Civil Defense, 1956

Archive Report

Uneasiness Over Status of Defense

Coming Test of Defenses in Operation Alert

Readiness of the people of the United States to withstand an enemy nuclear attack is to be tested more extensively than ever before, from July 20 to 26, by Operation Alert 1956—the country's third annual civil defense training exercise.1 In view of widespread uneasiness over the progress and effectiveness of preparations to hold down deaths and injuries if bombs or missiles start falling, there is keen interest to see what advances have been made in civil defense planning since last year's Operation Alert. That test “clearly exposed the nation's un readiness to cope with a thermonuclear attack.”2

President Eisenhower, who took a leading part in the 1955 exercise, is scheduled to be in Panama during ...

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