Who did you interview? Leslie Ward; my
Grandmother.
1. When were
you born?
"I was born in 1946"
2. What does
the Cold War Mean to you?
"The Cold War was a time when people were
afraid the world powers would enter a war that would kill all of us. That the
weapons that were to be used were awful ones that if they didn't kill you right
away would cause you to do slowly, in a painful way, from the fallout.
3. When you
were a child, did you hear people talking about Nuclear Weapons? How were the
general feelings about their weapons?
"Yes,
people spoke of Nuclear Weapons, even around us kids. I was a teenager for most
of the Cold War. It was called a 'cold war' because a 'hot war' would have implied
an active war whereas a 'cold war' meant it was in the planning stages, the thinking
about stages, the scary stages of what might happen, and at any time."
4.
Did you understand who the enemy was? How the
enemy was typically portrayed in your society?
"Enemy was both the Russians and
Communism. And, to a small extent, China. It was those ‘evil' people in charge
of the USSR mostly and everybody knew it."
5.
Did your school have air-raid drills during this
era? What were some of the procedures?
"I
don't remember any air-raid drills. We were lead to believe that the likelihood
of surviving a nuclear attack was pretty low. We did watch movies in school
showing the mushroom clouds that came of a nuclear explosion and the fallout
that would result, and that either would kill you."
6. When you
were younger, did you ever hear about or see a bomb shelter? What supplies did
they have? Why? What feeling did you have about these bomb shelters?
"Bomb
shelters, funny. My grand-parents had one in their backyard. They bought that
house especially because it had one already built. You see, we lived in St Petersburg,
Florida, at the time, and Cuba was only 90 miles away. Russia dominated Cuba
and they brought missiles into Cuba but it was never known for sure if they had
nuclear weapons there or not. So, if the worst were true, Cuba had those
terrible bombs and could use them on us. It would only take 10 minutes for a
missile to get to Florida from Cuba - not enough time to really react. A lot of
people built bomb shelters in their back yard. We didn't, though. They were
expensive. My grand-parents had canned foods, bottled water (they bottled it -
I don't think you could buy pre-bottled water then), toilet tissue (but no
bathroom), & radio and batteries. That's all I can remember. It was about
the size of a small room and round, underground with a big thick covering that
was supposed to be secure from fallout."
7. Were you
ever afraid of nuclear Weapons?
"Afraid? That is an interesting question
for me to think about. We really felt we were going to die sometime soon. That
it was inevitable because it did not appear that Russia was ever going to back
down and that the USA was building bombs and weapons to combat them and that
the world was going to come to an end sometime soon. So, we were not so much
afraid and resolved that it was going to happen."
8. Describe
someone you admired during this time period.
"We all admired President John Kennedy because
he stood up to the Russian leader, Nikita Khrushchev, and made him divert an
incoming supply ship on its way to Cuba, containing weapons that would be used
against us. President Kennedy was every one's hero at the time. He will always
go down in history as being a special person and largely because of that
incident - we felt he had saved the world."
9. What do
you remember watching on television?
"We watched Walter Cronkite and the news.
He seemed to be the most informed person about the Cold War. And "The
Huntley-Brinkley News", too. They were 2 news reporters that told us stuff
we needed to know. I remember seeing Khrushchev (the Russian Premier) at the
United Nations in New York. He took off one of his shoes and kept banging it on
the table in front of him, saying "We will bury you" to the American
people. That was scary because we believed it was possible. There was no cable
at the time, so you only had CBS and NBC. I don't think ABC was in business
yet. I know we only had a couple of stations. If you mean other shows, Gunsmoke,
and Have Gun Will Travel. They were 2 very popular westerns of the era. My dad
was in charge of the TV! Some things don't change."