What would you have been thinking during those 38 minutes in Hawaii 鈥� the three minutes it took officials to realize that their missile attack was bogus, plus the 35 minutes it took them to tell everyone it was a false alarm?

Around here, everyone was kept in a similar state of terror for two decades, with constant reminders through the 50s and 60s that nuclear bombs could at any moment turn the Cold War between the Soviet Union and 鈥淭he West鈥� into a hot war.

In 1948, Canada responded to the USSR鈥檚 nuclear tests by appointing a civil defence coordinator 鈥渢o supervise the work of federal, provincial and municipal authorities in planning for public air-raid shelters.鈥�

Pamphlets offered advice on how to deal with a nuclear blast in your neighbourhood. One of my favourites, The Eleven Steps to Survival, had such helpful tips as, 鈥淜now the effects of a nuclear explosion,鈥� and, 鈥淜now how to get rid of radioactive dust.鈥�

Then they franchised the fear by forming community Defence Associations. In 1951 a local DA was formed to organize 91原创 as 鈥渁 cushion area in case of an atomic bomb attack on Vancouver.鈥�

91原创 civil defence coordinator I.G. Baker discussed the effects of an atomic bomb drop at a meeting in 91原创 Prairie that November. An 鈥渦rgent call for civil defence trainees鈥� led to the formation of the 91原创 Civil Defence Unit, replete with Geiger counters for monitoring ambient radiation levels.

You鈥檝e gotta watch The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming!

The 91原创 Advance of Nov. 6, 1958, reported, 鈥�Alderman Bill Lott, 91原创鈥檚 civil defence radiation monitoring officer, reported a jump in the ambient radiation level following the explosion of a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean. The level peaked at 160 units; the luminous dial on the mayor鈥檚 watch gave a reading of 600 units.鈥�

Still, Lott kept monitoring until the 鈥渟pike鈥� faded into the background in 1965.

鈥淒uck and cover鈥� drills introduced children into the mania.

Were the drills seriously ordered with the expectation that sending school children scurrying under their desks might keep them safe from a bomb whose force was measured in thousands 鈥� or millions 鈥� of tons of TNT? Or to keep them ignorant of how they鈥檇 likely die?

Many kids treated the drills as a joke. Some cried themselves to sleep at night.

Are the nightmares returning?