Chicago Alert!: The City Plans For Atomic AttackMain MenuThe City Plans for Atomic AttackOrigins of Civil DefenseChicagoans prepared for enemy bombers during wartime.This is Only a TestThe city imagined and rehearsed for atomic destruction.Gimme ShelterThe symbol of American civil defense was the private family fallout shelter.Civil Defense in the CityPlans to survive in the city changed with global contexts.UIC PreparesThe university community shaped city plans.The Only Shelter is PeaceChicagoans questioned civil defense plans.From Civil Defense to Emergency ManagementChicagoans prepared for other disasters.About this ExhibitPamela Hackbart-Dean93dc91bf2da36176f33af7660faa866bf7a25e09Megan Keller Young2e72a529e58eee72bb9ae4f1e37365aa654232caElena Bulgarellac92f0605b2ba97cea97486e46bf140ec3c1560aaDavid Greensteinc7fc3212990439fbd3c1dd961272d52f1519d8e6Dan Harpereff3db32ed95b3efe91d381826e2c10c145cd452Amara Andrew4c3de93e76c0cd744fba27cfbd00636d5347adadAllan Berryecbff91fd95c913af0b15c5fb02dfea79da3c78aPeggy Glowackic2df017addfdbd46b565687b2fe07292c1e692b9
Go Bag For Work
1media/EXH_RMD16_005_0017_0011_0002-1_thumb.jpg2021-06-02T08:15:40-05:00David Greensteinc7fc3212990439fbd3c1dd961272d52f1519d8e6142plain2021-06-02T08:18:16-05:00<a href="https://n2t.net/ark:/81984/c8p94r">Richard M. Daley papers</a>EXH_RMD16_005_0054_0008_0011-01David Greensteinc7fc3212990439fbd3c1dd961272d52f1519d8e6
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1media/orgin thumb.jpgmedia/EXH_RMD16_005_0017_0011_0001-066 crop.jpgmedia/orgin thumb.jpg2020-11-13T15:25:10-06:00From Civil Defense to Emergency Management13Chicagoans prepared for other disasters.image_header2021-06-02T10:06:30-05:00Interest 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.
