Images from Fallout Shelter Handbook 1962.
Build a FALLOUT SHELTER, not a SNOWMAN! By Miriam Kleiman, Public Affairs
#OTD 1961, JFK urged Americans to build shelters for protection from radioactive fallout in the event of a nuclear war - and he promised the government would help. See tips, smiling citizens, and a DIY video below!
Letter from JFK to the Civil Defense Committee 1/6/1961, JFK Library.
"Survival Supplies for the Well-Stocked Fallout Shelter"! NARA ID 542103.
Forget HGTV - try this DIY Project!
Walt Builds a Family Fallout Shelter Produced by the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization, NARA ID 61040, online here.
“I spent a few evenings on it (the shelter) and a couple of weekends. It’s not so hard, anyone who’s not all thumbs can do it. And here’s the way for anybody to do just what I did!”
Happy Walt provides step-by-step DIY guidance:
Outline the shelter space
Mix the mortar
Remove furniture before the final wall is put up
Optional: paint the shelter to please your significant other!
Remember: it's a multi-purpose room, NOT just a fallout shelter! Other uses:
An extra bedroom
A room for grandchildren
A normal non-nuclear shelter against natural disasters
A photo darkroom!
Shelter built by Louis Severance, Akron, MI. "Ever since I was convinced what damage H-Bombs can do, I've wanted to build the shelter. Just as with my chicken farm, when there's a need I build it." Online here.
From lighthearted "Facts About Fallout" 1955, NARA ID 306714.
Nuns help stock fallout shelter at Villa Augustina, NH, 1/22/1963. NARA ID 7419775.
NJ citizens cheerfully review fallout shelter info, NARA ID 7386129. Related: To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis An inside look at the handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis via JFK's secret tapes.
See also:
Photographs and Pamphlet about Nuclear Fallout, DocsTeach
Duck and Cover in the Family Fallout Shelter: Civil Defense Preparedness in the Cold War Era, The Unwritten Record.
