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Chicago Alert!: The City Plans For Atomic Attack

CHICAGO CODE

CIVIL DEFENSE PARTICIPATION LIMITATIONS (§ 1-16-040)

Recognizing the futility of civil defense against nuclear war and its ensuing radioactive contamination, the city declares that planning for or participating in civil defense programs purporting to prepare for nuclear attack is futile and dangerous. Therefore, the city will not participate in any civil defense or population evacuation program exclusively intended to be implemented upon the outbreak or threatened outbreak of nuclear hostilities.

Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit or limit any other type of civil defense or emergency preparedness program.

Added 3-12-1986

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From Civil Defense to Emergency Management Interest in civil defense planning declined in the late 1960s. As the American war in Vietnam dominated headlines and policy discussions, the Cold War appeared less as an abstract threat of atomic exchange and more like an active battle with boots on the ground. The novelty of atomic war had wound down and Americans no longer believed they could survive a nuclear attack.

In the 1970s, a series of natural disasters led planners to shift to a broader focus on emergency preparedness for a variety of calamities. A renewed effort to prepare for the evacuation of the Chicago Loop in the case of enemy attack took place after September 11, 2001.

In 1986 Chicago became one of dozens of municipalities to officially reject civil defense programs to prepare for nuclear attack. The city council revised the city code to declare such efforts “futile and dangerous.” The measure was a notable display of political consensus in an era when aldermen were engaged in the racially charged “Council Wars” and had threatened physical fights in other policy debates.