Duck and Cover Impact on Children: Cold War Propaganda and Civil Defense Education in 1950s America
Overview
This paper examines the 1952 'Duck and Cover' film produced by Ray Maurer for the Federal Civil Defense Administration and its impact on American school children during the Cold War. The essay analyzes how the film served as propaganda to educate students about nuclear safety procedures through duck and cover drills, while also instilling respect for authority and promoting behavioral standards during a period of heightened tensions between the USA and Soviet Union.
What this essay covers
- Historical context of the Cold War and atomic bomb anxiety in 1950s America
- Production and purpose of the Duck and Cover film as civil defense propaganda
- Description of duck and cover drill procedures and safety techniques taught to students
- Educational and moral implications of the film for school children and society
Preview
Duck and Cover Impact on Children
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Date
Duck and Cover film was released in 1952 when tensions existed between the Soviet Union and the USA. Ray Maurer was the propaganda film producer, and the client was the Federal Civil Defense Administration. The Soviet Union detonated an atomic bomb in 1949, alarming the USA. The Americans became worried that the Soviet Union would deny them the monopoly they enjoyed dealing with the atomic bomb. It was for fear of the USA's domination that the Americans produced a film that would educate the society on how to take cover if there was an atomic bomb. Duck and Cover would, later on, be shown in schools all over the USA. Simultaneously, the USA detonated a thermonuclear hydrogen bomb, which was powerful than the one that had devastated Hiroshima. However, the movie's impact was to positively impact school children by educating them on how to take cover in case of danger due to the arms race.
In the period of the Cold Warta time when political tension rose and was followed by World War 2, the USA was of the fear that the Soviet Union would invade them by use of a nuclear bomb.[1] With an imminent danger that the USA was facing, it took the strategy of getting into popular media to educate the school going children on how they would defend themselves if the Soviet Union conducted an invasion.