''Fallout Protection: What To Know And Do About Nuclear Attack'' was an official

United States federal government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...

booklet released in December 1961 by the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

and the Office of Civil Defense. The first page of the book is a note from then- U.S. Secretary of Defense

Robert McNamara Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American businessman and government official who served as the eighth United States secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson ...

explaining that the booklet is a 48 page book made for the result of the first task he was given when he assumed responsibility for the Federal Civil Defense Program in August 1961. The task, assigned by

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

, was to "give the American people the facts they need to know about the dangers of a thermonuclear attack and what they can do to protect themselves."

Subject matter

Much more straightforward about the dangers of atomic weapons than '' Survival Under Atomic Attack'', and published in the era of the

hydrogen bomb A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H-bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lo ...

and the

ICBM An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conven ...

, the book first explains general information and hazards of

nuclear weapons A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either nuclear fission, fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and nuclear fusion, fusion reactions (thermonuclear weap ...

fallout Nuclear fallout is residual radioactive material that is created by the reactions producing a nuclear explosion. It is initially present in the radioactive cloud created by the explosion, and "falls out" of the cloud as it is moved by the ...

and

radiation In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'' consisting of photons, such as radio waves, microwaves, infr ...

. Second, it covers community

fallout shelters A fallout shelter is an enclosed space specially designated to protect occupants from radioactive debris or nuclear fallout, fallout resulting from a nuclear explosion. Many such shelters were constructed as civil defense measures during the ...

, improvised fallout shelters and supplies that one ought to have ready in case of a

nuclear attack Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can prod ...

. There is a brief section outlining "emergency housekeeping" which covers water and food conservation and first aid for the time spent in the shelter. Last, the booklet mentions recovery and how to clean up the fallout.

References

External links

''Fallout Protection''
in various formats from the Internet Archive {{italic title 1961 books Disaster preparedness in the United States Publications of the United States government Cold War history of the United States Nuclear warfare Books about nuclear issues Cold War documents Civil defense in the United States Nuclear fallout

Subject matter

References

See also

External links