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During the Cold War era, “duck and shelter” drills were common in schools to protect against nuclear detonation. The government sponsored an educational film featuring an animated turtle and schoolchildren demonstrating the proper way to protect themselves. The drills ended when people realized that a school desk would offer little protection against a high-yield nuclear bomb. Some schools continued the drills in the 1970s and 1980s, but they have since been replaced with other emergency preparedness routines.
For millions of people who grew up during the Cold War era, a drill known as “duck and shelter” was as familiar as a school fire or tornado drill. Students were asked to hide under desks and cover their heads to protect themselves from the dangerous debris and radiation associated with a nuclear detonation. The federal government even sponsored a short educational film with this title that featured Bert, an animated turtle in a civil defense helmet, and various schoolchildren demonstrating the proper way to protect themselves in the event of an atomic bomb.
Considering the general atmosphere of paranoia regarding the threat of communism and the Soviet Union’s possession of nuclear weapons, the US government’s suggestion that it “crouch and cover” seemed to be logical at the time. Those outside the epicenter of a nuclear blast would have a better chance of survival if they protected their radiation-exposed skin and their bodies from bits of debris scattered by the inevitable shock waves.
The drills generally began with an imaginary sighting of an extremely bright flash, believed to be the first sign of an unexpected nuclear attack. Seeing that light, students immediately had to dive under the desks and position themselves away from the windows. Students who saw the flash in a corridor had to cover themselves against the wall. Anyone caught in the open had to immediately take refuge in the nearest building.
One of the more inadvertently humorous scenes from the official film “Duck and Cover” shows a family enjoying an outdoor picnic when the dreaded flash appears. Immediately, some family members dive under the picnic blanket, scattering food in the process. The father, who had been busy grilling burgers, grabs a single sheet of newspaper and dives under the grill for protection. While some types of radioactive materials can actually be hampered by a single sheet of newspaper, it is highly unlikely that anyone will survive the powerful effects of a nuclear bomb protected by anything but paper or a picnic blanket.
This battle between the harsh realities of nuclear warfare and government efforts to minimize the threat ultimately ended the exercises. Civilians quickly realized that a thin wooden school desk would offer little or no real protection against a high-yield nuclear bomb. The entire program became the butt of ridicule as the Cold War era ended without major incidents. The government’s advice may not have been entirely accurate, but it served to raise awareness of a real nuclear threat.
Some school systems maintained duck and cover drills as part of their overall emergency preparedness routine in the 1970s and even 1980s, but the threat of nuclear attack has declined significantly since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. replaced with fire drills, tornado drills, and drop, cover and hold on drills in earthquake-prone areas of the country.
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