1. “Home Defense” was a widely used term in both the United States and England during World War II. I use it in this article to refer to the policies and agencies in both countries aimed at resisting enemy attacks, especially air raids, against civilian populations. I use it interchangeably with “civil defense” and “civilian defense,” which were also common terms in the early 1940s.

2. For examples in the literature, see David M. Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize–winning Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 (New York, 1999); Blum, John Morton, V Was for Victory: Politics and American Culture During World War II (San Diego, 1976)Google Scholar; and Kaiser, David, No End Save Victory: How FDR Led the Nation into War (New York, 2014).Google Scholar

3. See Office of Government Reports, “Information Digest,” 30 October 1941. The War Department sent “military observers” to England with the goal of assigning them to the Army Aircraft Warning Service when they returned to America. New York City Municipal Archives, La Guardia Papers [hereafter NYCMA, LG], box 4175, folder 14, OCD, Press Releases 1941/10.

4. Washington Times-Herald, “N.Y. Firemen Visit London and Praise It,” 30 October 1940, RG 171, entry 10, box 124, folder 520-Fire Protection, thru Nov. 30, 1940. J. P. Brander to La Guardia, May 1941, NARA, Record Group 171, Records of the Office of Civilian Defense, 1940–45, National Archives at College Park, Md. [hereafter RG 171], “National Headquarters General Correspondence 1940–42,” 091 to 091, box 26, folder “England to Oct. 31, 1941.”

5. For a strong analysis of the cold war’s self-help policy in the United States, see McEnaney, Laura, Civil Defense Begins at Home: Militarization Meets Everyday Life in the Fifties (Princeton, 2000)Google Scholar; for a classic study of the Cold War, family life, and American culture, see May, Elaine, Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era (New York, 1988)Google Scholar; for the failure of civil defense policy, see Garrison, Dee, Bracing for Armageddon: Why Civil Defense Never Worked (New York, 2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; for civil defense as a propaganda tool, see Oakes, Guy, The Imaginary War: Civil Defense and American Cold War Culture (New York, 1995).Google Scholar

6. Rodgers, Daniel T., Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age (Cambridge, Mass., 1998), 1.Google Scholar

7. For La Guardia’s incendiary rhetoric and hyperbole, see Kessner, Thomas, Fiorello H. La Guardia and the Making of Modern New York (New York, 1989)Google Scholar. “Americans were just too confident that a mainland attack was an unlikely possibility to take his hyperactivity seriously (494),” Kessner argues. For a description of the absurdities of civil defense in World War II, see Lingeman, Richard, Don’t You Know There’s a War on? The American Home Front, 1941–1945 (New York, 1970).Google Scholar

8. Sloan, Royal Daniel Jr., “The Politics of Civil Defense: Great Britain and the United States” (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1958), 35–38Google Scholar.

9. See Seib, Philip, Broadcasts from the Blitz: How Edward R. Murrow Helped Lead America into War (Washington D.C., 2006), 41–54Google Scholar, 69–99. For more information, see Kuhn, Ferdinand Jr., “British Unyielding,” New York Times, 29 August 1939, 1; Chicago Tribune Press ServiceGoogle Scholar, “British Minister of War Reveals Defense Flaws,” Chicago Daily Tribune, 4 November 1938; and Los Angeles Times, “Prof. Offers to Test Air Raid Shelters,” 27 August 1939, A5.

10. Ibid., 69–99. For Churchill quote, see Titmuss, Richard, History of the Second World War: Problems of Social Policy, United Kingdom Civil Series, 1950.Google Scholar

11. Parkinson, Roger, Summer, 1940: The Battle of Britain (New York, 1977), 24–27, 192–93.Google Scholar

12. Overy, Richard, The Battle of Britain: The Myth and the Reality (New York, 2000), 99–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

13. John O’Ryan to “All Chairmen,” 9 January 1942, NYCMA, LG, box 4181, folder 02, OCD: Press Releases (1) 1942/01.

14. Ministry of Information, Issued for the Ministry of Home Security, “Front Line, 1940–41: The Official Story of Civil Defence of Britain” (London, 1942), 7–8.

