Civil Defense

While today most people associate the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with disaster relief, one of the agencies that formed FEMA was the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency. The DCPA Coordinated and directed federal, state, and local civil defense program activities, including fallout shelters; chemical, biological, and radiological warfare defense; emergency communications and warning systems; post-attack assistance and damage assessment; preparedness planning; and government continuity. Under President Carter, FEMA shed its civil defense role for a more aggressive role in disaster response. Almost 25 years later, FEMA became part of the Department of Homeland Security which is challenged with some of the same responsibilities as the former DCPA.

For those who may be unfamiliar with the term, civil defense was an effort to prepare citizens to survive a military attack. In many countries, civil defense is usually based around a fire brigade. Citizens became concerned about another sneak attack on U.S. soil after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. In 1942 President Roosevelt created the Office of Civilian Defense (which in 1972 would become DCPA). Civil defense in the U.S. during WWII was conducted by volunteers who, for example, made sure their neighbors had their lights off during mock air raids. Thousands of chapters across the country were formed due to the exceptionally high sense of volunteerism that was focused on winning the war. After the WWII, it would have seemed that the reasons for civil defense would have been eliminated but this wasn’t the case.

The Soviet Union did not waste any time catching up the U.S. in detonating its first nuclear weapon. The Korean War was seen by many as a prelude to all out war with the Soviet Union. Civil defense evolved into preparing citizens for surviving and the aftermath of a nuclear attack. The Eisenhower administration distributed survival information and created a Federal Civil Defense Administration (later the Office of Civil Defense) to educate the public about protection. Survival literature was written primarily for a suburban audience since it was assumed that cities would be targets and most urban dwellers would not survive. Because Cincinnati was an industrial giant (General Electric jet engine manufacturing, Cincinnati Milacron machine tool, etc) and was located near Wright Patterson AFB, southwestern Ohio would be a likely bomb target. In addition to these targets, many Ohioans have only recently learned of the large part National Cash Register (NCR) of Dayton played in a super-secret project to build the machines that were used to break the German “Enigma” machine.

Civil defense is mostly associated with “duck and cover” movies used to train school children. Survival manuals stated citizens could emerge from fallout shelters after two weeks. Civil Defense suggested plans for these structures in basements, converted cisterns, or other below ground surfaces. Suggested equipment included air filtering systems, generators, chemical toilets, waste disposal bags, water storage drums, cots or beds, Geiger counters, portable radios, first aid kits, auxiliary escape hatches, and a variety of foodstuffs - including "survival biscuits". More elaborate family foxholes had heat and air conditioning units. Some owners of fallout shelters kept guns inside--to stop unwanted intruders or looters. In Cincinnati, private bunkers existed within the Village on Kugler Mill, Given, Redbirdhollow, Councilrock, and Indian Hill Roads. Some were architect-designed, but many residents simply kept a basement corner supplied. These were based in part on designs from the Federal Civil Defense Administration (as the Office of Civilian Defense was known during the 1950’s.

Cincinnati had plans during the 1920’s to build an underground subway system and hired a Chicago transit planner to design the system. Issues in obtaining the necessary right-of-way from adjacent cities (Cincinnati proper is surrounding by much smaller cities including St Bernard, Norwood, Elmwood Place) Two miles were finally constructed but no track was ever laid. Those familiar with Cincinnati can imagine the route that follows Central Parkway along the I-75 corridor up to what is now the Norwood Later. The line would have come back down to what is now I-71 and ending at Fourth Street. The tunnels came back into prominence as part of a civil defense plan to shelter citizens. It thought the unused subway tunnels in Cincinnati would make a perfect underground fallout shelter. In the early 60's the federal government saw fit to renovate a particular station and install various items of equipment - toilet facilities, water facilities, heating facilities, etc. -so that it could be utilized by federal personnel in the event the need was necessary, and also, for both the county government and city government in the event of a disaster situation involving fallout. Government officials would assemble in the shelter facility and direct activities.

By 1958, it was widely believed that the Soviet Union had a nuclear arsenal equal to that of the United States which caused civil defense to become even more of a priority. The Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization under President John F. Kennedy, who believed in and advocated civil defense. The Cuban Missile Crisis, in October of 1962, resulted in a rapid, three-month program to improve civil defense. In autumn 1961, President Kennedy urged Americans to build the protective structures at the height of the Berlin Wall Crisis. Indian Hill's Village Council, noting "the wisdom of providing protection from radioactive fallout", considered establishing community shelters in both existing and proposed structures. The Miami Rd. Water Tower and Drake Rd. Elementary School were considered adaptable to house 600 persons each. The proposed I.H. High School and CCDS auditorium might be expanded (at $200,000 cost) to include basements to accommodate 2600 people. A Citizen's Committee reviewed the proposals; but, when it became clear that funding was not available, Council deferred action.

By the mid-1960's American's fears about the bomb lessened. As arms controls talks and a limited nuclear test ban eased tensions, plans for building additional public shelters were postponed, and builders received fewer inquiries for private ones. Shelters were converted to wine cellars, mushroom gardens, recreation rooms, or storage areas. The underground quarters that remain in the Village are relics of the Cold War era. Today civil defense is more commonly referred to as homeland security with more of an emphasis on surviving terrorist attacks versus nuclear attacks. While fallout shelters may no longer be relevant, the basic tenet of civil defense in preparing citizens to survive an attack is perhaps more relevant than ever.