The Imaginary War : Civil Defense and American Cold War Culture

This book is a provocative account of the ties between civil defence, national security, and public support for nuclear deterrence in the early Cold War. Oakes argues that while civil defence films and drills told Americans it was possible to survive a nuclear attack, the primary purpose of civil defence was to provide a moral foundation for nuclear deterrence.

"Duck and cover" are unforgettable words for a generation of Americans, who listened throughout the Cold War to the unescapable propaganda of civil defence. Yet it would have been impossible to protect Americans from a real nuclear attack, and, as Guy Oakes shows in The Imaginary War, national security officials knew it. The real purpose of 1950''s civil defence programs, Oakes contends, was not to protect Americans from the bomb, but to ingrain in them the moral resolve needed to face the hazards of the Cold War. Uncovering the links between national security, civil defence, and civic ethics, Oakes reveals three sides to the civil defence program: a system of emotional management designed to control fear; the fictional construction of a managable world of nuclear attack; and the production of a Cold War ethic rooted in the mythology of the home, the ultimate sanctuary of American values. This fascinating analysis of the culture of civil defence is a strong indictment of the official mythmaking of the Cold War. It will essential reading for all those interested in American history, politics, and culture.