Howdy y’all, just a small post regarding the history of the National Fallout Shelter Survey and Marking Program! Saw this sign in a scene of Mad Men (which takes place in 1960 [season one]) and realized that even big-name shows make historical mistakes, so you might too when creating Cold War media.
The NFSS began in 1961 under President John F. Kennedy. With the help of local surveyors, engineers, and architects, pre-existing buildings that met the criteria for a proper fallout shelter were “marked, stocked, and mapped.” Until this point, there was no true national effort to create public shelters, and indeed, shelter markings, supplies, and locations were up to local discretion, if at all considered.
One of the bigger plot lines of season one of Mad Men is the advertising campaign for Richard Nixon’s presidential race against JFK, so it’s even more glaring that this sign was included in this scene, even though Kennedy had not yet won the election.
