What are your thoughts about the “Civil Defense Era” and our first foray into Emergency Management?

Life in 1950’s America – a bit surreal perhaps? Also, the reality of the time. For this week’s discussion post, tell us
your thoughts about the “Civil Defense Era” and our first foray into Emergency Management?

Here are the You Tube Links or materials to listen to or read on more information about the topic. This is what was shared to use.

Duck And Cover (1951) Bert The Turtle (Links to an external site.)

Duck and Cover 1951

How to Protect Yourself from Nuclear Fallout and Survive an Atomic Attack – 1950s Educational Film (Links to an external site.)

Fall Out Protection 1950’s

Atomic Alert (1951) Elementary Version (Links to an external site.)

This is an example from another student who posted already.

Civil Defense came out of World War II (1935-1945) and into the Cold War era; the Cold War era served to show that the United States needed an immediate action to protect citizens in areas where nuclear war could happen since the Cold War was the era of the introduction of nuclear weapons and the possible threat of a fatal war in the world. Nuclear weapons are a dangerous territory to enter, it can mean “apocalyptic” threat and danger to the coasts and areas of the United States which can end cities and people just like Hiroshima; it’s such a scary thought especially when the Cold War era commenced and the actual threat the United States can go under. Furthermore, this resulted in citywide evacuation zones where there could be “bomb blasts” and civil defense shelters made of concrete established and provided by the federal government; these defense movements provided some comfort to the areas, but also health wise too such as radiation detectors, not only are we dealing with dire situations, but also what happens to the individual’s health when exposed to these threats and chemicals such as the nuclear explosion of Chernobyl and how many individuals got ill after years have passed. Additionally, I think this was a great first discussion post on Emergency Management because this is very much a real life situation that nobody really thinks about; we tend to think more about natural disasters, but these eras have provided developments in defense and the federal government to work together to create plans and help lead the response to any threat in a manner in the world.

I attached and referenced an interesting article that I found and read while completing this post.

Holdeman, E (2017). Civil defense reincarnated. Retrieved from: https://www.govtech.com/em/safety/Civil-Defense-Reincarnated.html (Links to an external site.)