The rise and fall of the American fallout shelter

Whatever happened to fallout shelters? And would they have actually worked?

In this episode of Vox Almanac, Vox's Phil Edwards looks at the history behind one of the Cold War's more unusual legacies — the fallout shelter. Of course, any history of the fallout shelter has to include nuclear proliferation, civil defense, Presidential politics, and a turtle named Bert.

The video above serves as a condensed history of the Cold War’s fallout shelter fad, from the kookily cheerful propaganda videos to the hobbled Federal agencies that tried to administer Civil Defense. Yes, it includes the classic Cold War film Duck and Cover, in which a bomb-fearing turtle named Bert teaches kids that hiding under their desks could be sufficient protection from nuclear annihilation.
Any history of fallout shelter culture (and Cold War propaganda) becomes an indirect history of Cold War nuclear escalation, from Hiroshima-sized bombs to hydrogen behemoths. As the nuclear threat increased in magnitude, the absurdity of civil defense amped up simultaneously.
This video (and a day spend trawling the Internet Archive for darkly humorous videos) provides a more intimate portrait of Cold War paranoia as it was lived. Paired with Kenneth Rose’s comprehensive book about fallout shelter culture, it’s a look at daily life with the bomb — even when that daily life included the occasional jaunt to a thick-walled concrete bunker a few feet underground.

[mrswan]

My mom always used to say "It wasn't so much 'Duck and Cover' as 'Bend over and kiss your ass goodbye'"

[h.celine]

The editing is so good on this one, I come back every half year or so just to get this unsettling sensation of DUM DUM Explosions.

[hjalmiris]

200 years later, somewhere in Massachusetts: "...this is Diamond City Radio."

[philipundisclosed]

The Russians only ever built one tsar bomba and never put it on an icbm. Their actual nuclear arsenal consisted of many, many smaller nuclear weapons.

[michelleescobar]

My elementary school literally had one of these.. I don't know why I was never more curious about it lol

[Gruncival]

Well researched, well narrated, well edited. This is one of Vox's best so far.

[vladb]

Woah, this was pretty scary and depressing video vox! thought it was interesting and entertaining :)

[phineas]

This is most definitely Vox's best video.

[reillybrangan]

Using the Tsar bomba as an example is more than a tad bit unrealistic seeing as it was never intended to be used operationally, was not ICBM capable and was so heavy that even strapping it on a TU-95 would result in too poor range and speed performance to make it viable (It weighed the equivalent of 15 average cars), Not only that but its explosive radius was so high that it was actually less effective because much of its explosive force was actually radiated out into space. The highest yield deployed weapon used by the Soviet Union was the SS-18 Mod 3 with an explosive power of 25 Megatons, the same as the U.S.A's highest yield weapon, the B41. Lastly, even these largest yield deployed weapons were only really used in small numbers

[TheSameYellowToy]

When I was in Budapest, some of the train stations were really deep underground to double as fallout shelters. There's also 2 a couple blocks from me here in NYC.

[Nathan]

The editing and way the whole video pans the story out is nothing but mastery of how to make small infotainment videos! Seriously kudos guys and keep up the good work. It has tempted me to play Fallout again!

[AndrewKimmey]

Beautifully done. I don't mean to play down the importance of this video, because it really was informative, but please. Can you do a video on WHY PEOPLE USED TO HAVE THAT ACCENT THAT KENNEDY AND EVERY OTHER WHITE MALE IN THE US HAD AT THAT TIME.

[skysmistake]

The first building you see in my town is a fallout shelter. As of now, it is inhabited only by stay cats and rodents. The upper half was an apartment area, where only one man lived, and the bottom half was made solely for nuclear fallout. Last year we were told to write about a story from our town or the town a family member lived in. I decided to write about the shelter, and was pretty surprised to find out that not everybody lives by one. Even with the internet and stuff, I still didn't realize that fallout shelters weren't as common as stores. Now, in my defence we only have one store (which is actually a gas station) so I didn't exactly have much to go off of.

[Blaze-]

2:39 "No home in America is modern without a family fallout shelter" well its 2020 my home doesn't have one ;w;

[VCGConstruction]

I remember my grade school was a fallout shelter, the only thing that ever fell out was

[andrewkovnat]

If anyone wants to know a lot about the actual bombs in the nuclear age, try the movie "Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie." It has amazing footage of nuclear bombs and tells a lot about their history, and everything about them.

[horrorfan-life]

That music at 10:54 is in Romero's 1968 Night Of The Living Dead...love it!

[Tustin]

Kudos to the editor. I loved all the little effects, and the haunting "dum dum" chorus that kept up through the video.

[zeroone]

Everything you said was overridden by the statement that those in the suburbs and rural area WOULD survive in a fallout shelters. Most modern American Cities are large and low density and H-bombs sizes have been decreasing as missile accuracy increases, meaning less people are in the crossfire. Most Americans would survive the initial effects of a global thermonuclear war. Your "I live in a big city" bias makes the entire story false.

[cinnamon]

where did this music come from? it's seriously awesome. "duck duck "