affected by the rhetoric of the Cold War and knew that there was a possibility of nuclear war in my lifetime. I saw bomb shelter signs and was aware of the air raid drills although I never participated in one myself. I remember that girl peace activist Samantha Smith going off to the USSR, and I remember thinking her letter to the Soviet leader was indescribably naive.
I sang the Sting song, “I Hope the Russians Love Their Children Too.”
The effect of the Cold War making me think that the Soviet Union was evil is lasting. My fear of nuclear weapons has of course not gone away, since the weapons still exist.
I’ve spoken to my children about nuclear dangers. I’ve told them about Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Some of them have read John Hersey’s “Hiroshima.” Some of them have read Takashi Nagai’s Bells of Nagasaki. All of them have heard discussions of the morality of the US dropping the atomic bomb on civilians.
We’ve talked about MAD and our current nuclear arsenal and what the threats are to the US and why, even whether, we need nuclear weapons.
I discuss the issues with my students according to their ability to understand. Even my little students know that mankind is capable of terrible destruction and evil, and that the US is capable of unleashing that evil as well, although we hope and pray that our leaders will not do so without provocation. We pray for our leaders to make wise and peaceful decisions.
The only way to understand the history of the Cold War is to understand the importance of nuclear weapons and the reluctance to use them even in cases of implacable enmity.
The Union of Concerned Scientists were the bed-wetters that insisted “you can’t hit a bullet with a bullet.”
No, Alice. You can’t hit a bullet with a bullet. We can, we have, and we’re getting better at it all the time.
You’d think that they’d get tired of being wrong in public.
Mama Toad, thank you for responding to many of the points I brought up. You were clearly deeply affected by the Cold War and have taken responsibility to know that the children in your lives are informed. It is probably a delicate task at times, trying to gauge age and temperament. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. We’ll both pray.
As a child, born in 1960’s in a close suburb of Philadelphia, I don’t remember drills of any kind, though I’m sure we had them. I do remember being trusting of my teachers, and obedient. During instances of danger, that may be the most valuable quality for a child. Be obedient.
In hindsight, the only Cold War anything I remember from my childhood was the Fallout Shelter signs at the entrances to the basement of the old school building adjoining our new elementary building, with no basement. I don’t remember stories, brochures, movies, lessons, or even adult chatter.
In the 70’s, we moved from the urban area to a place that was very remote. I don’t remember anything other than fire drills. The school had no basement. I don’t recall any fallout shelter signs. I do remember drills, but only as fresh air during class, not because of fear.
But of course, being more than 2 hours from any urban center, the area would not have been considered a target for a bomb.
In fact, our large family jokes even now about the zombie apocolypse, and our individual plans to get on bikes or hoof it “home” from the various places we all live when “it” happens.
I teach in many grade levels. We have emergency scenarios for fire, lock-out, lock down, tornado/weather, air quality, prison break, bank robbery, local crime with a gun. Some have been real, others just imaginary. Funny, in 20-years, we have never had a nuclear drill, even though we are just outside the 10-mile mark of a nuclear power plant.
I never discuss the cause of drills, per se, but I do discuss the need to be aware of the various plans and instructions, as a basic plan. I encourage my students to be aware and observant of surroundings; to learn to make judgements about hazards; and to be responsible for their own safety should they ever be alone. Because in a school, that is every teacher’s fear: that a child will be alone when something happens, even a drill.
We all do the best we can in the numerous modern “cold-war” situations, and every adult prays there is never a reason to move through any of the drill scenarios for real.
I think your approach is probably a wise one, especially for the very young. For them to try to grasp this type of danger is beyond the imagination. It’s going to be fascinating to see what people remember, how they reacted at the time, and what they are teaching others. Thanks, Jules.
I was a teenager and pretty clueless about world events. Dad kept a supply of water in the basement but, other than that, there didn’t seem to be much anxiety in the small rural town where the corn harvest was coming into the equity. Dad was a pretty cool number and I never saw him “afraid”. He and our neighbor had seen serious action on Omaha Beach and Africa.
I never saw them express much concern over anything but the dirty word that some kid had scratched into the fresh cement sidewalk across the street. I’ll never forget those two good men under that streetlight – soberly scraping the surface to protect us from a profanity that is now used as a casual expression of disgust.
Those were the days. And those were good men.
Indeed they were. They also probably felt that that word was something they could try to protect you from. They had fought abroad, too. Brave men.
I experienced the Cuban Missile Crisis as a small child. That was a heck of a lot scarier that the Norks since Cuba is closer and the Soviets were more competent. As we’ve since learned, the world came a lot closer to nuclear war then than any time before or since.
