Retrospect: Why Civil Defense?

right a film excursion and the past event since which formed the patterns by which we live today retrospect is brought to you by the office of civil and defense mobilization in cooperation with your local civil defense office and your local station now here's your host douglas edwards [Music] each post-war period since the dawn of man has brought with it a wild period of restoration reorganization and just plain irresponsibility but none of them hold a candle to the fantastic period of the wacky years ten of them making whoopi an eight we got fun that followed world war one returning from the battlefields of europe the american doughboy marched into the roaring twenties to discover a new and different america he found a nation basking in the sunshine of prosperity he found a carefree giddy society in which everyone was the life of the party he found the flapper wearing skirts higher and stockings lower who would share his bed of roses for 10 dizzy high-flying years and then he would discover that his wonderful utopia had a built-in trap door in 1920 two radical changes were made in america the first woman suffrage the voting booth had gone co-education the ladies considered it quite a feather in their caps the shock would send the returning doughboy to the nearest saloon and there he would discover the second change something called prohibition while he was away someone had given the country back to the puritans america had gone bone dry but the doughboy would soon discover the bootlegger and armed with 10 years of inspired literature a hip flask and a flapper he would sit back and watch the headlines roll by and there were headlines of plenty sacko and vanzetti one of the most controversial murder trials of all time in dayton tennessee the trial of john scopes accused of assaulting the book of genesis by teaching evolution in the public schools for the prosecution the honorable william jennings bryan defender of the faith for the defense and the infidels clarence daryl the court martial of brigadier general billy mitchell envisioning a future when the airplane would play a vital role in time of war mitchell put his outspoken views in a book called our air force the book criticized national defense policies mitchell was court-martialed and suspended from the service while president harding played the tuba government oil reserves were being turned over to private interest harding died before the full impact of the teapot dome scandal hit the nation's headlines in 1926 the feminine hearts of america went to pieces outside of campbell's funeral parlor in new york mounted police became frantic trying to keep a crowd of 30 000 tearful mourners from open rioting rudolph valentino the great lover the latin with the bedroom eyes that enslaved women and drove men to despair was dead charles lindbergh all the world would come to know him as the lone eagle all other news disappeared from the headlines after the young minnesotan took off from mitchell field new york and thirty three and one half hours later set down the spirit of saint louis at lubberjay field in paris the first man to fly solo across the atlantic during the madness of prohibition al capone emerged as public enemy number one while the country was dry his take was a hundred million a year in 1927 al jolson blazed the trail of talking pictures with the jazz singer the experiment was a sensational success movie attendance jumped 60 million in two years the silent film died a quiet sudden death to a carefree happy wealthy america it seemed there would be no end to coolidge prosperity and they were right the end came with hoover prosperity but if movies were wired for sound the economy was not on october 29 1929 the stock market crashed the memorable variety headline put it better wall street lays an egg after 10 years of wild prosperity there was nothing left but ticker tape dreams and the tear-filled rims of rose-colored glasses well now let's take a moment off from the past for a vital message about the present there are many important issues facing the american public today all of them center on one word survival yours mine the survival of the entire free world we must realize that the goal of soviet leaders is domination of the world by communism they intend to use all means economic propaganda perhaps even military to reach this goal total war requires total defense the office of civil and defense mobilization points out that military might alone is not enough the director of ocdm has called upon every american to prepare his home and family against possible attack on these programs we will bring you the facts on civilian preparedness and the need for an effective civil defense many people ask why do we need civil defense it's a fair question and there are many valid answers to give some of those answers we have with us dr paul mcgrath deputy director of intelligence and national security affairs for the office of civil and defense mobilization in washington dc dr mcgrath we've all seen pictures of nuclear bombs we know the tremendous destruction they cause we've heard about the effects of radiation now facing all this do you honestly believe survival is possible in a nuclear war of course i believe it but let me emphasize that my belief is substantiated by facts the office of civil and defense mobilization the atomic energy commission and many independent research groups have done a great deal of study on the problem of radioactive fallout they have come up with one sensible answer home shelters for example for example a shelter like this one would give excellent protection against radiation the recent study of national preparedness concluded that adequate shielding is the only effective means of preventing preventing radiation casualties another study proved that the simple addition of fallout shelters in every home could reduce our casualties by 75 percent with so many potential trouble spots in the world nuclear war could erupt at any time i take it well that's certainly true but here's another reason for the importance of fallout shelters and a prepared population if we're going to stop communist encroachments throughout the world