Frank Zeidler, Milwaukee, and Cold War Civil Defense

Abstract

Civil defense in the Cold War encompassed the development of government policies and procedures to evacuate, shelter, and decentralizing American populations and industries in the event of a nuclear war. This project employs a body of primary documents to examine the unacknowledged role of Milwaukee's last Socialist mayor as a trailblazer in the design and implementation of civil defense policy during his tenure from 1948 until 1960. Under the leadership of the Zeidler Administration the city of Milwaukee was an exemplary national model for civil defense planning. Yet despite superior planning, implementation of civil defense in Milwaukee, like elsewhere, suffered both from apathy and the practical impossibility of preparing for nuclear disaster. This research contributes to our understanding of local defense and offers insight into the contemporary politics of municipal government in the metropolitan area of Milwaukee.