Everyone just got used to the sword hanging overhead and didn’t think about it too much. As a high school student I got interested in nuclear weapons effects and read a well-known book on the topic (I forget the title) but that was a strictly intellectual interest. My response to the current worry? Meh. Then again, I live in earthquake country.
I was born in the 50s and grew up about eight miles from a SAC bomber base. If the balloon had ever gone up, the only reason to duck would have been to kiss your [CoC] goodbye, and everyone knew it. The first news story that I remember as a kid was the Cuban missile crisis. Though I did not clearly understand what was happening at the time, I could tell my parents and other adults were deeply disturbed and worried. We had fallout shelter signs at the school, but I can’t remember ever doing a bomb drill. Tornado drills, yes, those were a real threat that you could do something about.
I was probably the most worried about an actual nuclear exchange when Reagan was turning up the heat on the Russians. They could have easily taken a ‘use them or lose them’ attitude when it was clear they were losing the arms race. I also recall the SDI debate at the time. Many of the naysayers were from my own domain – computer science – and I make notes of who was willing to shill for the left. They haven’t been heard from much of late…
I’m no longer living in a likely target area, so concern these days looks pretty much like the moderate prepping that we do anyway. I’d not be surprised to see a nuclear exchange somewhere before I pass along, but it seems more likely in some place like the Mideast or East Asia than anyone being foolish enough to take on a major nuke power.
Yes, been there (with the earthquakes). Also, I have no power to make things different. I’m not so much fatalistic, drlorentz, as I am realistic about what is going on. For me, staying up to date as much as possible is helpful.
You may be right, for the reason you cite. When you mention “if the balloon had ever gone up,” what was that referring to? Or is it a figure of speech. Thanks, Locke On.
Fascinating as always, John. You are a man of many talents. Check these out, folks! So when the bomb is going to drop, I now know that you’re the man, John. Always good to know. And seriously, thank you for shedding more light on a little-understood topic.
Figure of speech, but it seems to have been widely used as a euphemism for nuclear war, see also JW’s comment.
The UCS, along with Physicians for Social Responsibility, are the most prolific and execrable sources of disinformation about nuclear technology the world has known. That these polemical hysterics should have been chosen to devise this curriculum is both shameful and incompetent.
Ah, this is the book I read back in high school, though evidently an earlier edition.
Never read Kahn’s book but I enjoyed the movie version. ;)
We were doing calculations on cocktail napkins the Friday after Reagan announced his intention. The consensus among us six — “hell yes we can do this.”
Obviously I agree. Whenever they show up, you know we’re in trouble. I read that Ronald Reagan had a fit when they put this junk together.
What a world . . . when we can have an exchange as casually, stoically accepting of such a dark inevitability.
I was born in 1947. I remember air raid drills at school, we would all file into the halls and sit down with our backs against the wall. I also remember the civil defense public service TV bits and being aware where the shelters were.
As a child I don’t feel I was adversely affected. I just took it all as a given, just a fact of life. There wasn’t anything I could do about it so I went on being a kid.
My military service however, had an effect on me. I have been a nuclear surety officer, served at the Joint Security Area in Korea, and on the border of East and West Germany.
Until the fall of the Soviet Union I was always, at least subconsciously, aware that our liberty required constant vigilance. That while we went on with our everyday lives there were men and women constantly on alert. After the fall of the Soviet Union I did not think of it much anymore, except to occasionally wonder if we had stood down too much.
I am not a teacher and my children are all young adults. My daughters will be home for a visit next weekend, perhaps if the topic comes up we will discuss it. I suspect they will be more interested in talking about Charlottesville.
Thanks, Dave. I wonder if in part our reactions have a lot to do with the way adults in our lives responded. If they were anxious, we would be anxious. If they took events in stride, so would we. But I don’t know that for sure.
This makes sense. I suspect those in the military, especially in roles like yours, were especially tuned in to events and how quickly things could change. Thank you for your service, and I continue to be grateful to those who stand vigil.
I remember the duck and cover – it seems to be a discussion on talk radio lately. Rush Limbaugh last week said he was a smart alec, and told his parents he didn’t believe for one second that a small wooden desk would protect him from a nuclear blast. Our school would sound an alarm, different from a fire drill, and we’d have to either get under the desk and cover our heads, or proceed in single file to the hallway and stand very still and not make a peep.
The book I am reading about a Polish military officer who spied for the US in the 1970’s and early 1980’s has been alarming to me. I had no idea the Russia was planning a full scale invasion of Western Europe during this time. They planned to use Poland and roll forward, knowing Poland would be toast. With all the Russian activity, and warning from Eastern countries, it seems they would resurrect some sort of preparedness again, similar to the 60’s. Russia has been preparing for war for years, says today’s headlines. They probably have the duck and cover instructions in every school. We should too.
