This Week: conelrad.com

The Cold War may have been officially declared "over" by President Bush recently, but the after-effects are still with us. Beyond fears of a nuclear holocaust and a distrust of government directives, there is also the lingering pop-culture detritus of the atomic age. Movies, books, records, undergarments–they were all infiltrated by marketers who believed that by inserting the word "atomic," fortunes could be made. Meanwhile, the government began a vast PR initiative to educate the public on what to do in case of a nuclear attack. Lots of silly products and public-service materials were the result–and conelrad.com has been collecting them. Named after an Emergency Broadcasting Network, conelrad.com provides a thorough examination of Red Scare pop culture. Co-organized by editor Bill Geerhart, publisher Curtis Samson, and creative director Ken Sitz, conelrad.com offers a wealth of material and history. The group has also just completed the co-production with Synapse Films of a DVD release for Invasion USA, the Cold War classic. (Answers to the following questions were co-written by the trio; single responses are identified by name.)

Describe the era in which "atomic culture" was created.
What was the mood of the country?

The era was the tail end of World War II. Many people believe that Atomic Culture didn't get rolling until the fifties, but in actuality Atomic Culture was born almost immediately after the announcement of the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Japan. The Washington Press Club bar began serving "Atomic Cocktails" (a blend of Pernod and gin) within hours of the announcement. Within days of the leveling of Hiroshima, Los Angeles burlesque establishments were promoting "Atom Bomb Dancers." Within weeks of the event, a New York jewelry company was selling "atomic inspired pin and earring sets" that were "as daring to wear as it was to drop the first atom bomb." And within months, KIX Cereal was advertising its "Atomic Bomb Ring," which it was offering to kids for 15 cents and a cereal box top. By 1947 there were 45 businesses in the Manhattan business directory with the word "Atomic" in their title including the Atomic Undergarment Company. The mood of the country was jubilant: After Aug. 6, 1945 there was an almost universal familiarity with the word "atomic." And, by and large, to the average American citizen this familiarity was overwhelmingly positive: The word, to most, connoted power, ingenuity, and above all, supremacy.

Why do you think the government created PR material for nuclear war?
Was this material used mostly as a distraction,
or to truly prepare the populace for "doomsday"?

When the Soviets tested their first atomic bomb in 1949 there was a great deal of pressure on President Truman to take some action to reassure the populace. He established the National Security Resources Board, which evolved into Federal Civil Defense Administration in 1951. These agencies and the successor agencies up to and including FEMA used all the public relations materials at their disposal (pamphlets, films, filmstrips, recordings, bus ads, billboards, etc.) to both reassure and educate the public. If you read the contemporaneous accounts of how the heads of these civil defense agencies operated there is very little doubt that they were sincere in their efforts to protect the citizenry. Some of the presidents they served were less so. Eisenhower went through the motions while Kennedy was a firm believer in the efficacy of shelters.

Did companies jump on the atomic-product bandwagon out of patriotism, or a profit motive?

Profit motive. There were numerous companies that renamed themselves after the atom to cash in on the currency of the word. In fact, there is a scene in the wonderful 1950s-set coming of age film Desert Bloom (1986) in which Jon Voight's character changes the name of his gas station from "Jack's Desert Gas" to "Jack's Atomic Gas." If you look through old business directories from virtually any U.S. city from the late '40s or '50s you will see literally dozens of "Atomic" companies.

Did the populace accept all this information at face value,
or was there dissent/disbelief?

Initially, there was genuine interest in the informational material the government was putting out. But there is always going to be a certain percentage of people who question what the government is trying to. True then, true now. For example, during the annual nationwide Operation Alert exercises of the '50s (in which anyone on the streets was forced to go into public shelters), there was civil disobedience in New York City starting with the very first exercise. These protests grew in size each year until the Office of Civil Defense discontinued the alert after 1961 because of the public relations repercussions.

Do you think contemporary society would be (or is) as accepting
of such government public-service information?

When Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge was publicizing his "color-coded" terror alert system on the Today Show earlier this year, the host asked him if he was ready for the onslaught of ridicule the system would face. This speaks volumes to how different a society we are now as opposed to the early Cold War when such a system would have been embraced by most of the public. If you look at the current polls you will see that the average American does not have very much confidence in the government's ability to deter future attacks. So, no, that would not bode well for their acceptance of public service information of the type issued in the 1950s. It should be noted that as recently as 1990 FEMA was issuing hopelessly outdated manuals on how to build fallout shelters.

About when did this civil defense material go from being
serious business to being kitschy pop culture?

Old civil defense films were dragged out by opponents of President Reagan's arms build-up in the early 1980s for humorous PR purposes, but it was the 1982 documentary/comedy Atomic Café that really opened the floodgates and made a new generation aware of such things as Duck and Cover, etc.

How did you get interested in this stuff as pop culture?
What about it fascinates you?

Bill: Physicians for Social Responsibility came to my high school in 1982 and played a film narrated by Martin Sheen that juxtaposed horrific images from Hiroshima with the old Civil Defense instructional films. Reagan's arms build-up had re-ignited the fears that had receded somewhat during the Nixon/Ford/Carter years. Suddenly the absurdity of these civil defense films had a lot of relevancy to me. Atomic Café broadened the satire of the Sheen film to include the Red Scare. As I examined how deeply the Red Scare of the '50s insinuated itself into American pop culture (it even trickled down to the teenage romance comics!) I found I couldn't get enough. Another factor is the desire to seek out things that aren't widely known. There are a couple of books that have fairly detailed descriptions of what the U.S. government bunkers look like on the inside. It is compelling reading because no one was supposed to know about these places yet they were all targeted by Soviet war planners for decades. There are a lot of secrets left to learn about (very little is known about Soviet Civil Defense for example), so that is what keeps me interested.

Where do you collect the materials for the site?

We could tell you, but we'd have to kill you.

What do you think are the most interesting items in the collection? Why?

Bill: I'm partial to a 1965 Red Scare pamphlet that suggests the Beatles–through their music–are attempting to hypnotize American youth into becoming Communist. It is such a wonderful convergence of Beatlemania and Cold War hysteria. The cover of the pamphlet is one of the most bizarre things you'll ever see.

What kinds of reactions have you gotten from Cold War-age readers?

The reactions have been overwhelmingly positive and, in many cases, helpful. We have one reader who was so inspired by the Atomic Platters section that he went out and found stuff we had never even heard of. We also have a lot of educators who use our site as a resource for their students. In the scheme of things, this is the highest possible compliment.

What item would you most like to add to the site,
but haven't been able to acquire yet?

That's easy. One of the varied inspirations for creating the site was to include our search for what has come to be known to our readers as the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail is an announcement the famed broadcaster Arthur Godfrey reportedly made at the behest of President Eisenhower in the 1950s. This recorded announcement was to be played in the event of a nuclear war. News of the existence of this recording was first reported in Time magazine in August of 1992. If we could somehow get our hands on a copy of this recording, we would be very happy indeed!

What else would you like to do with the site?

Bill: We have quite a few features in the works for the site including one on Atomic Las Vegas plus a significant expansion of the Atomic music section. In other words, there is a lot of pending material that will have to be posted before dreaming up new stuff to work on!

Know of a cool pop culture website? Tell us all about it!

Back to Website of the Week Archive