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1	"Wake up! Sign up! Look up!" : organizing and redefining civil defense through the Ground Observer Corps, 1949-1959 Poletika, Nicole Marie January 2013 (has links) Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In the early 1950s, President Dwight Eisenhower encouraged citizens to “Wake Up! Sign Up! Look Up!” to the Soviet atomic threat by joining the Ground Observer Corps (GOC). Established by the United States Air Force (USAF), the GOC involved civilian volunteers surveying the skies for Soviet aircraft via watchtowers, alerting the Air Force if they suspected threatening aircraft. This thesis examines the 1950s response to the longstanding problem posed by the invention of any new weapon: how to adapt defensive technology to meet the potential threat. In the case of the early Cold War period, the GOC was the USAF’s best, albeit faulty, defense option against a weapon that did not discriminate between soldiers and citizens and rendered traditional ground troops useless. After the Korean War, Air Force officials promoted the GOC for its espousal of volunteerism and individualism. Encouraged to take ownership of the program, observers appropriated the GOC for their personal and community needs, comprised of social gatherings and policing activities, thus greatly expanding the USAF’s original objectives. early Cold War civil defense national security United States Air Force Federal Civil Defense Administration Ground Observer Corps volunteerism atomic bomb Cold War National security -- United States United States. Air Force Voluntarism -- United States Atomic bomb -- United States -- History Atomic bomb -- Soviet Union -- History Nuclear weapons Korean War, 1950-1953

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"Wake up! Sign up! Look up!" : organizing and redefining civil defense through the Ground Observer Corps, 1949-1959