15. Lepawsky, Albert, “The London Region: A Metropolitan Community in Crisis,” American Journal of Sociology 46, no. 6 (May 1941): 827–29.Google Scholar

16. Editorial, “Current Comment,” Los Angeles Times, 19 September 1940, A4.

17. Archibald MacLeish, “A Superstition Is Destroyed,” 2 December 1941, in “In honor of a man and an ideal. . . . Three Talks on Freedom,” in Library of Congress, Archibald MacLeish Papers, box 46, folder Speeches and Lectures: Speeches: “A Superstition Is Destroyed,” dinner in honor of Edward R. Murrow, 2 December 1941.

18. Murrow, Edward R., This Is London: Witnesses to War (New York, 1989), 201.Google Scholar

19. Ibid., 160–61; Horten, Gerd, Radio Goes to War: The Cultural Politics of Propaganda During World War II (Berkeley, 2002), 37Google Scholar; Sperber, A. M., Murrow, His Life and Times (New York, 1986), 168Google Scholar; Seib, Philip M., Broadcasts from the Blitz: How Edward R. Murrow Helped Lead America into War (Washington, D.C., 2006), 16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

20. Murrow, This Is London, 162–63, 178–82.

21. Ibid., 166–69, 199–201, 229–30.

22. Quotes from Post, Robert, “Havoc in ‘The City,’” New York Times, 31 December 1940, 1Google Scholar. See also United Press, “Nazis Blast London After Yuletide Truce,” Los Angeles Times, 28 December 1940, 1.

23. “Britain Under Fire: More Personal Experiences,” letter from a London social worker printed in Christian Science Monitor, 9 October 1940, 22. “News from Europe—Uncensored,” New York Times, 13 October 1940, 47. For other letters, see “Letters from Britain Describe Plans for Safety in Air Raids,” New York Times, 10 November 1940, 52; and “Letters from Britain Say Bombings Fail to Spread Terror,” New York Times, 7 December 1940, 23.

24. Paul, Peter, “Could Los Angeles Take It?” Los Angeles Times, 3 November 1940, 3Google Scholar.

25. McGaffin, William, Associated Press Staff Writer, “French Panic Teaches British Fear Itself Is Thing to Fear,” Washington Post, 7 January 1941, 9Google Scholar.

26. James Wilkinson to John Erhardt, 15 November 1940, FDRL, PSF: Great Britain, box 34.

27. Kraus, Rene, The Men Around Churchill (Freeport, N.Y., 1941), see biographical essay, “Lord of London: Herbert Morrison,” 144, 152–67Google Scholar.

28. Wagnon, Hugh, “Britain’s Policeman: Herbert Morrison Is Responsible for Civil Defense,” Washington Post, 9 March 1941, B5Google Scholar.

29. Kraus, The Men Around Churchill, 144–46, 152–67. “His voice is the echo of the streets he represents,” Kraus wrote.

30. For an illuminating discussion of American federalism in the World War II–era civilian defense program, see Roberts, Patrick S., “The Lessons of Civil Defense Federalism for the Homeland Security Era,” Journal of Policy History 26, no. 3 (2014).Google Scholar

31. Prince, Harry, “Summary Report of Civilian Defense Studies in England,” 16 July to 15 August 1941, 1–3Google Scholar. NYCMA, LG, box 4175, folder 07, OCD: Civilian Defense Studies in England, 1941/09/15.

32. Associated Press, “Speeding of Shelters Pledged by British Home Secretary,” Christian Science Monitor, 10 October 1940, 6.

