Nuclear War Fears in the Home
With the development of nuclear weapons and the impending development of the Cold War, fear of nuclear fallout in the home and in communities in the US became a constant threat to the lives of the average American citizen. The same tactics of idyllic life through design and comfort were implemented in the pacification of nuclear war fears. Those with the means of creating extended safety measures, including underground bunkers, were afforded more peace of mind. Class divide and the suburban way of living thus was still central in design and comfort, even with the threat of nuclear war.
Nuclear Family History
Illustration depicting the origins of the Nuclear Family, a group of villains in the DC Comics Universe whose powers mirror the five stages of an atomic bomb blast. This comicbook group is not only a reflection of the fears experienced by the Cold War, but it is also a parody of the societal expectation of traditional family values and roles incapsulated through the nuclear family dynamic.
Text reads:
"An early researcher in nuclear science, Dr. Eric Shanner unwittingly took improper safeguards against radiation, and inadvertently exposed both himself and his beloved family to its effects. As his family died around him, Shanner vowed he would teach the world what he deemed to be the truth about nuclear weapons, even if it took a major destructive event to do it. Some maintain Shanner was mentally unhinged by the deaths of his family. In any event, Shanner constructed five robots that were virtually indistinguishable from his younger self and his family. Endowing them with powers equivalent to the stages of an atom bomb’s blast, Shanner sent them out to destroy the city of Los Angeles, California, to show the world the result of true nuclear devastation. Shanner’s “Nuclear Family” was stopped by the superhero group known as The Outsiders (see The Outsiders). Despite its fearsome swiftness, a nuclear explosion has five definitive stages. Each member of The Nuclear Family possesses the power to duplicate one stage of such an explosion. Dad can emit immense amounts of nuclear radiation. Mom produces an electromagnetic pulse, which can not only shock fatally, but can disable all electronic equipment in the immediate vicinity. Biff controls a thermal pulse, capable of producing temperatures similar to those found at the heart of a nuclear explosion. Sis emits a blast wave, able to destroy nearly any man-made structure. The Brat and his dog are able to transform themselves into huge quantities of radioactive fallout, contaminating anything the touch. At the end of their conflict with The Outsiders, The Nuclear Family was destroyed, but since they were never really alive, they can never really die, Dr. Shanner, however, did at last expire from his radiation-induced illness."
Informational pamphlet created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the Department of Defense. It provides an outline for creatign a survival plan with checklists and tables for documenting specifications for shelter, food, water, storage, supplies, and equipment needs in the event of nuclear war fall out.