View source for Federal Civil Defense Administration

{{Infobox government agency
| name                 = Federal Civil Defense Administration
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| logo                 = US-Federal_Civil_Defense_Administration_seal_(color).svg
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| formed               = {{Start date and age|1950|11|01}}
| preceding1           = [[Office of Civilian Defense]]
| preceding2           = 
| dissolved            = {{end date and age|1958}}
| superseding1         = [[Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization]]
| superseding2         = 
| agency_type          = 
| jurisdiction         = [[Federal government of the United States]]
| status               = 
| headquarters         = [[Washington, D.C.]]
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| keydocument1         = [https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/279069 Executive Order 10186]
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The '''Federal Civil Defense Administration''' (FCDA) was organized by President [[Harry S. Truman]] on December 1, 1950, through Executive Order 10186,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/279069 |title= Harry S. Truman, Executive Order 10186—Establishing the Federal Civil Defense Administration in the Office for Emergency Management of the Executive Office of the President |author1=Peters, Gerhard |author2=Woolley, John T |publisher = University of California - Santa Barbara |work= The American Presidency Project}}</ref> and became an official government agency via the Federal Civil Defense Act of 1950 on 12&nbsp;January 1951.<ref name="EECDEM_Truman">[https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~wgreen/Ecdtruman.htm Civil Defense: The Truman Administration (Entry 0113)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029191242/https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~wgreen/Ecdtruman.htm |date=2013-10-29 }} from ''The Electronic Encyclopaedia of Civil Defense and Emergency Management'' edited by Walter G. Green III</ref> In 1958 the FCDA was superseded by the [[Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization]] when President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] merged the FCDA with the [[Office of Defense Mobilization]].<ref name="EECDEM_Eisenhower">[https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~wgreen/Ecdeisenhower.htm Civil Defense: The Eisenhower Administration (Entry 0107)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120531075014/https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~wgreen/Ecdeisenhower.htm |date=2012-05-31 }} from ''The Electronic Encyclopaedia of Civil Defense and Emergency Management'' edited by Walter G. Green III</ref>

In its early years, the agency focused on evacuation as a strategy.<ref name="EECDEM_Truman"/><ref name="EECDEM_Eisenhower"/>

The FCDA was first headed by [[Millard Caldwell]] under Truman,<ref name="EECDEM_Truman"/> then [[Val Peterson]] under Eisenhower.<ref>[http://www.coldwar.org/articles/50s/women_civildefense.asp THE FEDERAL CIVIL DEFENSE AGENCY (FCDA) WOMEN DEFEND THE NATION (1950)] from The Cold War Museum</ref>

==Background==
{{See also|United States civil defense}}

The predecessor to the FCDA, the [[Office of Civilian Defense]] was abolished in June 1945 with the end of [[World War II]]. In the period between the end of the World War and 1949, when the [[Soviet Union]] detonated their first atomic weapon, little was given to the topic of civil defense. After the Soviets demonstration of their first atomic weapon there was a feeling of the need to do something throughout both the American public and government.<ref name=PBS-1>{{cite web|title=Laura McEnaney on: The Federal Civil Defense Administration|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/filmmore/reference/interview/mcenaney01.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000517211938/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/filmmore/reference/interview/mcenaney01.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 17, 2000|publisher=PBS|accessdate=7 October 2013}}</ref> This led to, among many actions, the creation of the Federal Civil Defense Administration by President Harry S. Truman in 1950.<ref name=tru-edu>{{cite web|title=CIVIL DEFENSE: THE TRUMAN ADMINISTRATION|url=https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~wgreen/Ecdtruman.htm|publisher=richmond.edu|access-date=7 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029191242/https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~wgreen/Ecdtruman.htm|archive-date=29 October 2013|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="blue book">{{cite web |author1=Executive Office of the President |author2=National Security Resources Board |title=United States Civil Defense |url=https://archive.org/details/unitedstatescivi1950rich |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |access-date=20 March 2022 |location=Washington, D.C. |language=English |format=PDF |date=1950}}</ref>

==Administrators==
{|class="toccolours"
|{{legend|#E6E6AA|Denotes acting capacity.}}
|}

{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Name
!Start
!End
!colspan=2 |President
|-
|{{sortname|Millard|Caldwell|Millard F. Caldwell}}
|{{dts|December 1, 1950}}
|{{dts|November 15, 1952}}
|rowspan=2 style="background: {{party color|Democratic Party (United States)}};" |
|rowspan=2 |{{sortname|Harry S.|Truman}}<br>(1945–1953)
|- bgcolor="#e6e6aa"
|{{sortname|Jerry|Wadsworth|James Jeremiah Wadsworth}}<br>{{small|Acting}}
|{{dts|November 15, 1952}}
|{{dts|February 19, 1953}}
|-
|rowspan=2 |{{sortname|Val|Peterson}}
|style="background-color:#E6E6AA;" |{{dts|February 20, 1953}}
|style="background-color:#E6E6AA;" |{{dts|March 4, 1953}}
|rowspan=4 style="background: {{party color|Republican Party (United States)}};" |
|rowspan=4 |{{sortname|Dwight D.|Eisenhower}}<br>(1953–1961)
|-
|{{dts|March 4, 1953}}
|{{dts|June 14, 1957}}
|- bgcolor="#e6e6aa"
|{{sortname|Lewis|Berry}}<br>{{small|Acting}}
|{{dts|June 14, 1957}}
|{{dts|July 19, 1957}}
|-
|{{sortname|Leo|Hoegh}}
|{{dts|July 19, 1957}}
|{{dts|July 1, 1958}}
|}

==See also==
{{Wikisource|Executive Order 10350}}
*[[Federal Civil Defense Authority]]
*[[United States civil defense]]
*[[Duck and Cover (film)]]
*[[CONELRAD]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Defunct agencies of the United States government]]
[[Category:Government agencies established in 1950]]
[[Category:Civil defense in the United States]]
[[Category:1950 establishments in the United States]]


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