WEBVTT

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-Why did some people
-!in places like Wisconsin build

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-fallout shelters
-during the Cold War,

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-far from what were considered
-main targets?

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-In the mid 1950s,
-the Castle Bravo hydrogen

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-bomb test highlighted 
-that fallout

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-was a much bigger problem
-than previously realized.

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-Atomic Energy
-Commission officials

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-admitted to Congress
-that radioactive

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-fallout from the test covered
-some 7000mi'.

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-Hundreds of people
-in the Marshall Islands

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-region were impacted,
-!including a Japanese fisherman

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-whose death was related
-to acute radiation exposure.

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-For the American public,
-the fallout disaster

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-!made it clear that evacuating 
-target cities or living

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-far away from such targets,
-were wholly inadequate plans.

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-Almost the entire country
-could be at risk.

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-The government response
-was to encourage citizens

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-to build fallout shelters.

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-The idea was to ride out
-the radioactivity

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-in your shelter
-for a period of time,

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-until the radiation
-fell to acceptable levels.

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-Very few people
-!actually built fallout shelters,

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-but their presence in places
-like Neenah, Wisconsin,

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-is a reminder
-of the very real anxieties

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-over nuclear Armageddon
-during the Cold War.