“The Day Called X” is a CBS broadcast from 1957 dramatizing a nuclear attack on Portland, Oregon. Rather interesting to compare/contrast then vs. now… three hours warning of the attack vs maybe three minutes now, Portland being described as “friendly,” the citizens *calmly* evacuating the entire city (noting that in 1955 a practice evacuation cleared out the center of town in little more than half an hour), Portland before the attack not looking like it was already bombed into gravel, nobody here is touting the glories of Communism and yapping about burning down capitalism, etc. Doubtless back then when this was broadcast there would have been very few people arguing that Portland getting nuked would improve the place, or even jsut shrugging in exhaustion upon hearing of the event. Note how often “AN ATTACK IS NOT TAKING PLACE” pops up on screen, presumably so that people tuning in late don’t freak out. Behold at 17:11 the glorious Ford Edsel, just the thing for fleeing an H-Bomb.

“One thing is certain: Portland has a plan for the survival of it’s people and the continuity of it’s government. You know, actually the survival of this entire nation depends upon the ability of Federal, state and local governments to carry out their responsibilities in the event of a massive nuclear attack.“

How times have changed. Or not.