Command Study 14, Chapter 1. The Role of Nonmilitary Defense Page: 7
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existing peacetime governmental structure. In sharp contrast with previous
generations, however, the thermonuclear age poses the most dangerous threat
to the survival of the United States that it has yet confronted. The power which
mankind has harnessed in the twentieth century is not limited to the destruction
of thousands of people or to a single city, but to the unspeakable mass annihi-
lation of millions. Any nation's capacity to survive such an ordeal depends
largely on the effectiveness of prior organization, planning, and preparation
for saving lives and restoring services. Just as thermonuclear weapons have
forced the people of the United States to change traditional patterns of thinking,
these weapons have likewise exercised a profound influence on international
affairs and the role which the United States must play in the defense of the free
world. Similarly, the Communist world has made significant progress in the
development of passive defense programs to support their strategic purposes.
The sections which follow treat with the threat which nuclear weapons pose for
civilization in the twentieth century and the impact of these weapons onnonmili-
tary defense plans in the Soviet Union, Western Europe, and the United States.
THE IMPACT OF THE NUCLEAR AGE
The Thermonuclear Backdrop*
Since the, bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and the subsequent develop-
ment of the hydrogen bomb, numerous studies have depicted the incomprehensible
horrors of a thermonuclear war which would be characterized by mass annihi-
lation, survivors smothered by clouds of radioactive debris, and the regression
of civilization. In June 1959, the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy of the
United States Congress held detailed hearings on the biological and environ-
mental effects of nuclear war. As a part of these hearings, the Committee con-
sidered a hypothetical nuclear attack upon the United States. This analysis as-
sumed that 263 nuclear weapons in 1, 2, 3, 8, and 10 megaton ranges, with a
total yield of 1, 446 megatons, were detonated on 224 targets within the United
States. From this hypothetical attack, under conditions then prevailing, 50
million Americans would have been killed; some 20 million others seriously
injured; and one-half of the existing dwellings in the United States destroyed or
rendered unusable for a period of several months. In sharp contrast to con-
ventional weapons which produce the immediate effects of fire and blast, nuclear
*For a comprehensive coverage of nuclear weapons and their effects, re-
fer to the following Reserve Element Training Courses:
Individual Survival and Recovery (Disaster Control). Course 45-003. Aca-
demic Year 1964-1965.
Individual Survival and Recovery (Shelter Management). Course 45-0005.
Academic Year 1964-1965.
Other excellent sources on the biological and technical nature of nuclear
weapons are:
Glasstone, Samuel. The Effects of Nuclear Weapons, U. S. Atomic Energy
Commission, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C.: 1957.
Biological and Environmental Effects of Nuclear War. Summary-Analysis
of Hearings, 22-26 June 1959. Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Congress
of the United States, August 1959.7
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Air University (U.S.). Command Study 14, Chapter 1. The Role of Nonmilitary Defense, pamphlet, June 1965; Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1010302/m1/17/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting National WASP WWII Museum.