Steuart Pittman, head of the U.S. fallout shelter program, died earlier this month at age 93. As a reminder of just how frightening the Cold War was, check out these old family-style bunkers from the pages of Popular Science.
Posted 02.21.2013 at 3:30 pm
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President John F. Kennedy appointed America's first civil defense chief for nuclear war preparedness in 1961, during the height of the Berlin Crisis. Steuart Pittman, a lawyer, was tasked with building enough fallout shelters to protect everyone in the U.S. in the event of an atomic attack. Three years later, Pittman resigned the position--which he described as one of the most “unappetizing, unappealing and unpopular” jobs ever created--after bitter debates over the ethics, feasibility, and cost of the program. As the New York Times reports, he died earlier this month at his family farm in Davidsonville, Md., at the age of 93.
The era of family fallout shelters is well-documented in Popular Science; between 1950 and 1990, we published dozens of stories, diagrams, and instructions for readers who wanted to build the best bunker on the block. Check out the gallery for seven of the most disturbing fallout-shelter photos and illustrations.
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before I saw the receipt ov $9344, I be certain that my mother in law woz like trully bringing home money in their spare time from their computer.. there friends cousin has done this 4 only eighteen months and just repayed the mortgage on their apartment and bourt a great Bugatti Veyron. read more at,,...... BIT40.ℂOℳ
Nothing creepy here, just rather inadequate-looking for long term survival. Also, none of these structures look like they could survive any kind of blast wave. If you're a long way from where any bombs fell, keeping abreast of where the fallout (i.e. weather patterns) is likely to fall would go a lot farther towards limiting internal/external absorption of contaminated material. Things like potassium iodide tablets to saturate the thyroid (used during the Chernobyl & Fukishima accidents)aren't even shown at all, though they were well known by the 1950's. Glad they turned out to be unused.
None of those looked particularly creepy.
Of course, most of those were fictional illustrations - many home shelters I have seen were creepy, dark, dingy, and damp.
Even today, a good shelter is one of the few additions to a home that truely raises its value. Even people not interested in it as a shelter often value it as a root/wine cellar, man cave, play room, or invisable storage building.
Just so long as they are sufficiently dry and fresh.