Three Minutes to Midnight: Civil Defense in the Late Cold War Period

Abstract

This thesis examines civil defense in the United States under the Nixon, Carter and Reagan administrations. Throughout the late Cold War period civil defense policy planners employed a philosophy of dual-use. The Defense Civil Preparedness Agency (DCPA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) instructed the American public to plan for a nuclear attack as well as natural disasters. Civil defense directors implemented crisis relocation plans for Americans that lived in designated high-risk areas. In an imminent nuclear attack, Americans in high-risk areas would temporarily relocate to host communities in low-risk areas of the county. This study is a blend of both civil defense policy and the reactions to nuclear war through the prism of popular culture in the late Cold War period.