• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations 1-1-2008 Selling civil defense: The politics and commerce of preparedness, 1950--1963 Angela Christine Moor University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/rtds Repository Citation Moor, Angela Christine, "Selling civil defense: The politics and commerce of preparedness, 1950--1963" (2008). UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations. 2356. http://dx.doi.org/10.25669/9vz2-rcfo This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SELLING CIVIL DEFENSE: THE POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF PREPAREDNESS, 1950-1963 by Angela Christine Moor Bachelor of Arts University of Nevada, Reno 2003 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts Degree in History Department of History College of Liberal Arts Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas August 2008 UMI Number: 1460476 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI UMI Microform 1460476 Copyright 2009 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 E. Eisenhower Parkway PC Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Copyright by Angela Christine Moor 2008 All Rights Reserved Thesis Approval UN The Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas April 30 .2008 The Thesis prepared by Angela Moor Entitled "Selling Civil Defense; The Politics and Commerce of Preparedness, 1950-1963" is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of ___________________ Master of Arts in History Emmination Committee Chair Dean of the Graduate College Exammaum Comfnime Memb Examinfition Committee member Graduate College Faculty Representative 11 ABSTRACT Selling Civil Defense: The Politics and Commerce of Preparedness, 1950-1963 by Angela Christine Moor Dr. Elizabeth Fraterrigo, Examination Committee Chair Assistant Professor of History University of Nevada, Las Vegas This thesis, by examining how business, government, and civic leaders promoted civil defense, shows how a policy of self-help merged the roles of citizen and consumer and how family-centered preparedness equated the survival of the nuclear family with the victory of the US in the Cold War. Civil defense officials helped reinforce messages about gender roles by stressing the value of nuclear families and the crucial role each family member played in the defense of America. Public information campaigns emphasized the importance of free enterprise and privatization by endorsing a policy of self-help for American families whereby individual families were responsible for the purchase of their own means of survival. This thesis will help us better understand the early years of the Cold War by showing how consumption became entwined with civic duty through the efforts of civil defense officials. These efforts created an image of civil defense that centered on a model citizen in the marketplace purchasing the products needed to guarantee his and his family’s own survival. Ill TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................. iii LIST OF FIGURES......................................................................................................................v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................................vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 2 SURVIVE, RECOVER, WIN: PUBLIC EDUCATION CAMPAIGNS OF THE FCDA.........................11 CHAPTER 3 THE ADVERTISING COUNCIL AND CIVIL DEFENSE.....................27 CHAPTER 4 THE SHOW YOU’LL NEVER FORGET: THE ALERT AMERICA CONVOY......................................................... 52 CHAPTER 5 DUMMY DOOMTOWN IN THE DESERT: CIVIL DEFENSE AND THE NEVADA TEST SITE..............................65 CHAPTER 6 PURCHASING SURVIVAL: PREPAREDNESS PRODUCTS..................................................................82 CHAPTER 7 CIVIL DEFENSE GOES UNDERGROUND: FALLOUT SHELTERS AND THE END OF CIVIL DEFENSE 104 CHAPTER 8 ANYONE FOR SURVIVAL? .....................................................................116 BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................................... 120 VITA...........................................................................................................................................138 IV LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Leaflet distributed to Dairy Dan Ice Cream Truek Owners ................................ 2 Figure 2 The National Civil Defense Pattern .......................................................................12 Figure 3 The Welfare Task in Civil Defense, 1953........................................................... 19 Figure 4 Facts about Fallout, 1955 .................................................................................... 19 Figure 5 1952 Poster from the Federal Civil Defense Administration ............................ 22 Figure 6 Civil Defense Volunteer Recruitment Kit, 1951 .................................................39 Figure 7 Civil Defense Volunteer Reeruitment Kit, 1951 .................................................41 Figure 8 Advertising Council, CONELRAD, 1955 ............................................................48 Figure 9 Alert America poster. Advertising Council ......................................................... 60 Figure 10 What You Will See in the Civil Defense, Alert America Exhibit ....................63 Figure 11 Image of a mannequin from Operation Doorstep.............................................. 72 Figure 12 Drawing of mannequins.........................................................................................77 Figure 13 Line of mannequins at 7,000 feet, after blast, 1955 ............................................77 Figure 14 Dial, “You Can Survive An Atom Bomb” .......................................................... 86 Figure 15 Advertisement to see “Atom-Bombed Cars” .......................................................91 Figure 16 Advertisment for the Atomicape .......................................................................... 97 Figure 17 1955 Advertisement for Tags .............................................................................. 100 Figure 18 Advertisement for Sunset Conejo Development ...............................................109 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project is the culmination of three years of hard work at UNLV. I have many people to thank for their instruction, guidance, and encouragement. I wish to thank my committee who has overseen this project for the last two years. I especially thank my chair. Dr. Elizabeth Fraterrigo, for her continued support, patience, and advice. She persistently pushed me to become a better historian than I ever thought possible. I also want to express gratitude to Dr. Elizabeth White Nelson for always being a sounding board for my ideas. I appreciate the opportunities Dr. Andy Kirk gave me to put my studies to work outside the classroom. Finally, I want to thank Dr. Joanne Goodwin for her advice and support during my time at UNLV. Completing this thesis would have been a lonely process without friends and family. I want to thank my family for allowing me the space to work on this. I am also grateful for my friends for their endless encouragement and interest in my work. VI CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION A leaflet distributed to owners of Dairy Dan Ice Cream trucks from the early 1950s asserted that the owners’ trucks were “now an official unit of the United States Civil Defense Network,” it went on to list a variety of ways the trucks could provide crucial services following an atomic attack. The trucks could provide refrigeration, illumination, and a clean water supply. It praised the owners saying, “You and your Dairy Dan unit are of inestimable value to your community.”' The assertion that an ice cream truck could prove invaluable in case of an atomic attack proves useful in understanding the ways in which civil defense entered the American consciousness in the early years of the Cold War. By assuming that ice cream trucks would still be circling suburban neighborhoods following an atomic bomb blast, the leaflet downplayed the real threat of atomic war.

Load more

  147

Copy Link