Thanks, it's starting to make a bit more sense now: I thought I had to be missing *something* in the cultural frame of reference. And while intellectually one *knows* attitudes were different, that's a lot different to *living* it.

We did atomic bomb drills in school while I was in first and second grade

And there's that difference, right there: you got bomb drills, we got 'Protect and Survive', which involved emulsion paint and sheltering under kitchen tables in the absence of a fallout shelter, IIRC.