Dude, this is a HUGE question. I mean absolutely massive and depending which type of historian answers, what the individual's motivations are, and their philosophical leanings you could get a huge variety of answers. Not only that but volumes upon volumes could, and have been, devoted to this subject. Lucky for you though I did my senior thesis on a topic relating directly to this. Specifically how African Americans in Fairfax County Virginia faired in terms of nuclear fallout protection but in order to reach a succinct conclusion there was a lot of background research that had to be done namely in black response to communism, civil rights debates in general, and fallout shelter programs. And without any further delay here comes some shameless self promotion and quoting.

In the period immediately following WWII the United States was faced with uncertainty concerning its future and its place within the international community. The atomic bomb changed everything in terms of the balance of world power and introduced a new dynamic to the political discourse both domestically and internationally. By 1950 it was distinctly clear the United States and the Soviet Union were the preeminent powers in the world and the leaders of two discrete political philosophies: Capitalist Democracy and Totalitarian Communism. The battle for world domination between these two competing ideologies would have far reaching effects within the U.S., especially when considering the threat of mutually assured destruction due to nuclear weapons .The potential for nuclear war had many social, economic and sociological affects on America including the introduction of a “digging in” mentality centered on private and community fallout shelters which spurred a nationwide discussion among civic leaders on what courses of action could be taken to save lives if the unspeakable occurred.

To date a great deal of research and investigation has been done into the fields of African American reactions to the post nuclear world and the phenomenon of the home fallout shelter. Many scholars of explored what shifts took place within the African American community in the years immediately proceeding World War II by examining the ways in which black intellectuals regarded one another and communism. There seems to be a general consensus that the black community withdrew itself more and more from extreme left ideologies in order to shift focus to black contributions to America’s fight against communism.

The threat of nuclear war(1) influenced the civil rights debate throughout the country by causing African Americans to highlight contributions to the battle against communism made by other black Americans. Prior to this most black intellectuals favored much more leftist ideologies and policies but with the onset of the cold war they essentially decided to take a more pragmatic approach. People often fail to consider the Civil Rights Movement and the Red Scare as events that occurred simultaneously. We are often taught that they were separate events when in reality they were very much intertwined. I mean often times supporting equal right for blacks could get a person labeled a communist*.

The Cold War instilled fear and anxiety in the American public which had enormous affects on policy and attitudes beginning with the second Red Scare. This period from approximately 1947 to 1957 included the development of Soviet A-bombs, Soviet H-bombs, and the launch of sputnik, and thus marked the onset of a period of heightened concern over foreign and communist influences that initiated a change in American thoughts about the Soviet Union which led to many communist sympathizers and perceived communist sympathizers being ostracized from their communities. This in turn resulted in a change in American culture characterized by decreasing individualism and political liberty among many left leaning thinkers. The decrease in political liberty among the intellectual left is “illustrated in the rift between W.E.B. Du Bois and the NAACP,” and demonstrated in that “anti-communism had won… and attempts to link a critique of the bomb with politics of race and colonialism were pushed aside in favor of new narratives…”(2) This is important because of the fact that W.E.B. du Bois was a founding father of the NAACP(3), the fact that he was essentially driven out of the organization speaks to the extreme anxiety associated with communism in America. Along with changing the intellectual atmosphere of the nation, the Cold War also influenced the thoughts and fears of the population as a whole, especially concerning the possibility of an attack on American soil with an atomic bomb.

I'm trying to demonstrate the intellectual and social changes that the Cold War had on the Civil Rights movement since this is somehting that is often overlooked. I haven't even really addressed how the fallout shelter program reflected attitudes of white Americans or even the curious interaction between the two but I think I'm nearing my word limit and I've made my point in terms of black intellectual shifts.

(1)The threat of nuclear war referred to may or may not have been rational however this determination is not the goal here. It is simply necessary to understand that there was a fear of nuclear attack that was a driving force behind much of the events and trends that took place during the period discussed.

(2)Sarah A. Lichtman, “Do-It-Yourself Security: Safety, Gender, and the Home Fallout Shelter in Cold War America,” Journal of Design History Vol. 19 No. 1 (2006) 39

(3) Abby J. Kinchy, “African Americans in the Atomic Age Postwar Perspectives on Race and the Bomb,” Technology and Culture Vol. 50 no. 2 (2009) 294

*I wish I could find a specific source for this. I remember listening to an NPR broadcast a few years ago about this very subject.