Dayton Evacuation Plan pamphlet   Save
Civil Defense Adult Education Files
Description: This five-page booklet advised residents of Dayton, Ohio on how to leave the city in the event of a nuclear attack. Due to the close proximity of Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton was considered a potential target during Cold War. The pamphlet urges citizens to keep their gas tanks at least half full at all times and have a "survival kit" consisting of food and water to last three days. The booklet, produced by the Miami Valley Civil Defense Authority, measures 3.75" x 7" (9.53 x 17.78 cm). In the 1950s, many Americans were concerned about the rise of communism and especially the Soviet Union. The dropping of the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States in 1945 began an arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union--each nation sought to develop more destructive weapons than the other. In the so-called Cold War, the two nations struggled for political, ideological, and economic superiority. Concerns over potential nuclear war during the 1950s and 1960s led to a government campaign to teach defense strategies such as "duck and cover" and to encourage citizens to create fallout shelters to protect them from nuclear attacks. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om3168_3812903_001
Subjects: Military Ohio; Daily Life; Nuclear fallout; Nuclear weapons; Atomic bomb; Cold War; Civil defense
Places: Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)