Give Me Shelter

What do you do when a nuclear weapon detonates nearby? During theearly Cold War years of 1945-63, Civil Defence Canada and the EmergencyMeasures Organization planned for just such a disaster and encouragedcitizens to prepare their families and their cities for nuclear war. Bythe time of the Cuban Mi [...]
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What do you do when a nuclear weapon detonates nearby? During theearly Cold War years of 1945-63, Civil Defence Canada and the EmergencyMeasures Organization planned for just such a disaster and encouragedcitizens to prepare their families and their cities for nuclear war. Bythe time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the civil defence program waswidely mocked, and the public was vastly unprepared for nuclearwar. Canada's civil defence program was born in the early Cold War, when fears of conflict between the superpowers ran high. Give MeShelter features previously unreleased documents detailingCanada's nuclear survival plans. Andrew Burtch reveals how theorganization publicly appealed to citizens to prepare for disasterthemselves - from volunteering as air-raid wardens tobuilding fallout shelters. This tactic ultimately failed, however, dueto a skeptical populace, chronic underfunding, and repeatedbureaucratic fumbling. Give Me Shelter exposes the challengesof educating the public in the face of the looming threat of nuclearannihilation. Give Me Shelter explains how governments and the publicprepared for the unexpected. It is essential reading for historians, policymakers, and anybody interested in Canada's Cold War homefront. Andrew Burtch is the historian for the post-1945period at the Canadian War Museum.