United States. Office of Civil Defense

The Office of Civil Defense was a federal agency of the United States government, not a single person. In the early 1960s, it was created as part of a broader national effort to organize civil defense planning and prepare communities for possible attack or other large-scale emergencies.

The office is closely associated with the Cold War era, when the federal government published manuals, pamphlets, and educational material on fallout shelters, warning systems, and local emergency response. Many works credited to it were written for the general public, with a plain, instructional style meant to make preparedness feel practical and immediate.

For readers today, publications from the Office of Civil Defense offer more than emergency advice: they also provide a window into American fears, policies, and public messaging at a tense point in twentieth-century history. If this title is listed under that name, it should be understood as an official government work issued by the agency rather than by a named personal author.