This episode is from the WNYC archives. It may contain language which is no longer politically or socially appropriate.

Bill Leonard introduces the second of four programs produced by James Fleming "dealing with challenging aspects of the civil defense story."

Several audio clips are played:
President Truman (recorded "the other evening"): we face a long future of world tension...
Secretary of Defense George Marshall: the best we can hope for is a long period of tension
Winston Churchill (March 1949): Europe would have been communized some time ago, but for the deterrent of the atomic bomb in the hands of the US
Sep 23, 1949: announcement of evidence of an atomic explosion in the USSR
John Foster Dulles: the Russians may feel they can blackmail us, but we must not give in
Harold Urey: there never was a satisfactory defense against the atomic bomb
Harrison Brown: there is no control scheme
Secretary of State Dean Acheson (Sep 1949): a plea for regulation

Fleming and Leonard continue to discuss the news on atomic weapons.

Fleming introduces audio of citizens of the US and Japan discussing "living with the bomb": people from Nevada who listened in on an explosion (played back), Mayor of Hiroshima, children from Japan.

A teacher demonstrating air raid drill instructions in a classroom.

Lawrence Wilkerson: it's a question of saving our country

Audio courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives WNYC Collection

WNYC archives id: 71905
Municipal archives id: LT1836