If I knew this before now, I had forgotten it. Guess we were a lot closer to major disaster than any of us thought! I have tried in vain to find a copy of that speech, even knowing it's out there somewhere! Maybe some of you will have better luck than I!
Oct 6, 1961:
Kennedy urges Americans to build bomb shelters
President John F. Kennedy, speaking on civil defense, advises American families to build bomb shelters to protect them from atomic fallout in the event of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union. Kennedy also assured the public that the U.S. civil defense program would soon begin providing such protection for every American. Only one year later, true to Kennedy's fears, the world hovered on the brink of full-scale nuclear war when the Cuban Missile Crisis erupted over the USSR's placement of nuclear missiles in Cuba. During the tense 13-day crisis, some Americans prepared for nuclear war by buying up canned goods and completing last-minute work on their backyard bomb shelters.
Who knows what effect a statement like that coming from the White House in today's world would have? Might just be something we don't ever want to hear!
Let's have our coffee out on the patio this morning. Be careful, the hummingbirds are getting very aggressive!
