Fallout Protection
Encyclopedia
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
and The Office of Civil Defense
United States civil defense
United States civil defense refers to the use of civil defense in the history of the United States, which is the organized non-military effort to prepare Americans for military attack...
.
The first page of the book is a note from U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara
Robert McNamara
Robert Strange McNamara was an American business executive and the eighth Secretary of Defense, serving under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 to 1968, during which time he played a large role in escalating the United States involvement in the Vietnam War...
explaining that the booklet is the result of the first task he was given when he assumed responsibility for the Federal Civil Defense Program in August 1961. The task, assigned by President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, was to "give the American people the facts they need to know about the dangers of a thermonuclear attack
Nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...
and what they can do to protect themselves."
Subject matter
Much more straightforward about the dangers of atomic weapons than Survival Under Atomic AttackSurvival Under Atomic Attack
Survival Under Atomic Attack was the title of an official United States government booklet released by the Executive Office of the President, the National Security Resources Board , and the Civil Defense Office...
, and published in the era of the hydrogen bomb and the ICBM, the book first explains general information and hazards of nuclear weapons, fallout
Nuclear fallout
Fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and shock wave have passed. It commonly refers to the radioactive dust and ash created when a nuclear weapon explodes...
, and radiation
Radiation
In physics, radiation is a process in which energetic particles or energetic waves travel through a medium or space. There are two distinct types of radiation; ionizing and non-ionizing...
. Second, it covers community fallout shelters, improvised fallout shelters, and supplies that one ought to have ready in case of a nuclear attack. There is a brief section outlining "emergency housekeeping" which basically covers water and food conservation and first aid for the time spent in the shelter. Last, the booklet mentions recovery and how to clean up the fallout.
See also
- Fallout: An American Nuclear TragedyFallout: An American Nuclear TragedyFallout: An American Nuclear Tragedy is a 1989 book by Philip L. Fradkin which was republished in a second edition in 2004. The book is about the radiation exposure of people and their livestock living downwind from the nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site in the 1950s. The case of...
- Fallout shelterFallout shelterA fallout shelter is an enclosed space specially designed to protect occupants from radioactive debris or fallout resulting from a nuclear explosion. Many such shelters were constructed as civil defense measures during the Cold War....
- List of books about nuclear issues
- Nuclear falloutNuclear falloutFallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and shock wave have passed. It commonly refers to the radioactive dust and ash created when a nuclear weapon explodes...
- Protect and SurviveProtect and SurviveProtect and Survive was a public information series on civil defence produced by the British government during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was intended to inform British citizens on how to protect themselves during a nuclear attack, and consisted of a mixture of pamphlets, radio broadcasts,...
- SurvivalismSurvivalismSurvivalism is a movement of individuals or groups who are actively preparing for future possible disruptions in local, regional, national, or international social or political order...
- Survival Under Atomic AttackSurvival Under Atomic AttackSurvival Under Atomic Attack was the title of an official United States government booklet released by the Executive Office of the President, the National Security Resources Board , and the Civil Defense Office...
- United States civil defenseUnited States civil defenseUnited States civil defense refers to the use of civil defense in the history of the United States, which is the organized non-military effort to prepare Americans for military attack...
External links
- Fallout Protection Booklet History
- Fallout Protection in various formats from the Internet Archive