Chicago Alert!: The City Plans For Atomic Attack

Gimme Shelter

Civil defense campaigns set out to both scare and reassure citizens. They sought to inspire people to care about the Cold War and participate in their own defense while avoiding panic and limiting the expectation that the federal government should (or could) provide protection from atomic attack. Public education focused on “self-help,” which made individual families responsible for their own preparation and protection. 


The symbol of American civil defense was the private family fallout shelter in a suburban home. It represented American values that were key to winning the Cold War: individualism, consumerism, volunteerism, and free-market capitalism. A national system of federally funded, public, communal shelters would resemble a communist, Soviet-style solution. Instead, free individuals would choose to protect themselves by purchasing shelters and supplies in the marketplace. Shelters showcased a society centered on autonomous property owning nuclear families. 

This page has paths:

Contents of this tag:

This page references: