2019/06/11 by Thomas A. Bishop · 1 citation
Business, Management and Accounting · Arts and Humanities · #American History and Culture #Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/mah.2019.8
openalex publication_date 2019/06/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
In 1961 families across the United States witnessed the sudden growth of one of the most remarkable consumer products of the Cold War: the home fallout shelter. This article charts the rise of domestic sales for home fallout shelters between 1961 and 1963, the growth in the number of shelter salesmen, the public backlash against their sales techniques, and the eventual decline of the home shelter market. The story of the family fallout shelter exposes the limitations of consumer capitalism in mobilizing and sustaining popular support for national security policy. Questioning the validity of the product being sold and the trustworthiness of the person pitching it, homeowners challenged the citizen-consumer ideal that supposedly went hand-in-hand with the state sanctioned vision of privatized survival.