In his July 25 radio and television address about the Berlin Crisis, Kennedy presented the standoff as a national emergency and implied that nuclear war was a real possibility. In the following month, the confrontation between the US and USSR over Allied occupation of Berlin led to the highest state of tension to date between the two powers and brought the question of civil defense to the national forefront. Because his popular rival was so closely identified with civil defense, it has been suggested, Kennedy could not afford to appear weak on the issue. Kennedy’s receptivity to Rockefeller’s agenda is believed to have arisen from the threat Rockefeller posed as the presumptive Republican nominee in the upcoming 1964 presidential election. Two weeks later, Kennedy addressed a joint session of Congress, noting the “apathy, indifference, and skepticism” surrounding civil defense policy and asking for appropriations for “a much strengthened Federal-State civil defense program” that would include both public and private fallout shelter construction.

In May 1961, as Chair of the Civil Defense Committee of the Conference of Governors, Nelson Rockefeller met with President Kennedy to advocate for a national fallout shelter program.

Nuclear fallout shelter sign