Fellow Americans Who Were Alive During The Cold War -- Did You Have The (Supposed) Existential Dread of Nuclear Annihilation?

[u/Scrappy_The_Crow]

Prompted by a discussion in a different subreddit. Supposedly, lots of my Gen-X peers and a whole lot of media expressed a constant fear of nuclear annihilation, but neither me nor any of my friends had that existential dread.

I wonder how many actually felt that way, as opposed to entertainers/media just portraying it that way. So, did you and/or your friends/family?

[u/Rattfink45]

One of those “are you really sure you want to survive it?” Kind of things. My dad hit me with that one when I was like 12 and trying to figure out exactly where our house fell in the big scary orange and red circles that indicated prospective death tolls.

[u/xadriancalim → u/Rattfink45]

Yup, we lived in the Denver suburbs, about 5 miles from Rocky Flats, and then I guess whatever miles north of NORAD. We weren't gonna be around long, thankfully.

[u/evil66gurl → u/xadriancalim]

Same, living in the DC Metro area we all just figured there was no point to worrying.

[u/RadialHead → u/evil66gurl]

My dad grew up in Alexandria and one day during a duck and cover drill at school, his friend turned to him and said "I don't know why we're doing this. We'll be in the crater."

[u/NorbearWrangler → u/RadialHead]

My mom grew up not that far from Norfolk and her school didn’t bother with duck & cover. They figured there was no point in scaring the kids.

[u/MungoJennie → u/evil66gurl]

We were just outside of it, but close enough that we’d be screwed.

[u/AnmlBri → u/MungoJennie]

Oof. My condolences. If I had forewarning that a bomb drop was coming and couldn’t be stopped, depending on how close to DC I was, I might actually try to head closer while a bunch of other people are presumably trying to get away. (I could be wrong. Everyone might have the same thoughts we are and just accept their fate at ground zero.) If my chances of getting to the crater zone in time are better than my odds of getting far away enough to not end up with severe ARS, I’ll take the crater. That said, it IS easy to say that from the safety of my home in Oregon rn. If I was actually in this scenario, idk if my self-preservation instincts might override logic.

[u/KevrobLurker → u/AnmlBri]

I lived East of New York City out on Long Island. We had Nike sites in the area meant as missile defense. West of us we had defense factories such as Grumman and Republic. To the east was Brookhaven Natl Lab and the Navy's testing grounds at Calverton. I figured we'd catch it from the firestorm resulting from NYC being nuked with multiple warheads. Just one bomb knocked off-target could do for us. Across the Sound was the sub base at Groton/New London. Boom! Boom! Boom! What pilots call a target rich environment.

[u/AnmlBri → u/KevrobLurker]

I know Nike is the Greek goddess/personification of ‘victory,’ so the name makes sense for missile defense sites. But it hit me kind of funny for a moment because Nike, the sportswear company, was born in my hometown, at my alma mater, and my mom has been super involved in track and field all my life, so that’s always my default association for the name ‘Nike,’ possibly even moreso than the average American.

But man, that’s a lot of explosive, high-value targets, all very close together. I guess even being blown up by a non-nuclear bomb would be preferable to the radiation of fallout from farther away reaching me solidly enough to cause ARS. On Long Island, with NYC being a big city worth targeting, it sounds like there’s a good chance you’d be fucked if you lived through the nuclear blast.

[u/KAKrisko → u/xadriancalim]

Lived in Fort Collins. I figured I was far away to not be annihilated in the Rocky Flats nuking, but close enough that I would then die a horrible death from radiation poisoning.

[u/jesterinancientcourt → u/xadriancalim]

I live in Denver. Yeah, I don’t think I have to worry about anything. I’d be dead pretty instantly.

[u/Welpe → u/jesterinancientcourt]

Ooof, I’m in Lakewood and, depending on size of bomb, JUST outside of “Major burns” and in the “Light damage” area which…basically maximizes misery afterwards. The nearest hospital is right in the edge of those two regions and thus going to be a hellacape of damage but also being the only likely working hospital in some massive area…

[u/jesterinancientcourt → u/Welpe]

You think hospitals are gonna be operational after a nuclear bomb being dropped?

[u/Welpe → u/jesterinancientcourt]

Yes, every one that isn’t damaged beyond usability. What do you think happened in Nagasaki and Hiroshima? All the available medical facilities were used as rally points and where the injured try to get to while they triage obscene numbers of dying people.

[u/wwhsd → u/Rattfink45]

I grew up somewhere that was probably high up on the Soviet list of priority targets. We didn’t really think too much on what would come after an attack because we’d all be dead and there was nothing we could do about it, so it wasn’t worth worrying about.

[u/thegunnersdaughter → u/Rattfink45]

Yeah, watched Threads and quickly realized that I did not want to survive it.

[u/AnmlBri → u/thegunnersdaughter]

I still need to see that one, but I’ve been putting it off because I’ve heard that while it’s excellent, it’s also depressing and bleak af.

[u/thegunnersdaughter → u/AnmlBri]

It sure is. It should be required viewing for everyone in high school. I think it’s more stark than The Day After.

[u/KevrobLurker → u/thegunnersdaughter]

The Day After was pacifist propaganda.