# You who who grew up tall and proud, in the shadow of the mushroom cloud **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 21, 2014, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022 "2014-10-21T13:29:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022/61 "2014-10-21T20:59:15Z")
> [@Lorene89095](#): > > About 30 miles from Bergstrom AFB… Dead.☹ I grew up even closer than that, about 10 miles. Bergstrom shows up on several of the US Cold War target lists. Back in the day, [Bergstrom was home to the 4130th Strategic Wing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergstrom_Air_Force_Base#4130th_Strategic_Wing) consisting of B-52s and attendant tankers. Austin itself shows up on some of the lists as well so my ass would have been toast. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022/62 "2014-10-21T21:10:14Z")
I grew up about 30-40 miles west of downtown St. Louis. According to the links posted upthread, it looks like I’d be in about the 25% casualty ring of a couple of bombs. So, I’d probably have survived long enough to die horribly. Nowadays, I live in Columbia, MO, which looks like It wouldn’t have been a direct target. But according to the fallout shelter guys, the USSR really had a vendetta for Western Missouri, so the fallout would have been a bit unpleasant. Anyway, I just heard today that we’re all enjoying a good old Cold War style showdown with Russia over the Baltics these days, so we might all get to find out for sure after all! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022/63 "2014-10-21T21:34:21Z")
I grew up 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles in an area with two Navy bases and one Air Force base. The Air Force base was about a mile from my house and supported fighters armed (by my father and co-workers) with tactical nukes. The nukes were stored in above-ground bunkers around the base. I would have been teeny tiny bits of Dr. Woo plasma. I knew it too, from the age of 7 or so after reading some of the non-classified materials my dad had. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022/64 "2014-10-21T21:43:23Z")
I grew up in Sacramento. In addition to being a purely political target, we had 2 Air Force Bases and and Army Depot in town, along with a couple more AF Bases within 40 miles or so. Oh…and a nuclear power plant a bit to the south. We \*might \*would have survived the initial blasts, but we would have been toast all the same. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022/65 "2014-10-21T21:43:54Z")
Depends if the USSR still thought Tulsa was “The Oil Capitol of the World” ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022/66 "2014-10-21T21:44:07Z")
When I first moved from a rural township into Minneapolis in my early 20’s, I said that if the sirens went off, I’d just go sit out on the deck facing downtown, as there would be zero chance we’d get far enough away to live. Now I’m in a suburban apartment, but close enough to the airport that while the blast would probably not immediately kill me, the fires and radiation would probably do most of us in. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022/67 "2014-10-21T21:46:19Z")
I lived in the middle of Los Angeles Aero-Space industry. I would have been toasted. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022/68 "2014-10-21T21:57:50Z")
> [@Ispolkom](#): > > It planned for the use of hundreds of thermonuclear bombs. No, nobody actually planned to use them, it was about using them if somebody else did first. But after 64 the world leaders knew that the effects of fallout would make using even a small amount of H bombs pretty much suicide. > **[Dr. Strangelove](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Strangelove#Plot)** > > Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (known simply and more commonly as Dr. Strangelove) is a 1964 political satire black comedy film co-written, produced, and directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Peter Sellers in three roles, including the title character. The film, financed and released by Columbia Pictures, was a co-production between the United States and the United Kingdom. > The film, which satirizes the Cold War fears of a nuclear conflict between the ... > **[Almost Everything in “Dr. Strangelove” Was True](https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/almost-everything-in-dr-strangelove-was-true)** > > How Stanley Kubrick’s film “Dr. Strangelove” exposed dangers inherent in nuclear command-and-control systems. It wasn’t until 1970 that what was feared sort of happened. > **[Yucca Flat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca_Flat#Baneberry)** > > Yucca Flat is a closed desert drainage basin, one of four major nuclear test regions within the Nevada Test Site (NTS), and is divided into nine test sections: Areas 1 through 4 and 6 through 10. Yucca Flat is located at the eastern edge of NTS, about ten miles (16 km) north of Frenchman Flat, and 65 miles (105 km) from Las Vegas, Nevada. Yucca Flat was the site for 739 nuclear tests – nearly four of every five tests carried out at the NTS. > Yucca Flat has been called "the most irradiated, nuclea... The thing that most people can’t fathom, is how powerful the bombs became. And how adding Cobalt would turn them into planet killers. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022/69 "2014-10-21T22:00:50Z")
