Renewed fears about a wider war have pushed an old Cold War question back into public view: if a nuclear conflict ever reached the United States, would some parts of the country be safer than others?
The concern has grown after U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran over the weekend, a development that has raised anxiety about whether the conflict could expand. For many Americans, the issue is no longer just military strategy overseas. It is also about personal safety, family planning, emergency preparedness, and what geography might mean in a worst-case scenario.
Decades ago, U.S. schoolchildren were taught “duck and cover” drills during the Cold War, when the Soviet Union was viewed as the country’s primary nuclear threat. Those drills offered little real protection from a nuclear blast, but they reflected how deeply the fear of nuclear war had entered everyday American life.
That fear is now being revisited as officials and analysts discuss Iran, nuclear capability, missile ranges, and possible retaliation. President Donald Trump and his aides have claimed that Iran restarted its nuclear program, has enough fissile material to build a bomb within days, and is developing long-range missiles capable of reaching the U.S. The New York Times has reported that those claims are either false or unproven.