Prompt Cast
The Rise and Fall of Fallout Shelters: A Failed Attempt to Protect Americans from Nuclear War
TLDR Fallout shelters were built during the Cold War to protect people from the radioactive fallout of a nuclear attack, but the government's national fallout shelter program was poorly executed and ultimately unsuccessful. Despite their popularity and the fear of nuclear war, there were not enough shelters to protect all Americans, and the government's attempt to provide public fallout shelters was ill-conceived and ultimately doomed.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
Fallout shelters are the topic of discussion in this podcast episode.
04:30
Fallout shelters were built during the Cold War due to the fear of nuclear war, and the government even had a national fallout shelter program, although it was feeble and terrible.
09:10
During a nuclear war, major cities wouldn't be leveled by bombs, but the radioactive fallout would be a huge problem for people living there.
13:39
During a nuclear attack, fallout particles are carried by the wind and can cause damage in their own unique ways, leading to the development of fallout shelters in the United States in the 60s and late 50s.
18:44
Fallout shelters have a protection factor (PF) that determines the level of radiation exposure, with a minimum PF of 40 recommended by FEMA, although a higher PF of around 300 is preferable for better protection.
23:42
Fallout shelters became popular and people started building them like crazy in response to the leaked Gaither Report, which stated that cities would be destroyed in a nuclear war and there was no place for people to shelter.
28:23
In 1961, President Kennedy initiated the National Fallout Shelter Survey to identify potential fallout shelter sites, but these shelters were only meant to protect people from radioactive fallout, not the initial blast, and there were not enough shelters to protect all Americans.
33:02
The government's attempt to provide public fallout shelters during the Cold War drew attention to the need for shelters while also reinforcing the idea that they would be useless in major cities.
37:39
The government's attempt to provide public fallout shelters during the Cold War was ill-conceived, poorly stocked, and ultimately doomed from the start.
42:32
The US government never kept track of the fallout shelters they designated and started shutting them down in the early 1970s, with the last signs being removed from New York City in 2017.
47:23
The hosts apologize for running ads in Australia that were not their decision and address their incorrect use of terminology in a previous episode about Billabongs and the indigenous people of Australia.
Categories:
Society & Culture
