Fort Lauderdale and Broward County fallout shelter craze in the 1960s

 

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 ...

 Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

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

$100/Plate political fundraisers - a look back at JFK and Florida

1956 Fundraiser

From JFKLibrary.org

https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/jfkcamp1960-0932-008#?image_identifier=JFKCAMP1960-0932-008-p0001

By Jane Feehan

With today’s presidential campaign fundraising dinners fetching up to $50,000 a plate (and beyond), a glance at similar events during the 1960s shows the dramatic inflation rate of politics.

President John F. Kennedy flew to Miami Beach March 9, 1962 to help raise funds for Sen. George Smathers who had just announced a bid for a second term

Three thousand of South Florida’s Democratic Party showed up at the main ballroom of the Fontainebleau Hotel and paid $100 a plate to hear JFK. They were so wowed by the young president they did not mind – or notice – that Frank Sinatra bowed out of an appearance because of laryngitis. JFK and Sinatra for $100 - what a bargain that would have been.

Two years earlier, the Democratic Party kickoff for the 1960 campaign drew 2,500 at $100 per person to the nation’s capitol. (Video: http://tinyurl.com/9tzyrnq.)

Plate prices remained the same during Kennedy's presidency. For the anniversary of his second year in office, 5,000 supporters were invited to Washington to see the president for $100 per person. Enough money was generated by the event to retire the Democratic Party’s debt for the first time since 1952.

Dinners continued to command the same ticket price. Kennedy flew to Ohio for Gov. Michael DiSalle’s 54th birthday – a non-presidential Democratic fundraising occasion with $100-a-plate invitations in 1962.

Republicans also held fundraisers for $100 a plate. Rockefeller hosted one such event in Albany, NY in April, 1963, drawing hundreds. So, during the early 1960s, $100-a-plate fundraising dinners were the norm for both parties.

How times have changed ...

For Florida documents, including a program from a 1956 Broward County Democratic Fundraiser at the Beach Club, visit JFK Presidential Library and museum at:

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKCAMP1960-0932-008.aspx

       

By Robert L. Knudsen - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library,
hwww.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKWHP-KN-17134.aspx, Public Domain,
 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15978282
Richard Nixon (l), Lyndon B. Johnson (r)

                            
Sources:
Miami News, Mar. 11, 1962
Miami News, May 3, 1962
Miami News, Apr. 30, 1963



Tags: Political campaigns 1960s, fundraising dinners 1960s. Florida politics 1960s, Democratic Party 1960, Republican fundraisers 1963