ROLE OF THE BLOCK WARDEN IN THE HYDROGEN BOMB ERA 1955 CIVIL DEFENSE FILM H-BOMB 64744

The Federal Civil Defense Administration presents Role Of The Warden In The H-Bomb Era (TB-27-3), a 1955 educational film that reviews the duties of the block or community warden in the event of a hydrogen bomb attack. The film was considered important to make because while the public had been led to believe that an atomic bomb attack might be survivable, few believed that a hydrogen bomb could be, and as the film points out "civil defense must begin at the grass roots". The film therefore presents an argument that the h-bomb is survivable with proper planning.
The film primarily consists of illustrations, with only a few short video clips interspersed throughout. The film discusses the role of wardens in the Civil Defense program, people at the grass-roots level who lead their local community in the event of a disaster. The film opens with illustrations of the evolution of weapons and follows that with illustrations of the destruction area of an atomic bomb. The film discusses the hierarchy of the Federal Civil Defense Administration (03:20) and where the warden fits into the structure; it then discusses the duties of the warden. An urban block warden explains how he organizes his community in civil defense (05:09); illustrations show a civil defense block team holding neighborhood meetings, going door-to-door to talk with community members, and training the warden team in firefighting and first aid techniques. This is followed by illustrations of basic bomb shelters and what supplies to store in the shelters. The film then briefly shows the detonation of a hydrogen bomb (07:28). Illustrations depict the Continental Air Defense stations in the northern hemisphere (09:01) and the various types of home shelters recommended by the FCDA. A rural community warden discusses his duties. An illustration shows a CD community meeting where they discuss decontamination measures against a fallout (17:00). An illustration shows the makeshift shelters to be used out in the open countryside-essentially foxholes or space under bridges (20:34). There is a short video clip of several families eating dinner together (22:00). The film concludes with who appears to be an official of the FCDA addressing the audience about the importance of Civil Defense groups and how the role of the warden will change over time, but the need for family preparedness will not.
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[@hamaljay]

Just the drawings in this are worth the price of admission.

[@Antares2]

Luckily, they never needed to see if all of this would work in the case of a real war. But, they did a remarkable job in at least trying to prepare as much as possible.