What to StockĪs companies got began to sell fallout shelter kits and supplies, the concept of living for an extended amount of time in shelters became profitable. Ax, cot, and other accessories were sold separately. There was even a bomb shelter included in the 1962 Marx Toy Company metal dollhouse showing supplies all along the walls of the tiny room on the side of the Colonial style structure. government as early as 1951 describing very basic instructionsfor survival. Via/ Wiki Commonsĭuck and cover drills and Bert the Turtle taught us the right way to protect ourselves at school in case of an atomic blast and pamphlets were created by the U.S. Fallout shelters, where families could wait out the decay of radioactive matter from a nuclear bomb, were sold in kits, advertised in magazines, and built custom, often at great expense to homeowners. Via/ Library of Congress Everyday Peopleĭuring the Cold War the threat of a nuclear blast strongly affected how many Americans viewed the future.

families were not urged to build shelters as they would be during the ’50s and ’60s. And, advances in food preservation since the end of the war meant that stocking an adequate reserve of food and supplies was easily doable. as the government had been pushing the benefits of canning during WWII. Planning for a shortage of food was not news to the U.S. Only 1 year later the 13-day stand-off of Bay of Pigs ordeal sent the nation into a tail spin. During this time President Kennedy gave speeches and went on record in LIFE magazine urging citizens to prepare fallout shelters if they were able to do so and promising that public shelters would be in the works. Via/ Wiki Commons History of PreparednessĪfter tensions with Russia magnified during the Berlin Crisis in 1961.

For nearly 2 weeks the world was gripped by the threat of nuclear war, adding a new urgency for many families to build and stock fallout shelters in case the worst actually happened. If you were old enough to watch TV or read newspapers in 1962 then you undoubtedly remember the turmoil of the Bay of Pigs crisis.

Old fallout shelters near me