33. Ibid., 56–64.

34. United Press, “London Shelter Red Tape Cut,” Los Angeles Times, 7 October 1940, 2.

35. Special Cable to the New York Times, “War Aim Statement Expected in London,” New York Times, 12 December 1940, 3. David Anderson, “British Expected to Define War Aims Early Next Year,” Washington Post, 12 December 1940, 2. Associated Press, “‘We’ll Hold On,’ Britons Are Told,” Christian Science Monitor, 1 November 1940, 9.

36. Raskin, A. H., “Green Tells A.F.L. Roosevelt Wants Parleys with C.I.O. Resumed—Stimson Warns Labor Must Share Sacrifices,” New York Times, 19 November 1940, 1.Google Scholar

37. Laski, Harold, “Britain’s Labor Ministers,” Washington Post, 4 January 1941, 7.Google Scholar

38. Rue, Larry, “Britons to Quiz Cabinet on War in House Session,” Chicago Daily Tribune, 20 January 1941, 6Google Scholar. Special Cable to the New York Times, “Britain to Compel All to Fight Fires,” New York Times, 1 January 1941, 3.

39. Rue, Larry, “British ‘Social Revolution’ Put Closer to Goal,” Chicago Tribune, 20 March 1941, 30Google Scholar.

40. “N.Y. Firemen Visit London and Praise It,” Washington Times-Herald, 30 October 1940, NARA, RG 171, entry 10, box 124, folder 520-Fire Protection, through 30 November 1940. See also Cross-Reference Sheet, C. L. Frederic to Betters, 1 May 1941, RG 171, entry 10, box 124, folder 520–Fire Protection, 4/1–6/19/41.

41. Letter, George Richardson to FDR, 26 September 1940, NARA, RG 171, entry 10, box 124, folder 520–Fire Protection, through 30 November 1940.

42. The American Municipal Association also published reports on Britain’s program. See Roy Owsley to General L. D. Gasser, 16 June 1941, NARA, RG 171, entry 10, box 30, folder 095-AMA, 1/1–6/20/41. For the police proposal, see Captain Donald Leonard to Frank Bane, 5 May 1941, NARA, RG 171, entry 10, box 48, folder 095-1ACP.

43. See “Police Chiefs’ Newsletter,” vol. 8, no. 3, March 1941, starting with “Scotland Yard Asks U.S. Police to Clear Inquiries Through FBI.” NARA, RG 171, entry 10, box 48, folder 095-1ACP.

44. J. Edgar Hoover to James M. Landis, 18 February 1942, NARA, RG 171, entry 12, box 1, folder Loose, No. 7. See also Memo, Assistant Chief Inspector of New York City Police Department to Chief Inspector, 25 August 1941. In the summer of 1941, the New York police met with FBI Assistant Director Hugh Clegg and asked if the FBI would provide the police with copies of the FBI’s London reports “for a few days” so they could examine the reports and apply their lessons to their own police operations. The FBI had already sent La Guardia copies of its reports. NYCMA, LG, 4174, folder 10 OCD: Corr (2) 1941/09.

45. Major Ernest Brown to Frank Bane, 24 May 1941, NARA, RG 171, entry 10, box 110, folder 501-Police Cooperation.

46. Captain Donald Leonard to Fiorello La Guardia, 22 July 1941, NARA, RG 171, Entry 12, box 1, folder Confidential: 000. See also Lester Stone to W. W. Chaplin, 4 October 1941, NYCMA, LG, box 4175, folder 09, OCD: Corr (1) 1941/10.

47. “3 U.S. Officers Fly Atlantic to Study Bombings,” Chicago Daily Tribune, 11 October 1940, 1.

48. Special to the New York Times, “Legion Head to Survey Civilian Role in England,” New York Times, 19 January 1941.

49. Lydell Peck to Frank Bane, 14 February 1941, RG 171, entry 10, box 124, folder 520-Fire Protection, 4/1–6/19/41.

50. Cross-Reference Sheet, Harold Sinton, Federal Housing Administration, 4 March 1942, FDRL, OF4422, Office of Civilian Defense 1942. See also “Separate Battalion, Fort Devens—July 1940,” announcement addressed to “Battalion Attention!” from Joseph Walker Jr., 1 May 1941, NYCMA, LG, box 4171, folder 04, OCD: Corr #131 (4) 1941/05.

