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Survival of the richest: Inside the short-lived fallout shelter bubble
The threat of a Cold War nuclear attack forced Americans to reckon with a grim brand of consumerism: buy or die. It’s not much different today.
A New York Times columnist called out his prior government ties, as did an Ohio senator who said Hoegh had used his stature to urge the building of fallout shelters and reap “a rich financial harvest.” A Soviet newspaper accused him of “whipping up hysteria” to get wealthy off the Cold War. Journalists and legal authorities pressured unsavory contractors and criticized JFK for having frightened citizens without instructing them on how to stay safe. Scientists and government officials in Los Alamos, New Mexico, birthplace of the atomic bomb, found sections of existing buildings they believed could withstand fallout and assigned each of the town’s 17k-plus residents to a community shelter.
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