The Day Called X,
which documented a large scale evacuation of Portland, Oregon, under the threat
of a fictionalized H-Bomb attack, was one of the most widely distributed civil
defense films during the Cold War. Originally aired in December of 1957
as a CBS television special, the film is narrated by the late actor Glenn Ford
and blends testimony from city officials and townspeople, with stock footage of
Operation Greenlight. A massive evacuation drill, Operation Greenlight
was conducted in September of 1955 after years of state planning set up a
defense plan focused on Portland. Operation Greenlight sought to
highlight the preparation Oregonians had put forth to ensure a safe existence
for the population of their primary target city.
Stemming from
this initial reasoning came the second case for building a defense plan
specifically for Portland. In September, 1955 the Eisenhower
Administration enacted a program which offered federal funding to any state
based civil defense initiatives in areas which had been deemed Critical
Targets. Incorporating several Oregon counties into the defense of Portland
allowed state officials to claim those counties as Critical Targets too,
generating more federal dollars from Washington to enlarge their civil defense
funds. With such a system in place, Portland's budget grew to nearly half
a million dollars in federal aid, and plans were laid that would attempt to
educate, feed, and shelter the city's nearly 600,000 evacuees.
The Plan of Action
Oregon Gives a Greenlight to Evacuation
Oregons plan was divided into two
stages, each with its own distinct objectives. The initial stage took the
form of a public information crusade, striving to alert on everything from
warning siren signals to evacuation routes. Attempts to spread the basics
of civil defense and evacuation to Portland manifested themselves primarily in
the form of pamphlets and presentations. A public affairs department,
created to meet this goal, ultimately produced several leaflets to get the
message out. Among them were Target Oregon, Your Guide to Defense
Against the H-Bomb, and Pre-Attack Evacuation Plan which, in that respective
order, sought to guide the public through a nuclear crisis. These
publications were supplemented by presentations where the handbills were
distributed to interested crowds and the finest in Oregon state civil defense
was showcased. Throughout 1954 and 1955 for example, the volunteer crews
of Clark Countys seven rescue vehicles, which had traveled to Nevada to take
part in atomic testing, toured a number of county fairs, American Legion
conventions, and Armed Services Day memorials to demonstrate their techniques
and incite participation.
While this
education program recruited thousands of volunteers to serve as everything from
air raid spotters to engineering assistants, a much larger infrastructure was
needed to establish the orderly evacuation the H-bomb required (3).
Throughout the early 1950s, an evacuation infrastructure was planned and
partially implemented. This early plan saw the designation of staging
areas for rescue personnel outside Portland as well as the construction of road
signs to direct the flow of traffic. According to the Annual Civil
Defense Report, state planners began to reexamine the idea of providing
evacuation routes to welfare centers outside the city while rescue workers both
from the city and neighboring counties gathered in three strategic staging
areas. This was due in large part to the fear of an H-bombs increased
power, and a revised plan was put out, tailored to the dangers of the Hydrogen
age.
The basic evacuation formula stayed in place but the scope was enlarged. Portlands Critical Target Area was expanded to include Clackamas, Washington, and Multnomah Counties, and a total evacuation order within a twenty mile radius of a projected ground zero was implemented (4). The entire state of Oregon was deemed a Support Area to take in evacuees and send any available rescue personnel and resources to the blast region. Twelve Reception Areas in communities well outside the twenty mile danger zone were designated. These small towns would play host to newly arrived evacuees while they register with welfare services and wait to be assigned more permanent quarters in counties further south.
A united front of organizations was assembled to ensure a safe passage for the stream of confused, displaced, and likely panicked or injured people who would be in exodus from Portland. Highway crews to clear the roads, Red Cross kitchens to feed the masses, and engineering units to supply the emergency routes with basic facilities were among the departments on hand. During the evacuation, a massive health service center was to be erected at Pacific University in Forest Grove, while Portlands hospitals and medical personnel were to be strategically dispersed outside the city (5). Showing the increased respect nuclear fallout had been given in1955, plans were in the making for several radiological monitoring stations to coordinate safe passage from the affected areas. The stations were to be manned by volunteers trained in meteorological patterns and fallout detection. All events would be connected through a communications network established by R.A.C.E.S. volunteers, and several other amateur radio operating services. What the government hoped to establish through the combined efforts of these professional and volunteer services was to make the evacuation route as hazard free and quick moving as possible.
