7. The government took steps to reassure the public
Beginning in the 1950s and continuing well into the 1960s, the federal government took action to create the belief that most Americans would survive a nuclear attack by the Soviets. Community fallout shelters appeared in American cities and towns, marked with the sign of the Civil Defense Administration. The shelters were stocked with food and water, located in the basements of large buildings. Beginning in 1955, the Eisenhower Administration presented recommendations for a seven-day stock of food and water in American homes, to survive the aftermath of a nuclear attack. Children received lessons in protecting themselves from nuclear bombing in schools, in “duck and cover” drills.
Despite the actions of the government, which continued under the Kennedy Administration, few believed that nuclear war could be survived if they were directly attacked. The Soviet and American governments recognized the reality through the policy of Mutual Assured Destruction, they informally arrived at the conclusion that neither side would survive a nuclear war. Known as MAD, it was the primary impediment to nuclear destruction throughout the Cold War, though both sides continued to take steps to ensure they would emerge from a nuclear exchange with their society relatively intact. Throughout the Cold War, the belief a nuclear exchange would bring humanity to an end prevailed, the single greatest reason no exchange ever occurred.