we might be forced to make decisions carrying the risk of war our president can make these decisions with greater confidence if our people are prepared and you think civil defense is the answer yes considering the powerful nuclear weapons that are in the arsenals of nations today an effective deterrent that could tip the balance in our favor would be a prepared population naturally we will always need a strong military force but we have a strong military force we also need a prepared people well dr mcgrath how about the russians do they have a civil defense yes indeed they've had an intensive program for years and the soviet government has required everyone to take a minimum of 46 hours of civil defense training during the past few years the soviet civil defense organization reaches into the life of every soviet citizen now here are some actual soviet training posters as you can see they are giving their people much the same kind of information that we give of course the big difference is this the russians are compelled to take the training courses and to learn the material and to prepare their homes let's take an example if an attack on the united states ever came well couldn't the military take care of the civilians well the task of the military is to conduct military operations primarily they would be carrying the war to the enemy initially we civilians would be on our own that's our job as civilians to take care of ourselves so that we could recover and win well those are certainly very convincing facts dr mcgrath we've heard them we've listened to them very carefully i'm sure now tell us something equally as important what do we do about them well it's time to act on the facts mr edwards if our people ought to be prepared at home they must decide to take the necessary steps now the office of civil and defense mobilization provides the information and training and it's up to each family to get the information to study the information and to act on it so no matter what happens our nation will be prepared and ready i certainly hope we shall be we've heard the facts we've learned part of the answer from dr paul mcgrath now we must do something about it poverty said aristotle is the parent of revolution and crime since 1900 the great majority of the people of cuba have lived in poverty since 1900 the cuban politics has been a hotbed of crime and revolution after the spanish-american war the land which had known no political freedom in 400 years of spanish rule suddenly gained independence from that time on political corruption and public unrest have dominated the cuban scene president theodore roosevelt intervened to settle the new nation's first internal disorder in 1906 cuba then enjoyed an 18-year period of relative calm until gerardo machado became her fifth president in 1924 in his first four-year term machado increased the protection of cuban industry and carried through a number of reforms but by 1928 he began to show dictatorial tendencies using terrorist methods he ensured himself another four years in office his campaign of terror continued until 1933 then the army deserted it the machado regime was overthrown and replaced by a provisional government headed by carlos de cespades a month later the country was the scene of renewed riot there was mutiny in the army a mutinies supported by university students intellectuals and professionals the cespedes government toppled before it ever had a chance to get started cubans cheered the leader of the army mutiny an obscure army sergeant named fulgencio batista seen on the left the gentleman in the middle raymond grouse and martine became the new president batista was promoted to colonel and placed at the head of the army from there he became the real power in cuban politics between 1934 and 1940 bautista installed seven different presidents in office he consolidated his own power by allowing the communists to organize politically which gave him the backing of labor and set the stage for him to run for the presidency in 1940 amid charges of election frauds he was elected by a large majority he legalized the communist controlled labor organizations and assumed leadership of cuban unions batista respected the constitutional provision prohibiting re-election and did not run in 1944 but in 1952 he came back to lead another brief revolt he was once again dictator of cuba suspending the constitution and stifling political opposition but batista had one opponent who refused to be styled and on new year's day 1959 fidel castro brought about the last of cuba's political upheavals at first many americans saw the bearded revolutionist as cuba's long-awaited emancipator but dr castro gradually made america hostile to his policies he inaugurated a revolutionary agrarian reform program and began to appropriate american-owned property these acts were followed by castro's violent tirades against the united states cuba a very small island with very large problems we hope we've provided an interesting insight into the past and we hope we've underlined the importance of the fact that simple inexpensive home shelters can save millions of lives in case of nuclear war as little as 100 can buy your family insurance against the greatest threat of nuclear attack radioactive fallout it's up to each of us to take the responsibility for preparing our homes and families the office of civil and defense mobilization has prepared several home shelter plans and makes them available to you without cost contact your local civil defense office or write to ocdm battle creek michigan this is douglas edwards saying goodbye for now and reminding you to be on hand when we again bring you the great news events and personalities in retrospect retrospect starring douglas edwards was brought to you by the office of civil and defense mobilization in cooperation with your local civil defense office and your local station survival in the nuclear age is a personal responsibility touching every american family make sure you take part learn the facts about civil defense preparedness start your home preparedness program today the prepared family builds a prepared nation civil defense is an american tradition [Music] you