By Jane Feehan
Fallout shelters dominated controversial topics in South Florida and the nation in the late 1950s and early 1960s. People feared a nuclear attack from the Soviet Union when its leader, Nikita Khrushchev, sought to expand his sphere of influence by testing atomic bombs in 1958 and then shipping nuclear missiles to Cuba in 1962.
Fears launched a few fallout shelter businesses in Miami and
in Broward County (search this blog for Fallout Shelters a Miami Growth
Biz in the 1960s). Homeowners served as the target audience for
the defense product, but governments considered them essential to civil
defense. In 1962, the Broward County Courthouse had already been recognized as first
fallout shelter in Fort Lauderdale.
In 1963, both private and public entities were recognized for their civic duty by the Broward County Civil Defense Council. Commendations were awarded to people representing Broward County hotels, a variety of businesses and a few hospitals for their participation.
The list below may reflect savvy public relations rather than civic inclinations for some:
Yankee Clipper Hotel; Pier 66 (planned but not yet built); Governors’ Club Hotel; Marlin Beach Hotel; Jolly Roger Hotel; Holiday Hotel; Boca Key Hotel; Sun Tower (motel-hotel); Esquire Hotel; Sears Roebuck and Company (Searstown built in 1955); First National Bank; Homeowners Life Insurance Co.; New Blount Building; Las Olas Plaza; Burdines Department Store; Dania Jai Alai Palace; Gulfstream Racing Association; Illini Cooperative Apartments; Southern Bell Telephone Company; North Broward Hospital District; South Broward Hospital District; Holy Cross Hospital; City of Fort Lauderdale.
Supplies for shelters were ordered by the defense council and included food,
water, sanitary supplies and radiation equipment (compare that to a list we'd have today). It was estimated that the supplied shelters could accommodate about 43,000 people for 15 days.
However, interest in building fallout shelters was waning
even before the Cuba crisis. A nationwide study revealed that many thought the
best protection would be a simple hole in the ground. City dwellers took a fatalistic stance
since they would likely be the first target of a nuclear attack; others thought
businesses were cashing in on fear more than anything else.
Complacency slowed nuclear defense preparations by the mid-to late
1960s—especially with the 1964 movie, Dr. Strangelove. A satire that
poked fun at nuclear "paranoia," the film may have helped take out the air of the
fallout shelter movement.
However, it didn’t stop a Fort Lauderdale News reporter in 1964 from suggesting a fallout shelter as an ideal Christmas gift for the family member who has everything. Some of those shelters may serve as hurricane shelters today ...
Sources:
Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 3, 1962
Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 19, 1962
Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 30, 1963
Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 19,1964
Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 12, 1965
Tags: Fort Lauderdale in the 1960s; Broward County in the 1960s, fallout shelters
