Duck and Cover – Fallout Shelters & Drills

by Joe Lowry

The fantasy that a nuclear attack was survivable.

The Cold War and threat of a nuclear attack were on everyone’s minds from 1947 to 1963. But of course, we knew that federal, state and local governments had a plan to protect us and help us survive such an attack because that’s what they told us.

If you are of a certain age and grew up in Memphis, you remember “duck and cover,” crawling under your elementary school desk, or crouching down and covering your head in the school hallway while the teacher kept an eye on you.

If your family had not stocked a two-week supply of food, water, medical necessities and a bucket toilet, they had at least talked about it.

A number of measures were put into place and steps taken to make people feel their government had it all covered.

In May of 1954, Memphis added 17 motorized outdoor warning sirens on the tops of buildings, to be heard up to two and a half miles away. Today, the sirens can be heard in Memphis every Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.

CONELRAD (Control of Electromagnetic Radiation), on local AM radio 640 or 1240, was established to keep everyone informed if a bomb was headed our way. In the event of an attack, all commercial radio stations would cease normal broadcasting to prevent enemy bombers from using their signals as navigational beacons. CONELRAD was replaced in 1963 by the Emergency Broadcast System.

Those who could afford it built bomb shelters. Some people even cut out a bedroom floor to build a shelter under the house or dug deep in the backyard to install one.  

Selling the bomb shelter: Family of four on display to promote shelters

In September 1961, a Memphis family – dad, mom, an infant child and a teenaged nephew – became an example of how to live together in a bomb shelter.

Edward Chaney, wife Charlene, nephew Charles Edward, and infant son Ed Jr. spent several days in the mock shelter at the Mid-South Fair. The Chaneys’ experience was widely publicized. The purpose of the stay was to test and promote the feasibility of private shelters during the height of the Cold War.

Mr. Chaney worked for Harts Bread, which gave him time off with pay to play his part in civil defense initiatives. His nephew Charles Edward Chaney was 13.

The shelter, provided by the American Legion and the Office of Civil Defense, was a 12 ft. x 24 ft. concrete block structure with glass to allow viewing by the public. It was constructed especially for the Fair to show the public how a family could survive a nuclear event with limited supplies.

The family appeared to live for nine days solely on military-style rations and bottled water, use hand-cranked ventilation systems and rely on battery-operated radios for communication. In reality, they were provided with an air conditioner, hot plate, TV, telephone and newspapers. And fortunately, they were in the Agriculture Building near a bathroom. Privacy was severely limited.

At the time, the government encouraged citizens to build personal shelters as part of a civil defense campaign of preparations for a nuclear attack. The demonstration was part of a larger national push for civil defense preparedness.

This largely forgotten event remains a notable piece of Memphis history, reflecting the unique blend of suburban domestic life and nuclear anxiety that defined the early ‘60s. [1]

 

“Practicing” for a nuclear attack

What we didn’t know at the time was that most of these precautions and preparations could not protect us. The reasons why were discovered during an annual nationwide civil‑defense drill.

Run by the federal Office of Defense and Civilian Mobilization (defunct since 1973), Operation Alert simulated a Soviet nuclear attack on major U.S. cities, all of which were required to take part in the drill, practicing evacuation, sheltering, continuity‑of‑government procedures, emergency communications and fallout‑response planning.

While officially serving as a practice run, Operation Alert exposed the separation between what turned out to be federal fantasy and local capability.

In Shelby County, almost every home bomb shelter would have failed. The area’s high water table, just 15 to 25 feet below the ground’s surface, meant pressure from the water would seep into a concrete bomb shelter within two or three years. The geology of Memphis, with its fault lines, infrastructure, and sandy, porous soil would be a part of the problem.

By the late 1950s, internal reports (including some from Tennessee) admitted that:

• Evacuation was impossible.
• Shelter capacity was inadequate.
• Communications would likely fail.
• Medical response ability would collapse.
• Fire suppression resources would be overwhelmed.

One element of the civil defense plan created “host counties,” nearby sites outside Shelby that could take in the county’s citizens if a bomb blast were to make the area uninhabitable and people were evacuated. The population of Memphis and the surrounding area in 1960 was more than 550,000.

Three Tennessee host counties — Tipton, north of Memphis, and Fayette, east of Memphis — had a combined population of about 16,000 and consisted mostly of farmland with low density and very limited infrastructure. In Mississippi, DeSoto County’s population was just 18,000, and it also lacked the resources that would be necessary for an influx of thousands.

While the message to Memphis was “You will evacuate safely. Rural counties are prepared to receive you,” the plan never stood a chance of success. The “host counties” made it clear they would not accept evacuees from Memphis.