51. “Mayor Will Set Up Defense Unit; He Hints He May Not Finish Term,” New York Times, 9 January 1941, 1.

52. Quoted in Miller, Robert E., “The War That Never Came: Civilian Defense, Mobilization, and Morale” (Ph.D. diss., University of Cincinnati, 1990), 33Google Scholar.

53. La Guardia, Fiorello, “Preliminary Report for Civil Defense Organization and Administration in the United States,” 31 January 1941, http://memory.loc.gov/service/gdc/scd0001/2008/20081009006pr/20081009006pr.pdf. See also Warren Francis, “Mayors Urge National Civil Defense System,” Los Angeles Times, 2 February 1941, 10Google Scholar.

54. Associated Press, “Mayors Urge Air Defense Plan for Cities,” Washington Post, 2 February 1941, 7.

55. Kennedy, David M., Over Here: The First World War and American Society (New York, 1980), 11–17Google Scholar. See also McEnaney, Laura, Civil Defense Begins at Home: Militarization Meets Everyday Life in the Fifties (Princeton, 2000), 23Google Scholar; and Garrison, Bracing for Armageddon, 32. For an excellent discussion of the Woman’s Committee of the Council of National Defense and its efforts to tie social uplift to war mobilization, see Muncy, Robyn, Creating a Female Dominion in American Reform, 1890–1935 (New York, 1991), 96–101.Google Scholar

56. Lydell Peck, “Report of a Conference on the Problem of Developing a Training Program for Fire Department Personnel in Fire Investigations, Sabotage and Kindred Crimes,” July 1940, NARA, RG 171, entry 11, box 75, folder 520: Region IX: CA, thru 7/17/41. Lydell Peck, “Report of Conference for the Purpose of Suggesting a Plan for Organization of Industrial Plants and Key Industries against Sabotage by Fire,” Bulletin no. 2, 1 July 1940, in ibid.

57. La Guardia, Fiorello, “Preliminary Report for Civil Defense Organization and Administration in the United States,” 31 January 1941, http://memory.loc.gov/service/gdc/scd0001/2008/20081009006pr/20081009006pr.pdfGoogle Scholar. Hurd, Charles, “Mayors Call for Civil Defense Plan, Telling President of Air Raid Needs,” New York Times, 2 February 1941, 1Google Scholar. “Text of Plea by the Conference of Mayors to President Roosevelt for Civil Defense Plan,” New York Times, 2 February 1941, 39.

58. La Guardia, Fiorello, “Preliminary Report for Civil Defense Organization and Administration in the United States,” 31 January 1941, http://memory.loc.gov/service/gdc/scd0001/2008/20081009006pr/20081009006pr.pdfGoogle Scholar. Warren Francis, “Mayors Urge National Civil Defense System,” Los Angeles Times, 2 February 1941, 10.

59. Editorial, “The Exploding Petals of The Little Flower,” Chicago Daily Tribune, 4 February 1941, 14.

60. Associated Press, “La Guardia Warns Cities of Air War,” New York Times, 21 February 1941, 6.

61. http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/hopbio.htm; for Ickes, see http://www.gwu.edu/∼erpapers/teachinger/glossary/ickes-harold.cfm. Cross-Reference Sheet, ARB and JB to “Missy,” n.d. A note says that the original memo was dated 24 January 1941. FDRL PPF 1376, folder “LaGuardia, Fiorello Cross-References.”

