Office of Civilian Defense was a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

federal emergency war agency set up May 20, 1941, by to co-ordinate state and federal measures for protection of

civilians Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not "combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant, b ...

in case of war emergency. Its two branches supervised protective functions such as blackouts and special fire protection and "war service" functions such as child care, health, housing, and transportation. It also created the

Civil Air Patrol Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a congressionally chartered, federally supported non-profit corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF). CAP is a volunteer organization with an aviation-minded mem ...

. The agency was terminated by Executive Order 9562 of June 4, 1945. The

Office of Civil Defense The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) was an agency of the United States Department of Defense from 1961–64. It replaced the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization. The organization was renamed the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency on May 5, 197 ...

with similar duties was established later.

Fiorello La Guardia Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (; born Fiorello Enrico LaGuardia, ; December 11, 1882September 20, 1947) was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the House of Representatives and served as the 99th Mayor of New York City fro ...

was the first head of the office, succeeded in 1942 by

James M. Landis __NOTOC__ James McCauley Landis (September 25, 1899 – July 30, 1964) was an American academic, government official and legal adviser. He served as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1935 to 1937. Biography Landis was born ...

, followed in 1944 by General

William N. Haskell Lieutenant General William Nafew Haskell Jr. (13 August 1878, in Albany, New York – 13 August 1952, in Greenwich, Connecticut) was a U.S. military officer. He was a 1901 graduate of the United States Military Academy. After graduation from Wes ...

. While the agency only had a paid staff of 75, it supervised and coordinated the efforts of civilian volunteers estimated to have topped 11 million. Volunteer tasks included firefighting and air-raid preparedness. Children, under adult supervision, could volunteer in the Junior Citizens Service Corps, and were especially helpful in wartime

scrap drive Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...

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* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Office Of Civilian Defense 1945 disestablishments in the United States Civilian Defense Politics of World War II Agencies of the United States government during World War II Government agencies established in 1941

See also

References

External links