In the 1950's, every American man, woman and child was constantly reminded of the fact that they were just a few seconds away from being vaporized by a nuclear fireball. At any moment, you would see the pulse of light and feel the blast-wave rip the flesh from your bones. Maybe, if you were lucky, you'd escape with just flash blindness, some thermal burns and permanent sterility. Either way, the mushroom cloud was always looming on the horizon.
Today, we have our own scares; however, the threat of nuclear annihilation was perhaps more pervasive in the 1950's than terrorist scares today. Schools across the country taught children the "duck and cover" technique to withstand falling H-Bombs, and many a family had a fallout shelter or at least some canned goods in reserve to survive the nuclear winter. In 1954, the Dept. of Civil Defense passed out the comic book The H-Bomb and You to schools. It wasn't exactly consoling to kids already anticipating a global nuclear holocaust. Let's take a look.
It begins with teach explaning in graphic detail their inevitable deaths what to expect in the event of a nuclear blast. In the picture above, the childrens' faces are turned away from us - I wonder what their expressions looked like. Sheer terror, maybe?
The teacher invites a guest from the Office of Civil Defense to speak to the class about their impending doom the specifics regarding a nuclear attack. He assures the kids, "In addition to damage near the point of explosion, an unseen, unheard, odorless 'fallout' of radioactive material might endanger people at some distance from the blast!"..... How'd you like to hear that before recess?
Just in case you had any hope left at all, our friend from the Office of Civil Defense quickly squashes it.
Take home message: Start smoking, drink heavily and eat lots of red meat. We're all going out in a blaze of glory.
