LogFAQs > #929959117

26. A civilians perspective of constant, everyday fear of sudden nuclear war during the Cold War. (20.5 points)
Nominated by: trdl23 (1/5 remaining)

Importance: 10
Fear: 9.5
Snake: 1

Not being alive at the time, I can only imagine the constant paranoia one must've felt throughout this era, especially in the 1950s-1960s span. It was the age of nuclear proliferation, kick started by the United States with the Soviets joining in with their first two-stage hydrogen bomb test in 1955. From there, a nuclear arms race was born, encompassing several different countries including China and France. In addition to this, the increasing tensions of the Space Race were born from this arms race, giving people another reason to fear total annihilation of the world they know and love. Propaganda from both sides only rose this to unsettling heights, some of the most notable to me being school safety videos like the infamous "Duck and Cover" short. Back then, without the internet, lies and rumors were a lot more liable to be spread and believed. As much I think this was an interesting time, it's also a time I do not very much envy being a part of, at least when it comes to this nuclear fear.

This fear was of course reflected in the pop culture of the day and in our modern times. In the realm of horror, one obvious example should come to mind: Godzilla. Japan knew first hand what it was like to be on the receiving end of one of these doomsday weapons, and as such, Godzilla wasn't just one of the earliest responses to this growing problem, it remains one of the most critical take downs of nuclear war ever, a sobering reminder to the devastating power that humanity now wielded. On the American side, we had The Twilight Zone. Many episodes were made about the Cold War, nuclear weapons, and the space race, but I think only one captures the paranoia so accurately, and that is "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street". It's a timeless lesson about mass hysteria and how our fears and prejudices can sometimes lead to more destruction than the very bombs we're so afraid of. Finally, there's the British film Threads, a completely grim, hopeless, harrowing series that lays the fearsome power of these bombs out bare, the first fictional series to depict a nuclear winter and its catastrophic effects on the human race.

It can be hard to describe just what people were going through during this time, the fear that was felt every time a new news report would come out about some recently launched object. I like to think though we learned a lot from this particular era, and certainly, while this level of fear is still around in some capacity today, it's not nearly as intense as it was during the Cold War. Despite these horrors though, we persevered and made it through as best we could.
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