As the civilian population moved out, National Guardsmen and public service personnel moved in. Three massive Staging Areas were established in an arc around Portland. Sandy, Forest Grove, and Aurora, provided the proper resources and appropriate distance from Portland to safely assemble for rescue operations. Each area would be overseen by a director, for example, Stage 3 in Sandy was under the command of a high ranking Portland fire officer. Under the original plan, each Stage Area would have been coordinated by the Advanced Control Center set up at the McMinnville high school (6). The revised H-Bomb plan however, called for a state of the art 400,000 dollar control center to be placed in the hills outside Portland. Completed in time for Operation Greenlight, this concrete bunker would be home to the Portland city Government, Mayor, Civil Defense Director, and the heads of all municipal departments. Laden with the latest communications equipment and microfilmed copies of all vital city records, the bunker could hold the entire city emergency government for a two week stay (7).
The results of
Oregon's intensive planning were put to a limited test on September 27, 1955,
when Operation Greenlight commenced in downtown Portland. 1,000 city
blocks covering a 4 sq. mile section of the city were evacuated as Chrysler
Victory sirens trumpeted an alert mode. It was estimated that 200,000
people, one third the total number that would need to be evacuated, made up the
daytime population of Portland's business district. Consisting primarily
of large businesses, arrangements were made for several of the participants to
continue the evacuation to assigned welfare centers well outside the target
area. This allowed the volunteer staffing within the welfare communities
to practice feeding and registering partial numbers of evacuees. For those
emergency commuters who failed to do their homework on out of town escape
routes, the way was marked with flashing green traffic lights. These
thoroughfares marked the main exits out of town and gave the operation its
name. As highlighted in A Day Called X, local radio stations broadcasted
instructions and updates over the airwaves. It was hoped that familiar
voices coming from car radios would have a calming effect on the population in
this stressful time.
Depending on
how it is viewed, Operation Greenlight could be seen as an outright failure, or
an encouraging sign of success. According to the Annual Civil Defense
Report, 101,000 people were known to have evacuated the downtown area, 11,00
doing so on foot. With participation suspiciously just over the halfway
mark, officials were quick to note that a heavy rain and pre-knowledge of the
drill reduced participation while stressing it only took 34 minutes to clear
the target area. Only a sixth of the total population found its way out
of Portland during Greenlight, but of those that did, a tame progression was
reported with only four minor traffic jams and one hospitalization. All
in all, an orderly spectacle took place, but the major flaw of the test, as
critics readily pointed out, was that it was only a test. Fear of an
actual H-bomb would no doubt increase participation, but would also bring an order disintegrating
panic. Add to the mix parents looking for children, men looking for
families, and a host of other self interests which would quickly take
precedence over official evacuation plans, and a mess results. However,
Oregon planners chose to view the glass as half full. To civil defense
officials, the 101,000 evacuees were a sign that people were taking the plan
seriously, and they were definitely moving in the right direction with their
evacuation system. They hoped that the image of several responsible
businesses halting busy schedules for civil defense would promote a positive
repertoire. Concluding its analysis of Operation Greenlight, Oregon
quoted a report of the situation compiled by the National Academy of Sciences
which stated "when a city the size of Portland can act proud instead of
foolish about a test of emergency capability, civil defense is coming of
age"
1. Oregon State Civil Defense Council. "Annual Civil Defense Report".
Government Printing Office, February 1956. Portland, Oregon.
This pamphlet, from which much of the technical data on this page comes from,
was issued by the Oregon State Legislature, and provides a host of civil defense
facts and programs, spanning both conventional and nuclear activities.
2. Nearly 46,000 dollars went into Portland alone, while a matching amount of funds went into the surrounding counties. Interestingly, Oregon developed a program which set aside several thousand dollars for an insurance compensation fund for volunteers killed or injured during training exercises. 13-14.
3. According to the Annual Report, a two day training seminar was needed to become an engineering assistant. The main focus of the event was to learn different ways of setting up water lines to quench the thirst of evacuees on the routes out of Portland.
4. State planners projected in their hypothetical attack on Portland that ground zero for the H-bomb's detonation would be at the intersection of SW Broadway and Morrison streets, directly in the heart of the city. The distance which evacuation zones and staging areas could be safely established was judged by using these coordinates and spanning outwards.
5. As of February 1956, this plan was still on the drawing boards. It was likely that Forest Grove was chosen because Pacific University's infrastructure would have allowed a substantial medical facility to be established with less investment than smaller communities. Its existing facilities could also have been utilized had an attack occurred before proper arrangements were completed, and still been an effective center.
6. After the completion of the Portland City Government Bunker, the McMinnville high school was to be the headquarters for the Auxiliary Police program and safety resource center. Under the direction of operators at this center, auxiliary police were to man checkpoints to stop incoming traffic to Portland within three to five minutes after an alert was received.
7. Extensive shots of the bunker and its features are provided in A Day Called X,
while narrator Glenn Ford highlights the history of civil defense in
Portland, and stresses the preparedness of its population.