Civil defense is back in fashion

By Deb Riechmann

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — In the 1960s, the drill was "duck and cover." Now it’s "don’t open, shake or sniff."

At the height of the Cold War, 20 cents bought the latest Life magazine, with headlines such as "How you can survive fallout" and "Detailed plans for building shelters."

Now, with daily anthrax scares, Americans are being told to check their supplies of canned food and water, watch for suspicious behavior and treat the mail with caution.

"Civil defense has not been in the forefront of people’s thoughts for a long time," said Victor Utgoff, an analyst who focuses on chemical and biological warfare.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, homeland security has been talked about from Washington, D.C., to state capitals, from town halls to backyard fences. Coordinating it is the job of a new federal agency.

Homeland defense was a big deal during World War II. Nearly every neighborhood had civil defense wardens, with white helmets and armbands, to make sure emergency procedures were followed. Black curtains were drawn at night to make homes harder to see from the air.

"It’s true that Pearl Harbor scared … people and there was a lot of sinking of merchant ships off the East Coast, but we didn’t get bombed like Britain," Utgoff said. "The civil defense stuff started to just look silly."

In the 1960s, fallout shelters were the rage. The federal government drew instruction sheets showing suburbanites how to make an entertainment den that would be the envy of the Joneses but could convert quickly into a bunker.

In the late 1970s, after the atomic bomb scare faded, civil defense fell out of favor. The emphasis at the Federal Emergency Management Agency switched from preparing for an attack to handling natural disasters including earthquakes and hurricanes.

Fallout shelter signs began to rust. Stockpiles of stale emergency biscuits were removed along with old portable potties and first-aid kits.

The underground bunker at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulfur Springs, W.Va., designed to protect members of Congress in a nuclear strike, is now a tourist site rented out for theme parties.

When congressional leaders were rushed out of Washington for their protection Sept. 11, they went to another secure location in the mountains.

These days, emergency response is back on the priority list. More than half of municipal officials polled by the National League of Cities said they are reviewing emergency plans.

If the current anthrax scares and terrorist attacks die down, however, maintaining that interest may be difficult.

Even in the early 1960s, keeping people alert was a challenge.

There was so much apathy that the Office of Civil Defense, a forerunner of FEMA, put out an album in 1961 called "Complacent Americans." Using sounds of bombs exploding and sirens blaring, the album urged listeners to take civil defense seriously.

Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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