How to scare people into buying the hype!

How did Americans grip with the impending doom of possible nuclear annihilation? and more importantly why did the American public go along with politicians that were assuring the atmosphere of "war." I ponder these questions often and I guess even in today's society we see the same sense of "go with the program" mentality. The Cold War was reflected through books, movies, television, and music which helped cement a culture of nuclear war. Every war need propaganda and the best place for it is in the land of the free.

The Great Stars & Stripes

Through the use of instructional videos such as the infamous "Duck and Cover," a 1951 educational movie explaining what to do in the event of a nuclear attack the politicians aimed to keep the public misinformed of the devastating results of nuclear weapons. Can you imagine attempting to duck and cover while your body is vaporized into thin air? Videos such as Duck and Cover were coined by political zealots in an attempt to induce fear from school aged children and also solidified their fear of the Soviet Union. But how scientific was the film? Could ducking under a desk or placing a newspaper over your head spare you from a nuclear assault? Of course not but most Americans would dare to criticize the propaganda. In John Hersey's notable work, "Hiroshima," published in 1946 he tells the story of a Hiroshima police officer who went to Nagasaki to teach other officers about the advantages of ducking after the atomic flash and as a result according to Hersey not a single Nagasaki police officer died in the initial blast.  The key is being at a greater distance from the hypo-center which instantaneously would result in vaporization.






                                      
                                                              Excerpt of Duck & Cover Instructional Video

Another famous classic was the commercial entitled Daisy which was promoted by President Lyndon B. Johnson in his bid for the White House. The commercial which aired in the United States was very controversial and after viewing the video you can see the fear that politicians used to "cattle" the American people into buying their philosophies. Daisy, opens with a very young girl standing in a meadow with chirping birds, slowly counting the petals of a daisy as she picks them one by one. Her sweet innocence, along with mistakes in her counting, makes her appear endearing to the viewer. When she reaches "9," when an ominous sounding male voice is suddenly heard clocking the countdown of a rocket launch. As the girl's eyes turn toward something she sees in the sky, the camera zooms in until one of her pupils fills the screen, blacking it out. The countdown reaches zero, and the blackness is instantly replaced by the thunderous flash of a nuclear explosion, followed by a billowing mushroom cloud. As the firestorm rages, a voice-over from Johnson states emphatically, "These are the stakes! To make a world in which all of God's children can live, or to go into the dark. We must either love each other, or we must die." Another voice-over then says, "Vote for President Johnson on November 3. The stakes are too high for you to stay home." (Two months later, Johnson won the election in an electoral landslide.)

                                   Excerpt of "Daisy" a Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Campaign Commercial