Family Interview No. 1

this is Douglas Edwards bringing you retrospect a film Excursion into past events events which form the patterns by which we live today retrospect is brought to you by the office of civil and defense mobilization in cooperation with your local civil defense office and your local station and now here's your host Douglas Edwards historic events usually go unrecognized as such until after the fact but on June 18th 1940 almost everyone sensed that the fate of democracy hung in the balance as Winston Churchill speaking before an assembled Parliament described the fall of France and outlined the cruel ordeal that lay ahead for the British people let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty he said and so bear ourselves that if the British Commonwealth and Empire last for a thousand years men will say this was their finest Hour your had fallen under the swastika America had not yet entered the war England and her people stood alone expecting invasion in August Hitler launched an allout aerial attack the LOF Buffa said Herman Garing would bring England to our knes but England also had an Air Force and in the first 10 days of the attack the RAF shot down 700 German PLS [Music] near the end of August a Nazi pilot wrote I'm quite sure I'm one of the last men to have seen London it will stand for but a few days more facing the gravest crisis in the nation's history the English people indomitable Valiant enterprising unrelenting kept London standing Garing Blitz CRI had failed but the nightmare was far from over [Music] londoners jammed into underground shelters thousands would find themselves homeless when next they saw the light of day the Luft vafa had begun a series of saturation bombings at night for 57 consecutive nights they pounded the British Capital with high explosives and incendiaries by Year's End 23,000 Britain had lost their lives 32,000 had been wounded and the number left homeless went un [Music] count during the most devastating raid of the war the city was bombed by 300 German PLS the House of Commons was hit the House of Lords set on fire and Westminster Abbey Big Ben and the British museum were severely damaged still the British refused to crumble the yearning to remain free was alive and contagious throughout the land Disraeli once referred to England as a nation of of shopkeepers never so great as in adversity and though Hitler made a shambles of London this nation of shopkeepers would destroy Hitler's dream of [Music] Conquest King George V 6 and Queen Elizabeth were frequent visitors to disaster areas throughout the long ordeal the Royal pair contributed great L to the morale of their subjects as the war entered its fourth year the government was forced to evacuate women and children from the capital London was then subjected to one of the most vicious attacks in military history the Germans had begun to bombard the island with their new secret weapon and that secret weapon the flying buzz bomb this latest of Hitler's monstrosities weighed 12 tons and carried a 1 ton War forehead it was capable of leveling an entire city block the British only dug in deeper and continued bravely to carry on the struggle through it all they had the inspired leadership of Winston Churchill victory at all costs he told them victory in spite of all Terror Victory however long and hard the road may be for without victory there is no survival in the final analysis they knew they could settle for nothing less in retrospect ECT we know the Battle of Britain was the turning point of World War II a turning point made possible by what Shakespeare called this happy breed of men this little world this precious stone set in the silver sea just as survival was the keynote for them so it is the keynote for us today on August 28th 1960 a Topeka Kansas family Mr and Mrs Douglas Brown and and their eight children emerged from their fallout shelter after spending 7 Days in complete isolation from the outside world they live this family in the 88 sqt shelter in a personal survival test now what happens to people when they're cut off from all outside contact for seven days what kind of problems do they face what could you expect if you had to live in a shelter for a week to answer these questions we've asked Mr and Mrs Brown To Be Our Guest on today's program well greetings uh lady and gentlemen is he still awake Mr Brown first of all what inspired you to spend a week in a fallout shelter well we are in the business of building Fallout shels and we wanted to find out exactly what problems would arise and also we wanted to find out what would be necessary for our family to spend a week in a shelter Mrs Brown I rather imagine you had quite a few problems uh what was the the biggest one I think our biggest problem was keeping the children occupied and keeping them from fighting and arguing with each other well wasn't there a space problem there too yes uh we had uh bed rolls on the floor and uh bunks that we slept in and we rotated each night so that no one had to sleep in the same place twice how did uh young his name is Russ isn't it yes how did he make out during the seven days I think he really did better than anyone else he was uh quite content he seems quite content now as a matter of fact who was the captain of the children's portion of the team by the way first of all tell us he's uh what 7 months old s months and your oldest is is 11 years and I think she was uh pretty much the captain she helped uh control them helped play with them she organized games and read to them quite a bit did she get any uh aiding and abetting from you in this situation a great deal a great deal yes uh we had to exercise complete control almost all the time on the children in order to keep things from getting out of hand you think generally they reacted rather rather nicely quite nicely yes did you keep any record day by day as you went along yes we kept a daily diary what about you make any recordings or anything like that yes well we uh made tape recordings too that were very