Nuclear fallout would've killed us all - no matter how hard we tried.
After World War II and the demonstration of the nuclear bomb, the Cold War was all about atomic anxiety. The next few decades in America were spent preparing in panic for the inevitable nuclear apocalypse.
Bomb shelters were sold and built, survival supplies hoarded, and radiation-safe clothing went on sale. The only problem is, brick shelters, hiding under desks, and plastic ponchos were never going to shield citizens from nuclear blasts.
Here are the citizens of the fifties and sixties prepping and suiting up for what would have been in vain, if it all went down.
1
Stocking the Bomb Shelters, 1963
u/ExploreMoreMysteries
2
Delivery of the new bomb shelter, Richmond, VA, 1960
u/sverdrupian
3
They tried to make living in a bomb shelter look so normal in the 1950s.
u/skipperbob
4
The Atomic Age. Better Homes and Gardens, June 1955
u/IwishIwasBailey
6
A boy and his dog model the latest fashions in atomic protection in front of their bomb shelter
1951
7
Fallout shelter in the backyard, 1950s
u/Beeninya
8
Boys building a bomb shelter in Minnesota during the nuclear anxiety of the Cold War, 1952
u/Meunderwears
9
A family shops for a Fallout Shelter, 1961
u/Reporter_at_large
10
Duck and cover drill in a school in Los Angeles, 1951
u/Meunderwears
11
Tourists in Las Vegas, Nevada, watching an atomic bomb test seventy five mile away, 1950s
u/skipperbob
12
A couple modeling protective suits against nuclear fallout in New York City
1961
13
School children practicing the Duck and Cover drill, to protect themselves against the effects of a nuclear explosion
Circa 1950s
14
A couple demonstrating the use of a Morrison shelter, thought to protect against nuclear fallout
1960s
15
A Morrison shelter containing a dummy, after the house it was in had been destroyed as a test
1950s
16
The adult-orientated “Survival Under Atomic Attack”
Issued in 1950
17
A Duck and Cover poster, featuring Bert the Turtle
1952
18
Duck and cover drill in a sсhool in Brooklyn
1962
19
Fallout shelter water storage can be issued by the U.S. Department of Defense
1963
20
Idealized American fallout shelter
1957