Operation Alert pretended that cities could calmly evacuate hundreds of thousands of people in 30–60 minutes. Many people knew that was fantasy.

By the mid‑1950s, Americans — including Memphians — understood that:

• A real nuclear attack would give no warning.
• Evacuation was impossible on a large scale.
• Radioactive fallout patterns were unpredictable.
• Local governments didn’t have the resources.

By 1957–1959:

• Workers refused to leave their desks to participate.
• Businesses ignored the sirens.
• Cities reported “symbolic participation.”
• Newspapers openly mocked the drills.
• Some mayors refused to participate at all.
• In New York, thousands staged a sit‑down protest. In Memphis, people simply went on with their day.

“Your children will be safe”

During the Cold War years, parents were assured that their children were safe and would be taken care of at school if there was an attack.

Largely another fantasy, this assumed not only protection from radiation, safe food and water, medical care and more, it also assumed the teachers would not only be able but also happy to care for hundreds of children for up to two weeks.

Schools were not equipped. They had little to no food, water, sanitation, bedding or medical supplies. They simply could not sustain children (or teachers) for two weeks. Teachers were never trained for long‑term care, to run shelters, manage trauma, handle medical emergencies or care for children 24/7.

The part that was not talked about publicly was that teachers would be expected to stay with students even if their own children were elsewhere or their own families were in danger.

The government’s objective was to prevent panic. Civil defense planners knew that parents would panic if separated from their children, and panic would cause traffic jams, which would ruin evacuation plans.

The message to parents was that their children would be safe at school and to trust the system.

The plan was never realistic and the government knew it. The system did not have the capacity to deliver what it promised.

It was never true that:

• A direct nuclear attack was survivable.
• Duck‑and‑cover would protect children.
• Fallout shelters would keep families safe.
• A nuclear attack was survivable with proper preparation.
• Civil defense was organized, rational, and ready.

Declassified records show:

• Federal planners knew most cities had no realistic chance of survival.
• Fallout shelters were insufficient, unstocked, or nonexistent.
• Civil defense was politically fragmented, underfunded, and often segregated.
• Internal reports described nuclear war as “unmanageable.”

U.S. nuclear capabilities: “We are behind” vs. the reality

The public was told that the USSR’s missile strength outnumbered that of the U.S. and that we were in danger of falling behind technologically.

Evidence later showed that the “missile gap” was not real. U.S. intelligence knew that America had far more nuclear weapons than its enemy. The narrative was used simply to justify massive defense spending and is one of the most famous examples of Cold War political messaging diverging from classified reality.

Environmental and health risks: “Everything is safe” vs. the reality

The public was told that nuclear testing posed minimal risk, fallout was not dangerous and radiation exposure was controlled.

It was later learned that atmospheric tests spread radioactive fallout across the U.S. Those who were downwind suffered increased cancer rates. Effect of nuclear fallout  is one of the most heavily studied Cold War public health issues. Government scientists knew more than they disclosed.

In the end…

A nuclear attack would have been catastrophic, and thousands would have died immediately or within days. Little of the city would have been left, and what remained  would not be usable. Radioactive fallout would prevent human habitation for years into the future.

So why all the drills, air raid sirens, expensive bomb shelters and messaging? The government couldn’t protect its citizens, but what it could do was offer the illusion that everything possible was being done to keep us safe.

While informing us that the threat was real and our enemies were out to get us, federal, state and local governments were telling the public about its solid preparations, involving people in efforts to do their part, and ensuring us that our government had our backs.

We may or may not be safer today, but we do know that hiding under a desk or several feet underground could never save us from a nuclear attack.

Edited by Anne Swearingen

Sources

“Duck and Cover ,” 1952, Library of Congress 

Memphis Commercial Appeal, August 8, 1954, Page 53

Memphis Commercial Appeal, September 14,1961, Page 42

Memphis Commercial Appeal, September 29, 1961, Page 21

Memphis Commercial Appeal, September 30, 1961, Page 2  

Memphis Commercial Appeal, October 1, 1961, Page 1

Memphis Press Scimitar, October 26, 1964, Page 28

Chicago Tribune, May 3, 1983

“The Rise and Fall of the American Fall Out Shelter,” 1950s and 1960s Vox, YouTube 

“Occupying a Public Shelter,” 1965 Nuclear War/Fallout shelter Preparedness, PeriscopeFilm.com

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[1] Sources for Selling the Bomb Shelter:

Memphis Commercial Appeal, Sept. 14, 1962, Page 42

“Life Under Glass,” Memphis Press Scimitar, Sept. 30, 1961  

Memphis Commercial Appeal, Oct. 1, 1961, Page 1 

“Strolling” by Eldon Roark, Memphis Press Scimitar, Oct. 3, 1961, Page 17