I recently talked about the history of Civil Defense in Harford County for the library system there. The program examined homeland security from World War II to the time when planning for survival of an all-out nuclear attack started fading into the past. Opening with an examination of World War II era blackout drills, plane spotter stations, and air raid wardens, the program quickly moved to the era when the stakes became higher, the nuclear age. This was a time when air raid sirens wailed out signaling practice drills, Conelrad interrupted radio programs, government officials planned for the worst, and people contemplated building family backyard shelters.
While developing the program, I had a great time rummaging around Havre de Grace, Aberdeen, Bel Air, and other places looking for surviving artifacts and research materials from the Cold War. Along the way, I came across forgotten fallout shelters, dusty emergency plans stashed away long ago, old photos, and maps. And there was lots of vintage audio and video footage, such as Bert the Turtle telling schoolchildren to duck and cover.
We had an engaged audience and the exchanges were fascinating as we talked about evolving threats, planning priorities, and the tradeoffs. The library patrons shared plenty of memories while we worked our way through the old emergency procedures, looked at the films and listening to some of the folk music from that era.
