After the August 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Japan's unconditional surrender, America's educational community quickly focused on preparing the younger generation for the atomic age. With the support of the federal government, elementary and secondary schools developed a curriculum known as ""atomics,"" emphasizing the bomb's destructive power, peaceful applications of the atom and, most important, the need to control atomic development. By the 1950s, with the Soviet Union's acquiring of the bomb, atomics expanded to include civil defense topics and activities, such as ""duck and cover"" drills. This book examines the broad curriculum-in social studies, science, mathematics, English, home economics and art-that emphasized atomics in American classrooms of the early postwar era. Lesson plans, class projects and activities, resource materials and extracurricular experiences are included.

With the very real possibility of atomic war looming on the horizon from 1945 to the early 1960s, both federal and local governments took on the responsibility of educating Americans on how to survive the expected nuclear blasts, residual fallouts, and radiation poisonings. During these early years of the Atomic Age, duck and cover drills, bomb shelters, and evacuation plans became an integral part of every citizen's daily life. This book provides a sampling of civil defense publications issued by government agencies and organizations during this era. Arranged thematically, the book includes sections covering the impact and power of the atomic bomb, radioactive fallout, women and the home, the importance of being prepared, civil defense in schools, fallout shelters, evacuation plans, and, finally, the call for 'peace or...else'.

The early Cold War is most often viewed as an era containing women within the home and "traditional" gender roles. Yet this is also the era in which women actively seized unprecedented opportunities to contribute to the nation's civil defense. The Federal Civil Defense Administration, launched in January 1951, stated early on that "the importance of women in civil defense can scarcely be overstated." In fact, women represented seventy percent or more of civil defense participants. This book examines women's wide range of roles in civil defense: from joining the FCDA's warden, nursing, rescue, and other services; to participating in national, regional, state, and local organizations; to managing emergency mass feeding drills; to promoting home protection and preparedness. In addition, this book also includes excerpts of documents that contribute to a better understanding of the government's view of women in civil defense. What becomes clear from this study is that women not only demonstrated their leadership abilities and skill sets through their civil defense activities; they also demonstrated their dedication and commitment to the nation's protection of the home front during a time when the threat of atomic war was very real.

Following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, numerous ""atomic narratives"" - books, newspapers, magazines, textbooks, movies and television programs-addressed the implications of the bomb. Post-World War II youth encountered atomic narratives in their daily lives at school, at home and in their communities, and were profoundly affected by what they read and saw. This multidisciplinary study examines the exposure of American youth to atomic narratives during the ten years following World War II. In addition, it examines the broader ""social narrative of the atom,"" which included educational, social, cultural and political activities that surrounded and involved American youth. The activities ranged from school and community programs to movies and television shows to government-sponsored traveling exhibits on atomic energy. The book also presents numerous examples of writings by postwar adolescents, who clearly expressed their conflicted feelings about growing up in such a tumultuous time, and shows how may of the issues commonly associated with the sixties generation, such as peace, fellowship, free expression and environmental concern, can be traced to this earlier generation.

To address the threat of an atomic-armed Soviet Union during the early days of the Cold War, President Truman approved the Alert America educational exhibit. Promoted as "The Show That May Save Your Life," Alert America became the most effective way to convey the destructive power of the atomic bomb and to promote civil defense. Following the exhibit's debut in the nation's capital, it traveled in three separate convoys to more than eighty cities considered most likely to be bombed, and garnered unprecedented support from elected and civic officials, the media, the military, private industry, and myriad organizations. This is the first book to examine the scope and impact of Alert America, which has been largely overlooked by historians. Also included are resource materials providing insights into the government's overriding objective of preparing men, women and children to survive an atomic war.