ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the civil defense programs and policies that were articulated during the first decade of the nuclear age. The effects that shelters are designed to protect against might range from radioactive fallout to the blast and heat of nuclear explosions. The full dimensions of the radioactive fallout threat became public knowledge in 1955. The Soviet Union had developed an intercontinental ballistic missile by 1957 and launched an earth satellite into orbit only a few months after Peterson left office. In addition to research in shelter design, Peterson emphasized the desirability of small family-type shelters, which would, of course, be built with private funds. The reaction of the appropriations committees to the Federal Civil Defense Administration’s de-emphasis of shelters was generally favorable, as might have been expected. Chairman Cannon welcomed Peterson’s condemnation of previous shelter proposals, calling it as “practical a point of view as any man 1 ever heard discuss it before this committee”.
