Kenneth Rose’s book One Nation Underground thoroughly analyzes America’s view about the Cold War and considerations for nuclear fallout shelters. The Cold War had many effects on American people. With the nuclear arms race approaching and America not being able to catch up to the Soviet Union, American people began to wonder what was in store for them in the coming future. This time period brought mixed views about what needs to be done to protect the United States from nuclear warfare as well as characteristics of ignorance, unpreparedness, and fear from Americans that lead to the preparedness for nuclear attack. Mixed views about types of civil defense that needed to take place during this time were very controversial. Nuclear warfare sparked
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Americans never had to face problems such as threats of nuclear bombs, fallout, or steps needed to be taken in order to survive a nuclear war. Eugene Wigner states, “our population has experienced no war on our own territory, and it is difficult to imagine such an event in the abstract” (Rose, 5). This quote is describing unawareness and unpreparedness of America as a whole. If a nuclear war were to happen at this point, the American backyard would be the battlefield. Bombs would be dropping and destruction would be happening. America is not prepared for this type of pandemonium. Nobody is. The United States, also, is not ready for the effects after the nuclear attack. When the aftermath of the explosion is over with, nothing will be left. According to Bentley Glass, “Life will be very primitive for the survivors for a long time to come” (Rose, 69). Animals will die, farmland will be destroyed, and human life may cease to exist. Considerations of whether or not to build these fallout shelters were also becoming issues because people began to think about who would even want to live during these times of sorrow and extermination. Americans did try to make preparations for times after war, but the idea that Americans could survive a nuclear attack and resume to every day deeds seemed far out of reach (Rose,
Americans never had to face problems such as threats of nuclear bombs, fallout, or steps needed to be taken in order to survive a nuclear war. Eugene Wigner states, “our population has experienced no war on our own territory, and it is difficult to imagine such an event in the abstract” (Rose, 5). This quote is describing unawareness and unpreparedness of America as a whole. If a nuclear war were to happen at this point, the American backyard would be the battlefield. Bombs would be dropping and destruction would be happening. America is not prepared for this type of pandemonium. Nobody is. The United States, also, is not ready for the effects after the nuclear attack. When the aftermath of the explosion is over with, nothing will be left. According to Bentley Glass, “Life will be very primitive for the survivors for a long time to come” (Rose, 69). Animals will die, farmland will be destroyed, and human life may cease to exist. Considerations of whether or not to build these fallout shelters were also becoming issues because people began to think about who would even want to live during these times of sorrow and extermination. Americans did try to make preparations for times after war, but the idea that Americans could survive a nuclear attack and resume to every day deeds seemed far out of reach (Rose,