The History of Preparing for Nuclear War

Angry Planet

Matthew Gault

War, Politics, Conflict, Government, History, News

4.3 • 882 Ratings

🗓️ 5 April 2019

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Civil Defense! From the dawn of World War II and throughout the 1960s, America had a plan to keep its civilians safe and fit to fight in case of invasion or, god forbid, nuclear armageddon. From duck and cover to the aesthetic of the Fallout video games, American popular culture is enmeshed in the history of its Civil Defense. But what, exactly, is Civil Defense. Where did it come from and do we still practice it today?

Here to help with this history is Alex Wellerstein. Wellerstein is a historian of science, secrecy, and nuclear weapons. He lectures on this and more at Stevens Institute of Technology. You may know him as the guy who created the nuke map, a website that allows you to simulate the effect of various nuclear weapons on an interactive map.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Love this podcast.
0:02.0	Support this show through the A-Cast supporter feature.
0:05.0	It's up to you how much you give and there's no regular commitment.
0:09.0	Just click the link in the show description to support now.
0:20.0	I don't think you get a lot of the anti-nuclear activism and political action that you get in, say, the 1980s, without a generation who have
0:28.2	been forced to hide under their desks. You're listening to War College, a weekly podcast that brings you the stories from behind the front lines.
0:44.9	Here are your hosts. Hello, welcome to war college. I'm Matthew Gault.
1:02.5	And filling in for Derek Gannon, it is me, Kevin Nodell.
1:06.9	Yeah, Derek is off fighting the VA today.
1:08.9	We're very sorry, but he will be back next week.
1:12.1	Today we're going to be talking about Civil Defense. From the
1:14.5	dawn of World War II and throughout the 1960s, America had a plan to keep its
1:18.7	civilians safe and fit to fight in case of invasion or, God forbid, nuclear Armageddon.
1:25.0	From Duck and Cover to the aesthetic of the fallout video games, American popular culture is enmeshed
1:29.8	in the history of its civil defense.
1:31.6	But what exactly is civil defense? Where did it come from and how do
1:36.8	we practice it today? This is especially important to understand coming as we are about a year from the false alarm in
1:46.2	Hawaii. Here to help us work here to help us understand this history is Alex
1:50.6	Wellerstein. Wellerstein is a historian of science, secrecy, and nuclear weapons.
1:55.6	He lectures on this and more at the Stevens Institute of Technology.
1:59.2	You may know him as the guy who created the nuke map a fun website that allows you to
2:03.8	simulate the effect of various nuclear weapons on an interactive map.
	...

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