62. See Miller, The War That Never Came, 33–35.

63. Frank Bane to William McReynolds, 6 February 1941; Harold Smith to FDR, 13 February 1941. See also attached handwritten note, “McReynolds and Bane,” n.d., and “Wm. McReynolds,” 20 February, FDRL OF813a, box 5, folder “Reports-Division of State and Local Cooperation 1941.”

64. Cross-Reference Sheet, ARB and JB to “Missy,” n.d. A note says that the original memo was dated 24 January 1941, FDRL PPF 1376, folder “LaGuardia, Fiorello Cross-References.”

65. “Citizens Urge D.C. to Prepare Against Air War,” Washington Post, 5 January 1941, 1.

66. “Air Raids’ in East Start 4-Day Test,” New York Times, 22 January 1941, 12.

67. Hart, Lawlor, Letter to the Editor, “Training Offered to Civilians,” New York Times, 12 February 1941, 20Google Scholar.

68. Dr.Gallup, George, “The Gallup Poll: Many Easterners Found Leaning Toward Idea of Trial ‘Blackouts,’” Washington Post, 15 February 1941, 3Google Scholar.

69. “City Defense Group Plans for Air Raids,” New York Times, 16 January 1941, 1.

70. Major General, The Adjutant General to Frank Bane, 6 March 1941; and attached, “Civil Defense Basic Organization, prepared by the War Department with the Assistance and Advice of Other Federal Agencies,” Washington, D.C., 1941, NARA, RG 171, entry 12, box 1, folder 020.

71. Press Release, Office for Emergency Management Division of State and Local Cooperation, 29 April 1941, RG 171, entry 10, box 119, folder 515-Air Raid Shelters, thru November 1941.

72. See Charles Short to Frank Bain [sic], 2 December 1940; and attached “Preliminary Outline Suggestion for Defense Constabulary,” revised 28 November 1940, NARA, RG 171, entry 10, box 110, folder 501-Police Cooperation.

73. Ibid. See also Alvin Roseman to Frank Bane, 16 October 1940; Daniel Hoan to Bane and Roseman, 11 December 1940, NARA, RG 171, entry 10, box 110, folder 501-Police Cooperation. See Day, Willard, “Comments on Police Mobilization Plan by Bruce Smith,” 13 December 1940. Miller, The War That Never Came, 32–33Google Scholar. Hoan also feared that setting up a civil defense program too soon would “spread hysteria.”

74. See Pa Watson to FDR, 22 April 1941, and Watson to FDR, 21 April 1941, FDRL PPF 1376, folder “LaGuardia, Fiorello, 1940–1945.”

75. Press Release, statement by La Guardia, 20 April 1941, City of New York, Office of the Mayor, NARA, RG 171, entry 10, box 70, folder 095-US Conference of Mayors. See also Cross-Reference Sheet, C. L. Frederic to Betters, 1 May 1941; Betters to Hoan, 29 April 1941, NARA, RG 171, entry 10, box 124, folder 520-Fire Protection, 4/1–6/19/41.

76. New York City Fire Department, “Wartime Fire Defense in London: The Organization, General Plan and Methods Used by the London Fire Brigade to Control Fires Resulting from Incendiary Bombing as Observed by Members of the New York City Fire Department Assigned to London from October 22, 1940 to January 14, 1941” (Washington, D.C., 1941). Press Release, Office for Emergency Management, Division of State and Local Cooperation, 3 April 1941, NARA, RG 171, entry 10, box 124, folder 520-Fire Protection, 4/1–6/19/41.

77. “Mayor Assails Grumbling in Defense Crisis,” Mayor Edward Kelly statement, reprinted in Chicago Daily Times, 25 April 1941, FDRL, PPF 1820, box 5, folder “Speech Materials and Suggestions 1941 Jan–Apr.”

78. Baer, Colonel Joseph A., “U.S. Home Defense Gaining Headway,” New York Times, 13 April 1941, 35Google Scholar.

79. “The U.S. v. Bombs,” Time, 21 April 1941, 30.