The Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA) was organized by President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

on December 1, 1950, through Executive Order 10186, and became an official government agency via the Federal Civil Defense Act of 1950 on 12 January 1951.Civil Defense: The Truman Administration (Entry 0113)
from ''The Electronic Encyclopaedia of Civil Defense and Emergency Management'' edited by Walter G. Green III In 1958 the FCDA was superseded by the

Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization The Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization, created in 1958 originally as Office of Defense and Civilian Mobilization, was an office of the Executive Office of the President of the United States which consolidated the functions of the existing ...

when President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

merged the FCDA with the

Office of Defense Mobilization The Office of Defense Mobilization (ODM) was an independent agency of the United States government whose function was to plan, coordinate, direct and control all wartime mobilization activities of the federal government, including manpower, economi ...

.Civil Defense: The Eisenhower Administration (Entry 0107)
from ''The Electronic Encyclopaedia of Civil Defense and Emergency Management'' edited by Walter G. Green III In its early years, the agency focused on evacuation as a strategy. The FCDA was first headed by

Millard Caldwell Millard Fillmore Caldwell (February 6, 1897 – October 23, 1984) was an American politician, lawyer, and jurist. He was the 29th governor of Florida (1945–1949) and served in all three branches of government at various times in his life, ...

under Truman, then

Val Peterson Frederick Valdemar Erastus Peterson (July 18, 1903 – October 17, 1983), also known as Val Peterson, was an American politician and diplomat who served as the 26th governor of Nebraska from 1947 to 1953, as director of the Federal Civil Defense A ...

under Eisenhower.THE FEDERAL CIVIL DEFENSE AGENCY (FCDA) WOMEN DEFEND THE NATION (1950)
from The Cold War Museum

Background

The predecessor to the FCDA, the

Office of Civilian Defense Office of Civilian Defense was a United States federal emergency war agency set up May 20, 1941, by to co-ordinate state and federal measures for protection of civilians in case of war emergency. Its two branches supervised protective function ...

was abolished in June 1945 with the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In the period between the end of the World War and 1949, when the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

detonated their first atomic weapon, little was given to the topic of civil defense. After the Soviets demonstration of their first atomic weapon there was a feeling of the need to do something throughout both the American public and government. This led to, among many actions, the creation of the Federal Civil Defense Administration by President Harry S. Truman in 1950.

Administrators

, December 1, 1950 – November 15, 1952 * Jerry Wadsworth, November 15, 1952 – February 20, 1953 *

, February 19, 1953 – June 14, 1957 *

Lewis Berry Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * " Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohea ...

, June 14, 1957 – July 19, 1957 *

Leo Hoegh Leo Arthur Hoegh (;Obituary New York Times, 2000-07-24, accessed June 15, 2008. March 30, 1908 – July 15, 2000) was a decorated U.S. Army officer, lawyer, and politician who served as the 33rd governor of Iowa from 1955 to 1957. His record of ...

, July 19, 1957 – July 1, 1958

References

Defunct agencies of the United States government Government agencies established in 1950 United States civil defense 1950 establishments in the United States {{US-gov-stub

Background

Administrators

See also

References