I’m not sure whether New Zealand was ever [actually targeted at all,](http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=320118)and if it had been the area I grew up would have been pretty low on the list. So a slight chance of minor fallout (depending on which way the wind blows) but that’s about it for me. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022/70 "2014-10-21T22:13:17Z")
Before or after 1966? Before, I’m toast, as I lived in the suburbs of New York (Morristown, NJ). Post-66, rural Vermont. Probably OK, although Plattsburg AFB (upstate NY) was just across the lake. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022/71 "2014-10-21T22:34:56Z")
At the time the TV movie _Threads_ was first broadcast in 1984, I had the joint RN/USN ballistic missile submarine base and weapons store to the west on the Clyde, and to the east another RN base at Rosyth, and RAF Pitreavie, a command bunker for Nato ops in the North Atlantic. Given the hardened nature of some of those places, and the short distances involved (seriously, the central belt of Scotland is _narrow_), we’d have all been fucked even before secondary or tertiary targets like Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Grangemouth petro complex were struck. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022/72 "2014-10-21T22:49:40Z")
Assuming the capital cities of US allies would have been hit as well: toast. One missile with 4-6 MIRV’s would do for Canberra easily. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022/73 "2014-10-21T23:06:08Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I was only alive for the tail end of the Cold War but tensions were high enough in the early '80s. I have no clue whether I would have been okay or not. I suspect fall out from Britain would have snuffed most Irish people out regardless of whether the island was directly targeted or not. I am not sure what Soviet policy was on neutral countries but Belfast (in the UK) is only 85 miles from where I grew up and may have been a target. Norn Iron had some [prime targets](http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/nuclear-war-the-hidden-threat-to-northern-ireland-28497656.html) for the Reds, so the chance of fall out drifting over the Republic would have been high. ---
**Author:** ![slowlearner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@slowlearner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slowlearner)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022/74 "2014-10-21T23:37:24Z")
There was an old book called Nuclear War: What’s In It For You, that explained in good detail the Soviet’s targeting strategy in the 60’s, which was to target any city over 10,000 population. Their missiles weren’t very accurate so they deployed large warheads and multiple missiles for each target. It would have been a slaughter only God could enjoy. A one megaton airburst at one mile causes heavy blast and thermal damage over 625 square miles, which happened to be the square miles of Dallas when I was growing up. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022/75 "2014-10-21T23:39:07Z")
NJ suburb, I could see Manhattan from the roof of our house. In school we went down to the gym to practice for a “national emergency” (which was never explained.) It would have been better to go to the playground and watch the spectacle. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022/76 "2014-10-22T00:05:00Z")
Near the river downtown was a major communications hub for the west coast. I would have been about 10 miles from ground zero. Insta-radiated-toast. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022/77 "2014-10-22T01:04:11Z")
I live literally in the exact spot the missiles took off from in _The Day After_ – less than a mile directly north of the University of Kansas football stadium. So, if the Lawrence-area silos were really where they were placed in that made-for-TV movie, I’d be vaporized instantly. The actual solos were a bit further away (ten or twenty miles?) – not as dramatic a movie scene – so in reality I’d probably have been fried a few seconds after the blast. (The scene in The Day After with the muddy makeshift outdoor triage area is along the Kansas River, a three minute walk from my house – it’s where my 3-year-old likes to throw rocks in the river.) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022/78 "2014-10-22T01:24:58Z")
Chicago. Then, just West of Milwaukee. Then Huntsville, Alabama(Rocket City USA, home of the Redstone Arsenal, NASA facilities, and Defense industries). Chattanooga, with a hydro power damn & an artillery shell facility. I’d have been toast. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022/79 "2014-10-22T02:12:02Z")
Depends on when. Prior to 1962, I lived north of Sacramento in the Central Valley, probably not a prime target, but after 1962, I was living just south of the Port of Oakland and across the Bay from San Francisco, so a puddle of goo. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022/80 "2014-10-22T02:14:04Z")
I grew up about 100 miles east of NYC. The blast would not have been an issue, and radiation from the blast would not have reached us. Fallout would have been a proble, and the background radiation would have gone up, making me prone to cancer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-who-who-grew-up-tall-and-proud-in-the-shadow-of-the-mushroom-cloud/702022.md?page=5)