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
1media/city thumb.jpgmedia/AFSC_0012_0014_013_19.jpgmedia/city thumb.jpg2020-11-13T15:19:40-06:00David Greensteinc7fc3212990439fbd3c1dd961272d52f1519d8e6Civil Defense in the CityDavid Greenstein14Plans to survive in the city changed with global contexts.image_header2021-06-03T08:56:21-05:00David Greensteinc7fc3212990439fbd3c1dd961272d52f1519d8e6
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1media/city thumb.jpgmedia/AFSC_0012_0014_013_19.jpgmedia/city thumb.jpg2020-11-13T15:19:40-06:00Civil Defense in the City14Plans to survive in the city changed with global contexts.image_header2021-06-03T08:56:21-05:00Large cities like Chicago with their high populations and concentration of industry would be the primary targets of nuclear attack. But most people living in urban areas did not have the space or money to build their own shelters. Chicago and other cities focused their civil defense programs on mass evacuation. State and local planners mapped roadways and public transit routes for city dwellers to get to collection areas outside of predicted blast zones. They estimated the amounts of housing and food that would be available to urban evacuees in areas across Illinois.
Plans to survive in the city changed with national and international contexts. Early civil defense publications were optimistic about survival. Protecting yourself from an atomic blast was as simple as following ten easy steps. After the invention of hydrogen bombs that were 1,000 times more powerful than early atom bombs, the idea of surviving a blast became even less realistic. The main threat then became fallout – the spread of radioactive particles that could reach people far from the blast site. When tensions with the Soviet Union escalated during the Berlin Crisis in 1961 and Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, there was renewed focus on civil defense planning, especially shelters.