{"id":139432,"date":"2015-11-12T12:45:02","date_gmt":"2015-11-12T17:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/?p=139432"},"modified":"2015-11-13T17:23:02","modified_gmt":"2015-11-13T22:23:02","slug":"fallout-shelter-seattle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/news\/fallout-shelter-seattle","title":{"rendered":"The grim history of Seattle’s highway fallout shelter"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/h4>

\"Seattle<\/a>Family fallout shelter billboard, December 1959. Photo: Werner Lenggenhager via Seattle Public Library<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

While we\u2019re on the subject of Fallout 4<\/a>, an insanely popular video game released this week set in post-apocalyptic Boston, BuzzBuzzHome is pleased to present a brief history on a fallout shelter in Seattle. Rather than emerging from a cryogenic bunker 200 years after a nuclear apocalypse to confront terrifying relics of 1950s Americana, you can simply read on to learn about Cold War hysteria in the Pacific Northwest. That is — if you\u2019re willing to put down the controller.<\/p>\n

\"Seattle<\/a>President John F. Kennedy speaking at UW in 1961. Photo: Museum of History and Industry<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

On November 16th, 1961 President John F. Kennedy came to Seattle and gave an address<\/a> at the University of Washington’s 100th Anniversary Program in Edmundson Pavilion. He emphasized the danger of a nuclear holocaust if American diplomacy failed with Russia. Frightened by terrifying images of mushroom clouds and radiation, Washingtonians began preparing for the worst.<\/p>\n