Barnett, NJ (2014) No protection against the H-bomb’: press and popular reactions to the Coventry civil defence controversy, 1954. Cold War History. pp. 1-24. ISSN 1743-7962

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Abstract

This article examines British popular and media reactions to America's Bravo test shot in April 1954 and Coventry City Council's subsequent decision to abandon civil defence. The article finds that three key motifs emerged which relate to Britain's broader sense of national identity in the 1950s. First, the controversy formed part of a cultural battle for national identity between a conservative and potentially militaristic culture, and one which was more progressive and opposed war and nuclear armaments. Second, opponents labelled the councillors as Moscow stooges and this revealed underlying anti-communism. Third, reactions engaged with a secular strain of Cold War apocalypticism.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is a submitted manuscript version of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Cold War History on 5 November 2014, available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14682745.2014.968558
Uncontrolled Keywords:	2103 Historical Studies, 1606 Political Science, 1605 Policy And Administration
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > D History (General) D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D839 Post-war History, 1945 on D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) > JN101 Great Britain
Divisions:	Humanities & Social Science
Publisher:	Taylor and Francis
Date Deposited:	18 Feb 2015 13:58
Last Modified:	03 Sep 2021 23:19
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/494

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