1961 ... you can survive!

... scary Life magazine cover from issue that has the nifty illustrations of different family fall-out shelters. (earlier post)

1962 ... the facts!

... after millions of Americans saw a cover story like this it is not hard to understand it was hard to generate enthusiastic support for civil defense. I was a seven year-old devotee of Life magazine at the time- hence my life-long nightmares of living in underground catacombs with atomic zombies scratching at the door!

I am surprised by how tough and unvarnished the facts of thermo-nuclear war are presented. Try to imagine that this is a very possible scenario for Ozzie and Harriet and not a forty-nine year old piece of historical flotsam.