The Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA) was organized by President Harry S. Truman on December 1, 1950, through Executive Order 10186, and became an official government agency via the Federal Civil Defense Act of 1950 on 12 January 1951.Civil Defense: The Truman Administration (Entry 0113) from The Electronic Encyclopaedia of Civil Defense and Emergency Management edited by Walter G. Green III In 1958 the FCDA was superseded by the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization when President Dwight D. Eisenhower merged the FCDA with the Office of Defense Mobilization.Civil Defense: The Eisenhower Administration (Entry 0107) from The Electronic Encyclopaedia of Civil Defense and Emergency Management edited by Walter G. Green III
In its early years, the agency focused on evacuation as a strategy. The FCDA also sponsored or co-produced short social guidance films about civil defense, including Survival Under Atomic Attack, Our Cities Must Fight, and Duck and Cover.
The FCDA was first headed by Millard Caldwell under Truman, then Val Peterson under Eisenhower.THE FEDERAL CIVIL DEFENSE AGENCY (FCDA) WOMEN DEFEND THE NATION (1950) from The Cold War Museum
Background
The predecessor to the FCDA, the Office of Civilian Defense was abolished in June 1945 with the end of World War II. In the period between the end of the World War and 1949, when the Soviet Union detonated their first atomic weapon, little was given to the topic of civil defense. After the Soviets demonstration of their first atomic weapon there was a feeling of the need to do something throughout both the American public and government. This led to, among many actions, the creation of the Federal Civil Defense Administration by President Harry S. Truman in 1950.
Administrators
NameStartEndPresident(1945–1953)(1953–1961)
See also
Federal Civil Defense Authority United States civil defense CONELRAD
References