Identifying and stocking appropriate shelters with food and medicine became a priority. Therefore, fallout shelters were made to provide protection, supplies, and medical needs until it was safe to emerge. During this decay period, people must remain shielded from the harmful radiation. It then releases radioactivity until it decays. This dust is made radioactive by the nuclear explosion, and is blown miles downwind until falling back to earth. Fallout is the dust and debris that is picked up into the air after a nuclear bomb explodes. The Berlin crisis gave Kennedy renewed urgency to improve civil defense in the United States, and he emphasized the importance of fallout shelters as a means to save lives from the harmful effects of radioactive fallout. Kennedy created the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), tasked with overseeing the nation’s civil defense program. The Sheerar Museum of Stillwater History is currently featuring an exhibit on the history of these shelters and the Stillwater Civil Defense agency (now Stillwater Emergency Management Agency), which will be on display through summer of 2018. Here in Stillwater, a few Fallout Shelter signs can still be seen scattered across OSU’s campus or around town. As a child of the ‘90s, I do not have memories of the Cold War, only the knowledge of its history. Now faded or removed, the occasional glimpse of these signs merely brings up curiosity or memories of searching the basement to find the green barrels of water and survival crackers. One of the most recognizable symbols of the Cold War era is the black and yellow sign with the words “Fallout Shelter” that we’ve all seen on older buildings as we grew up. By James Gregory, Sheerar Museum of Stillwater History Registrar
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