In an editorial in the OG&B in March 1962, Charles Osolin (’64) wrote that that the signs were more horrifying than reassuring and argued for more efforts to erase “the threat of nuclear war, either through the abolishment of atomic weapons or through the easing of international tension.”Ĭlick to read Charles Osolin’s editorial. Living under the threat of nuclear annihilation was one thing, but the shelter signs were more than some students could bear, and some of the signs were ripped off campus buildings. “Best estimates are there will be at least 15 minutes warning, but more probably 30 to 60 minutes,” before an attack, according to the OG&B article, written by Adrian King (’64). Student and staff teams in each shelter would be equipped with radios to communicate with the outside world and radiation-detection equipment to determine when it was safe to venture outside. Students were told they should grab personal items and toiletries and hurry to their assigned shelter, following the directions of student wardens in each dormitory. In the event of a pending attack, a siren on the water tower would alert the campus. Wives (and children) were assigned to their husband’s shelter. Signs designating shelter assignments for students, faculty and staff were posted around campus. Smith Reynolds Library and five other buildings, and stocked with enough water, hard candy, tins of crackers and sanitation supplies to last for 48 hours, when radiation levels were expected to be at the highest. Shelters were prepared in the basements of Reynolda Hall, Reynolds Gym, the Z. The committee recommended preparing fallout shelters to accommodate up to 3,000 people to shield “students and staff from nuclear fallout should such protection become necessary,” according to an article in the Old Gold & Black. In early 1962, Wake Forest’s College Committee on Civil Defense followed the president’s lead and took action to help faculty and students survive doomsday.
Kennedy encouraged Americans to construct fallout shelters in case of a nuclear attack. With Cold War tensions between the United States and Soviet Union escalating in the early 1960s, President John F.
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