Susan,
What happened at school had little effect. When the Cuban Missile Crisis happened then it became all too real. My father was a scientist. He was quite taciturn and unflappable. I remember watching him come back from the grocery store with canned goods that he placed in the basement cupboard. This alone was enough for me to realize that it was all very real. I started reading and soon became familiar with the size of the WWII bombs and the size of the new H Bombs that would be coming over the North Pole with only 15 minutes warning. Pittsburgh would be sure to be on the short list of targets because of its industry. My father was a biochemist so through reading I grasped that radiation was a great danger. It was obvious to me that the basement wasn’t sealed from the outside and would afford little protection from radiation. It was clear to me that death would be a likely unavoidable outcome. I was sure that my father knew all this as well. I said nothing to my mother and my sister as they were frightened but didn’t seem to have the acute physical imagination that I had and really didn’t follow the logic through. Best to leave them alone and not make it worse.
Kennedy came on TV. The tension was palpable. Then a day or so later Kruschev relented and the Soviet ships retreated. I can remember only a little black humor about the whole thing. One of my father’s graduate students had a wild sense of humor. When I saw him afterward he started talking about the fact that people had discussed what they would do in the last 15 minutes. Jerry said that he wanted to go to a delicatessen and eat himself to death. I found this immensely funny at the time and still do.
Regards,
Jim
Wow. Considering how oblivious I was, you were certainly tuned in and very observant. That you researched as you did is impressive. And how kind of you to leave your mother and sister to deal with their fear as best they could without adding to it!
The comment by the graduate student cracked me up–at least he knew where to get the best food!
I grew up in the 1960s. I remember studying the atomic bombs being dropped on Japan in the 7th grade, and waking up from a nightmare about them. Since then, I haven’t worried much about it. As part of the research for my book, I spoke with Sally Rosen in 2009 (and briefly with her husband Milt). Milt headed up Project Viking in the 1940s-50s and was the technical head of Project Vanguard. Sally suggested the name Vanguard for the program to launch the first American satellite . She said that they were in Paris when Sputnik 1 was launched, and their Parisian friends were worried about a Soviet ICBM hitting them.
I was born in 1952 in southern California and remember the Cold War vividly. My father was an aircraft engineer for Lockheed in Burbank and I recall many hushed post-dinner conversations between my parents. In addition to the monthly air raid drills, we had a special assembly when I was in 4th grade (1961) with a speaker from JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena) who outlined the levels of radiation we’d receive when the first strike bombs were dropped on JPL. (Can you believe that? In an elementary school!) That day had a profound effect on me. For another two years, whenever I heard a plane overhead, I would start to shake, sure that the end was near. In Oct. 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, I wrote my will. I still have it.
My father was a wise, stoic man who saw his daughter’s distress and one day sat me down for a talk. My parents were serious Republicans – so, of course, I was too (even at 10) – and one of my biggest fears was that our President was the man my parents didn’t vote for. That must mean, I told my dad, that he would do the wrong thing. (Kids tend to think like that.) Thankfully, my father seized the moment and told me that Mr. Kennedy was, above all else, an American who loved his country; and he had many smart people to help him; and most important, he was our President. “At a time like this we need to trust our President.”
I can not tell you how many times in the last 50 years (and this week) I have remembered my father’s words.
Bless your heart! Writing your will at the age of ten. That’s heart-breakingly poignant. And yes, your father was a good and wise man.
I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis and how very concerned adults around me were. I remember a bomb shelter being built but took it in stride, as if it were normal. I was stationed in Germany 1980-1985. Yes, there were a couple of dicey moments. Military families were prepared for NEO evacuations (when family members would be rushed back to the states). Since both of us were active duty, we had to have someone designated to take our baby to the states for us. I had forgotten about “when the balloon goes up” until someone mentioned it above. We used that as a nice way of saying “when all hell breaks loose” or when the war starts. Our general opinion of “duck and cover” was as someone else said, to kiss your ….. goodbye. The upside of nuclear is only a madman would start a nuclear war…and we seem to have an abundance of them now. As my husband said last night, it can’t be real bad yet because we haven’t been recalled (we both were [are, since they always own you] regular officers).
Yea, went through the movies, drills, cries of anguish. I only remember two lessons. First, the older you get the less likely you’ll fit under a desk. Second, if the missiles fly the best way to go is with a six pack of Bud, a good pair of sunglasses, and a beach chair from which to watch the come in. If you’re going to stop the drop you’d best get them when their still on the ground.
I thought you were going to say as a kid, you duck taped the whole basement. Were you in Pgh.? Kennedy was very smart -.
I love this comment in so many ways, I.M. Fine! The school assembly, hearing planes overhead, writing your will, your father’s clarity . . . you were a deeply sensitive child who was determined to make sense of events–even if making sense didn’t always make sense. But that’s what we do as kids. Thank you.