Civil Defense Week Poster
From the Collection: A US Civil Defense Poster from 1956
For September we have an original poster advertising National Civil Defense Week in 1956. The United States Office of Civil Defense was a Federal emergency management agency, the predecessor to today’s FEMA. With its roots going back as far as the First World War, it took its more recognizable form during the Second, with a focus on air raid precaution and other domestic emergencies during wartime.
Even after the end of the conflict, the looming threat of the Soviet Union prompted the agency to be expanded as the Cold War began. Their most famous (or perhaps infamous) effort being the public fallout shelters that were constructed across the country for use in the event of nuclear attack by the USSR. The ubiquitous black and yellow signs remain in many places to this day, a reminder of the days of uncertainty that faced the nation in the early days of the Atomic Era.
Despite this, the Office of Civil Defense was actually a general disaster response agency, with an emphasis on a philosophy that if most of the population had even the most basic of training and even slight preparedness it would allow for far faster and more efficient recovery from any catastrophe, be it nuclear Armageddon, earthquakes, floods or anything in between. National Civil Defense Week was an imitative by the government to encourage participation in Civil Defense activities, and the poster seen here actually emphasizes the more general disaster response aspect of the OCD.
Civil Defense Week was a Federally observed program that took place in the second week of September across the United States. The intention of the program was to showcase the benefits of the agency and to encourage active participation in Civil Defense activities by citizens to increase national readiness. The observance, like the OCD itself, has since passed into memory, but formed an important part of civic life in the early part of the Cold War.
A Civil Defense Fair in 1960 showcases home fallout shelters