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SPEAR: Before we get away from Jchn's account of what happened
in late 1961, I would like to point out that there was a kind of a significant footnote to the push. I believe it was in November of 1961 or
thereabouts that Life magazine, which has a very substantial circu-

letion, came out with one issue that was largely devoted to the fallout
shelter question. This gave it a great push. The Life presentation
did have some instructions. Obviously this was an inspired piece

and the administration was with it.

At that same time, ina confused

setting when Civil Defense was in the process of transfer from the

Executive Cffice to the Department of Defense, there came the drive

to get out the little yellow pamphlet. Well, obviously, the administration was strongly behind the fallout shelter idea at that time and there
was great drive to get the pamphlet out. But, as one can imagine if
you have been in Government, the process of clearing its detaile was
no fast matter. People in the State Department would worry about

the effect on other countries of the mere fact that the Government
put it out. Others worried about this impacton people: ‘We shouldn't
say it that way!" Others had other questions. This took a long time,
and along about the time-—and I forget the sequence-—the pamphlet
finally did come out, the Congress was busy on some appropriation

bills involving federal construction. The lack of national consensus
was rather dramatically pointed out by a rider that went in many ui:

these appropriation bills forbidding the use of any of the funds involved
in making fallout shelter preparations in fedcral buildings.
The administration was also putting on a big drive for the owners
of commercial and residential buildings to make such provisions,
All of these things contributed to taking the steam out of the home
shelter effort,
One other thing, too, was that many of the people in Civil Defense
themselves were not sympathetic to the idea of the individual fallout
shelter, They felt that this was no real anawer; that community
shelters were required where you could have large numbers of people together. So they didn't themselves take any steps in this direction, They were waiting for the public appropriations that would

bring about community shelters.

Those, of course, never came.

“One other point I would like to make, going back to the effects
of nuclear weapons. Merril, lL agree that there is a mass of completely useful information there and that the government has done
very well in making this available. But [ think it takes more than
simply making it available. The information is there but this has

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