Duck and cover

American citizens were trained to duck and cover to supposedly protect themselves in the event of an unexpected nuclear attack.

When the Soviet Union exploded its first nuclear device in 1949, the U.S. monopoly on nuclear weapons was broken. At least in theory, the United States was more vulnerable than it ever had been in its history. Duck and cover exercises had quickly became a part of Civil Defense drills that every American citizen, from kids to the elderly, was subjected to. In 1950, during the first big Civil Defense push of the Cold War, the movie 'Duck and Cover' was produced for showing in schools.

Although the advice to "duck and cover" holds good in many situations, from earthquakes to tornados, this isn't going to help much during an actual nuclear attack. It now appears that the goal of the "duck and cover" wasn't to provide means of protection to the people, but more likely, to instill paranoia and fear of the Soviet Union in them. The duck and cover exercises remain a unique part of the American Red Scare culture, as neither Soviet people or Western Europeans during the Cold War, nor citizens of North Korea today had anything even remotedly similar.

In early 2000s a modern variation of "duck and cover" was used by the US government. The "Duct Tape Alert" advised the citizens to wrap a room of their house in duct tape (including, ironically, the ventilation shafts and windows, which can lead to carbon dioxide poisoning and suffocation) to protect from terrorist bombs.

Duck and Cover! is available for download or streaming at Prelinger Archive.