Velociman, in this post, talked about the Civil Defense Days, when the nation feared an attack by the Russians, our cold war enemy. I remember those days well.

As school children were taught the proper things to do if Russia decided to “drop the big one” on the New York environs (as if any damned thing we did would have mattered). Those were indeed the “Duck and Cover” Days. A few times per year, the grammar school faculty would herd us all into the basement of the school, where they would lead us in song. As I recall, the song we regularly sang was, “He’s Got the Whole World in his Hands”, and this was a public school.

Nowadays if public school teachers led students in that song, the blast that would come from the ACLU would make the Russian “big one” look and sound like a mere firecracker.