The Cold War and Bomb Shelters
By: Carter Machado and Mitch Kriegbaum
Why Bomb Shelters?
The Cold War followed the end of the second World War and the soviets led the U.S into a massive cultural scare. It was caused because Stalin refused to join the United Nations. It also caused a mass nuclear hysteria in the United States because everyone like the soviets were experimenting with nuclear weapons. Therefore many places in America were modified with bomb shelters because many felt the Soviets would launch a Nuclear attack on the United States.
Many were allowed to come and preview a style or type of bomb shelter to buy. (madamepickwickartblog.com)
What is a Cold War?
A Cold War isn't one fought with guns but rather political hostility between two or more countries and in this case it was the Russian Soviets and the United States of America. This war was fought with threats and propaganda which characterized the Cold War.
U.S VS. USSR
The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union was not to be taken lightly, this was not only a race to space this was also the race for nuclear weaponry. The Cold War between the Soviets and the U.S had both countries creating nuclear war head stock piles, the U.S has built around 70,000 nuclear warheads since 1945 with about 9,600 ready to launch today. Russia has about 5,600 ready to launch, and about eight of these could wipe out most of life on earth.
Impact of the Decade
The Cold War greatly impacted today's society in ways you wouldn't have guessed and most of these things are still in affect today. Our highway system we use today was a result of the Cold War believe it or not, it was designed to move troops and supplies quickly throughout the U.S incase we were to be invaded. Our highway system stretches over 47,000 miles! Another left over from the Cold War is our emergency broadcast system and that was designed so that the President could warn U.S citizens about an invasion or nuclear attack. In 1958 the U.S built "norad" a base 2,500 feet inside Colorado's Cheyenne mountain. It was built to track nuclear missile attacks from the Soviets and is used today to track North American air traffic.
This is an inside view of what a typical 1950's bomb shelter looked like. People would buy these incase the Russians launched a nuclear weapon targeting the United States. (www.archives.gov)
Connection to Today and Solutions for the Future
The Cold War has left us with many solutions in which we use today. The highway system the cold war brought us is still a solution for a future invasion because we will be able to transport troops and supplies coast to coast much faster. Also the fact that World War 2 showed us the destructive nature of a nuclear weapon and the Cold War had both countries making a lot of these weapons I think it will make a government think twice before launching one of these things because of the fact that everyone knows how destructive these things are. If there are countries who may be willing to launch a Nuclear attack then we already have the solution for that because the Cold War brought us technology that can track foreign and enemy missile launches.
Citation:
Converted Missile Silos
People known as "Doomsday Preppers" have been buying and converting Cold War missile silos into homes. One floor of these silos will cost you about 3 million dollars while half of a floor will cost you 1.5 million dollars.
Citations
Watch History Full Episodes & Videos Online. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.history.com/videos
ELibrary: Login. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.elibrary.com/