Duck and Cover Erie County Pennsylvania's Cold War Civil Defense Plan (1945-1980)

Abstract

Civil defense has often been overlooked as a vital chapter in American history. The era of major civil defense activity cannot be reduced to memories of “duck and cover” drills or rusty "Fallout Shelter" signs that still hang on many buildings. Historians have taken little time to document civil defense. Often, when civil defense is a subject of study, it is in the form of a negative critical review. Jennifer Leaning’s book The Counterfeit Ark^ for example, strongly criticizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency's "Crisis Relocation Plan." This work is typical of the modern, politicized study of civil defense that decries civil defense planning as more dangerous to the public than nuclear weapons themselves.