Secondary Source

“In the summer of 1959, a young couple married and spent their honeymoon in a fallout shelter. Life magazine featured the ‘sheltered honeymoon’ with a photograph of the duo smiling on their lawn, surrounded by dozens of canned goods and supplies. The article quipped that ‘fallout can be fun’ and described the newlyweds’ adventure as fourteen days of ‘unbroken togetherness.’ As the couple embarked on married life, all they had to enhance their honeymoon were some consumer goods and their privacy.

The stunt was little more than a publicity device; yet, in retrospect it takes on symbolic significance. For in the early years of the Cold War, amid the uncertainties brought about by World War II and its aftermath, the home seemed to offer a secure private nest removed from the dangers of the outside world. The message was ambivalent, however, for the family also seemed particularly vulnerable. It needed heavy protection against the intrusions of forces outside itself. The self-contained home held out the promise of security in an insecure world. It also offered a vision of abundance and fulfillment. As the Cold War began, young postwar Americans were rushing into this vision of marriage and family life. The trend of early marriage and relatively large families these young adults established lasted for more than two decades. . . .

The trend of early marriage and relatively large families these young adults established lasted for more than two decades. From the 1940s through the early 1960s, Americans married at a higher rate and at a younger age than did their European counterparts.”

- Elaine Tyler May, Historian, “Cold War, Warm Hearth,” 2011