Content starts here
CLOSE ×

Search

7 Cold War Memories Boomers Don't Want to Relive

For baby boomers who grew up in the Cold War era, the latest headlines  - about the Russian annexation of Crimea and Vladmir Putin's America-bashing speech - bring up uncomfortable memories. Who doesn't remember that childhood fear of being herded into a flimsy bomb shelter with incoming Russian missiles overhead? As we worry about whether another Cold War could loom ahead, here are seven things we don't miss about the first one:

1.  Duck and cover drills at school

620-cold-war-duck-cover-school-atom-bomb

2.  Home nuclear fallout shelters

Fallout shelter photo

>> Sign up for the AARP Health Newsletter

3.  Mutually assured destruction: The idea that war could be avoided because anyone who started one would be blown away in the resulting firestorm.

Redwing-Apache-nuclear-test
Nuclear test, 1956, Enewetak Atoll



 

Discussion: Share your Cold War memories with others here

 

4. Russian bad guys (and women) in movies: Here's Lotte Lenya as Rosa Klebb in From Russia With Love.

Lotte Lenya in From Russia With Love

5. The domino theory: If Vietnam fell, then Laos, Cambodia and Thailand would be next and the "dominoes" would never stop falling.

Vietnam action

6. The Berlin Wall: Built in 1961.

2506993864_22c70b811a_o

>> Get travel discounts with your AARP Member Advantages.

7.  The Iron Curtain

Iron_Curtain_as_described_by_Churchill

What are you glad the end of Cold War left behind? Are you afraid we're entering a new Cold War era? Let us know below.

Credits: Duck and cover: Bettman/Corbis; Fallout shelter: National Archives via Wikipedia; Nuclear test: National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office via Wikimedia; Lotte Lenya in 'From Russia With Love': Getty Images; American troops in Vietnam: National Archives via Wikipedia; Berlin Wall: Roger Wollstadt/Flickr; Map of Europe: Created by BigSteve Via Wikimedia Commons

 

Also of Interest

 

See the  AARP home page for deals, savings tips, trivia and more

 

Search AARP Blogs