This is 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars.

Recognize the possibilities of nuclear war in the missile age

without our citizens knowing what they should do and where they should go

If bombs begin to fall would be a failure of responsibility

And that of course is President John F. Kennedy, speaking on July 25, 1961 during the Berlin crisis.

One of the various moments in the Cold War where we came very, very close to engaging in actual war with the Soviets.

Tomorrow I am requesting of the Congress new funds for the following immediate objective.

To identify and mark space in existing structures public and private

that could be used for fallout cellars in case of attack.

To stock those cellars with food, water, first aid kits, and other minimum

essentials for our survival. Basically what Kennedy is saying here is it's a real

possibility that bombs are going to start falling and we need to figure out

where you can all go to take shelter if they do. That's producer Katie Mingle.

And after Kennedy made this horrifying speech,

as you can imagine, the phones started ringing.

Immediately, the Kennedy administration

was besieged by people wanting more information on fallout shelters.

I'm Kenneth D Rose.

I wrote One Nation underground the fallout shelter in American culture.

You know, businesses that had previously been making swimming pools

now declared themselves to be experts at building shelters.

There were door-to-door bomb shelter salesmen,

...