IRL 12, February 1, 2010

URL; http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0900/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0900/stories/0901_0100.html

This is an article from nebraskastudies.org, entitled "A Cold War and a Hot Bomb", and it discusses the threat that both the United States and the Soviet Union posed to one another regarding atomic bombs. This page states that while World War II was a 'hot war' of weapons and fighting, the Cold War was indeed a 'cold war' because the United States and the Soviet Union did not directly fight one another with weapons but rather with threats and speeches. The most serious threat was that of nuclear weapons, in particular nuclear and atomic bombs. This page specifically refers to the threats of nuclear weapons to the people of Nebraska at the time, and how what happened far away in the world could potentially threaten the people living there and in the Plains, but what this signifies to me is that anyone in either the USSR or the US could be suceptible to attacks and therefore, everyone needed to be cautious. The article specifically states that military bases were built up in Nebraska and there were attempts to protect the civilian populations in the Plains against the perceived threat of attack, and that plans were initiated to prepare the people for what could potentially destroy them.

The significance of this to what we have learned in class is that in class, we saw a video that showed the effects of the nuclear bombs and exactly how destructive they were. It was also shown in the video how quickly the bomb could destroy buildings and showed the attempts people took to protect themselves, i.e. set up shelter in their basement, hide in shelters, have a horn to signal that an attack could be coming, etc. While the article about Nebraska does not go into specifics about what measures were taken to protect the people there, I can infer that many of the same precautions as what I saw in class were likely taken there as well. The main limitation of this source is that there were no clear instructions or plans listed that were taken to protect the people of Nebraska, but rather a general idea that military bases and shelters were set up. Another limitation is that this source only discusses Nebraska and although the circumstances were likely similar all over, the concerns about other states were not outlined at all.