A few weeks ago I was trying to explain to my kids what it was like growing up with the idea that if the siren downtown went off it was either a sign that a tornado was coming or the Russian ICBMs were streaking over Canada inbound to the silos outside of Minot to the north. I was at the tail end of the whole cold war ‘nuclear death is just around the corner’ era, but it still made an impression on my childhood. They didn’t quite understand how that was different from the terrorist threats of today. Sometimes I almost wish that the biggest threat were the nukes, at least with those we knew who the bad guys were.
Anyway, this is cool site with loads of old cold war atomic bomb era info. There is a great review of the classic film “Duck and Cover“.
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That…is exactly how I feel about growing up during the 80’s…its left me a very very bitter taste regarding people in positions of power who play with life like it is a petty little game.