Accessibility Links
Cold War Culture: The Nuclear Fear of the 1950s and 1960s
With superpowers in the east and west testing powerful new weapons, the Canadian race for self-preservation took off in the early 1950s. The rising of the Iron Curtain intensified the threat of mass destruction, as communication between the Americans and Soviets came to a screeching halt. In this volatile new world, Canadians fretted about fallout shelters and the government prepared to go underground.
Last updated: October 26, 2012
Page consulted on April 15, 2013
All Clips from this Topic
-
At 10:50 a.m., Calgary's mayor throws the switch to evacuate the city....
-
A Vancouver hospital is evacuated in a nuclear drill test run.
-
Self-preservation is the name of the game in this humorous commentary ...
-
Wanna buy a bomb shelter? People start shopping for their own personal...
-
Canadian teenagers learn the ABCs of survival.
-
Max Ferguson pokes fun at the do-it-yourself fallout shelters.
-
The air raid sirens hum loudly, shelters are erected, and the general ...
-
The McCallum family experiences life in a fallout shelter.
-
Hide under your kitchen chair, pull the covers over your head - Max Fe...
-
The Emergency Measures Organization tests its cross-Canada evacuation ...
-
The Tocsin nuclear drill is evaluated.
-
Columnist Ron Haggart takes issue with the government's approach to nu...
-
U.S. President John F. Kennedy imposes a quarantine on ships docking i...
-
The nuclear crisis reaches its peak when it is reported that interball...
-
Nuclear fear is the inspiration for a new musical composition.
-
The Emergency Measures Organization is evaluated in the post-Cold War ...
-
Civil defence workers in the 1950s are exposed to dangerous radioactiv...
-
Old bomb shelters are converted to meet the new era of stability.
-
A CBC News announcer recalls a very strange assignment in a very uniqu...
-
No longer a top-secret hideaway, the Diefenbunker doors swing open.