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Americans had an intense debate in 1961 about whether to stock your fallout shelter with guns. This was an implicit argument that the enemy after a nuclear attack would be your neighbors.

Dr. F. Archer poses with his rifle at ready in a sparsely furnished cinderblock shelter. (March 7, 1961).

I've written that this mirrors the behavior of the state, that any monstrous action was justifiable if it was for "survival." Survival was the highest ethic, and all other values could be sacrificed for it. This included killing the neighbors, and also, for the state, killing tens of millions of civilians living in "enemy" territory.

@nuclearhumanities @histodons #CivilDefense #ColdWar #nuclear #survival