Normalizing Nuclear War
Of B-52s, Fallout Shelters, and Life Magazine
Yesterday at a local barber shop, I spied some old Life magazines from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Two covers caught my eye:
The first cover celebrated the newish B-52 nuclear bomber that circumnavigated the globe in record time (for the year 1957). Incredibly, the Air Force still relies on updated B-52s today for global bombing missions. Note how the cover mentions nothing about the B-52’s purpose, which was (and remains) to carry nuclear payloads with yields in the megatons of explosive force, anywhere on the globe.
The second cover celebrated fallout shelters. Check this out!
This gives new meaning to living under bridges in America. If only we had built all these fallout shelters—the homeless would have places to live in America today. It sure looks communal and fun in that cutaway view: women holding babies, people reading newspapers and books, even group discussions featuring people dressed like Ward and June Cleaver.
This, I submit to you, is propaganda, the intent of which was to normalize nuclear weapons, perhaps even nuclear war. (Just calmly walk or drive to the nearest shelter if our B-52s have to nuke Moscow.)
It persists today, of course. Now when the Pentagon speaks of nuclear weapons, they frame it as “investing” and “modernization.” Invest in ICBMs! Promised to soar upward like a rocket! Modernize your portfolio with some new B-21 Raider bombers—only $750 million per plane!
If the risk of nuclear war comes up, the suggestion is made that all these new nukes will serve to deter, even to prevent, nuclear Armageddon. Nothing deters war and killing like more genocidal weapons.
Those Life covers from 1957 and 1962 may look quaint—even silly—until you realize nothing really has changed in America in 70 years. We’re still normalizing nuclear weapons and even nuclear war itself. And there’s nothing quaint or silly about that.
I can remember doing "duck and cover" drills, crouching beneath me school desk, with my arms clasped around my head. Even as a very young child, it made no sense: how could my tiny arms and a flimsy desk protect me from a bomb? The propaganda that practicing these ridiculous civil defense drills would keep us safe from nuclear weapons was stupid then and is even more so now. Who believes that the "modernization" of our arsenal is some kind of safety feature that will prevent annihilation?
Great thoughts on the subject, Bill! Those "shelters" would be blown away in an actual attack. And wow, the possibilities for viral infections, etc.