interesting they were uh just spasmodic recordings that we would take ever so often well tell me what did you do for exercise Mr Brown well for exercise we had the hand blower that we had to turn and we found that the children actually delighted in turning the blower themselves we never at one time had to uh resort to uh turning the blower from necessity did you have to keep the blower going the whole time or how long off and how long on is what I'm trying to say well approximately or 20 minutes out of an hour I imagine a thing like that can be fun for kids at first did the fun continue over the full seven days yes it did they they really like you you had a little vying for position at the crank I suppose definitely it was run at least half the time I think Mrs Brown were there any psychological problems among the whole family including the two of you how did you get along by the way uh we got along pretty well better than we expected really the uh biggest psychological problem I believe was the fact that it was uh not very homey we did everything we could to uh make it uh seem more as a home than as a shelter we put pictures out the children's color books we put them on the wall and we put a cloth on the table and tried to dress the room up so that it was more like a place that we were living in rather than just uh existing well now both of you what did you learn from your experience well mainly that it is possible for a family like ours or other families to live in a shelter I take it you're glad you have it you probably plan on building one just a little larger maybe yes we do well thank you very much good luck to you nice having you with us today thanks a a lot Mr and Mrs Brown of Topeka for appearing on today's program and sharing your shelter experiences with us building a shelter stocking it with the necessary survival items learning the facts about radioactive fallout are simple steps each of us can take to help us survive and our country recover from a possible nuclear attack regardless of what the Russian may claim the game of baseball is indigenous to America long before most most of us were born it had established itself as the national Pastime but near the close of the 1920 season baseball suffered its gravest crisis the nation's headlines screamed of an underworld fix during the 1919 World Series the infamous black sock Scandal threatened to undermine public faith in the Integrity of the game the major league club Owners justifiably alarmed created the Office of high commissioner of baseball and the commissioner's function would be to restore the game's integrity in the minds and hearts of its fans the man they elected was a strong-minded uncompromising federal judge his name was Kennesaw Mountain Landis and in his first official act he banished from the game all those involved in the black sock Scandal under judge landis's leadership baseball entered a new golden era the era of the Home Run King 1927 New York Yankees known as Murderers Row and the greatest home run hitter of all time within its ranks the immortal Babe Ruth the gentle funloving Slugger who broke a few training rules and never watched his weight but hit a record 60 home runs that year and 714 during his lifetime in the 1934 All-Star Game Ruth and other great Sluggers among them Jimmy Fox and Lou garri had a shock awaiting Carl Hubble the stylish left-hander of the New York Giants would outshine all of them called the meal ticket by his teammates Hubble stopped the Sluggers cold that day in one of the most amazing pitching demonstrations of all time Hubble struck out Babe Ruth Lou garig and Jimmy Fox in the next inning he came back to strike out Joe Cronin and Al Simmons 5 years later the Iron Man of the Yankees Lou garig after playing first base in 2,130 consecutive games h up his spikes his Farewell at Yankee Stadium was one of the saddest days in the game's history The Babe his old teammate and friend could not hold back the tears a year later L gar died of a rare [Music] paralysis at Brig stadium in Detroit 1940 Ted Williams with his team losing in the ninth inning of the All-Star Game blasted a home run into the seats to win the game the age of the Slugger featured the incomparable Yankee Clipper Joe dagio in the tradition of past Yankee greates dagio clouded 361 homers during his Yankee career but probably the most famous home run of all time was hit in 1951 when Bobby Thompson of the Giants stepped to the plate in the ninth inning and put one into the left center field beaches the Home Run H round the world brought his team from behind and made them National League champions both the fame of these men and the thrill of the game made baseball one of America's most valuable exports in fact at this very moment behind the secret walls of the Kremlin they may be choosing upsides for a fast nine innings today you've seen a view of yesterday and you've met a family who've obviously given some thought to the Future the Browns are helping to assure survival in this nuclear age what about you take the first step today look around your home decide on the safest area for your shelter and then write for this booklet the family fallout shelter it will help you decide on the type of shelter you need in your home for your free copy contact your local civil defense office or write to post office box home shelter Battle Creek Michigan this is Douglas Edwards saying goodbye for now and reminding you to be on hand when we again bring you great news events and Personalities in retrospect [Music] retrospect starring Douglas Edwards was brought to you by the office of civil and defense mobilization in cooperation with your local civil defense office and your local station survival in the nuclear age is a personal responsibility touching every American Family make sure you take part learn the facts about civil defense preparedness start your home preparedness program today the prepared family builds a prepared Nation civil defense is an American tradition [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the