In 1954, the United States Federal Civil Defense Agency instituted an exercise called Operation Alert. It was a civil defense drill that took place on the same day in scores of major cities.

In contrast to the U.S.’s desultory interest in civil defense, the Soviet Union is well advanced on a thoroughgoing program to protect its people against nuclear attack. The Soviet government ...

What he said wasn’t inaccurate, it was entirely ridiculous. It’s not merely that our current era doesn’t compare to the Civil War; it’s that it doesn’t compare to much else, either.