Chicago Alert!: The City Plans For Atomic Attack

Origins of Civil Defense

The need for organized defense of civilians from enemy bombing arose during the World Wars of the first half of the twentieth century. In these conflicts, combatants attacked not only military targets, but also enemy populations in order to erode their ability and will to fight. The United States was insulated by distance from the widespread aerial bombing of civilians in Europe and the Pacific. But Americans organized civilian defense programs during World War II to prepare for the possibility that enemy bombers might attack U.S. cities.


After the U.S. destroyed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with two atomic bombs in 1945, the potential for the vast, instant destruction of civilian populations in future conflicts became a chilling reality. Maneuvering for control of the postwar world led to increasing tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. By the time the Soviets successfully tested their own atomic bomb in 1949 a standoff between the two powers took shape that became known as the Cold War. If an open battle took place, the conflict could turn hot very quickly. Nuclear war could leave millions of Chicagoans dead in a single attack. How would the city prepare for such a possibility?
 

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