Date of Award

Spring 2001

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

Committee Director

Lorraine M. Lees

Committee Member

Austin Jersild

Committee Member

Douglas Greene

Call Number for Print

Special Collections LD4331.H47 M53 2001

Abstract

The Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA) was created in December 1950 to prepare the civilian population of the United States to survive and recover from a nuclear attack by the Soviet Union and its allies. Contemporary civil defense theory dictated that this goal should be met by educating the American public in order to avoid a negative psychological reaction that would prevent survival and recovery. In order to evaluate the success of the FCDA's civil defense program, this study will investigate the composition of the FCDA and its public education program.

This study utilized several types of sources in evaluating the educational efforts of the FCDA. The FCDA's Annual Reports provided detailed information about how its public education program was structured. Several secondary sources, especially Guy Oakes's The Imaginary War: Civil Defense and American Cold War Culture, demonstrated the psychological reasoning behind civil defense theory. Finally, newspaper and magazine articles and public polling data showed how the public reacted to the FCDA' s public education program.

These sources revealed that the FCDA began a massive public education program that lasted throughout the organization's lifetime. Through its booklets, manuals, pamphlets, television and radio programs, film strips, press releases, affiliation with national organizations and special programs, the FCDA communicated information to the civilian population about the dangers of nuclear weapons and methods of self-protection. Polling data revealed that the number of people who knew about nuclear weapons and self-protection significantly increased throughout the early years of the FCDA.

Though the FCDA was unable to ensure that the civilian population would be able to survive and recover from an attack, it did organize and implement a successful civil defense public education program. Thus it accomplished the goal of educating the civilian population stipulated in early civil defense theory.

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DOI

10.25777/6v1c-wx27

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