Cold War New York

The United Nations headquarters was constructed in New York City in 1952
Courtesy from Neptuul from Wikimedia Commons: In order to improve defenses, the UN Headquarters was established in 1952

The Cold War, a forty-five-year global and political crisis, has not only affected many countries and governments, but it impacted New York as well. This international tension led New York to organize their own civil defenses, especially fallout shelters, to protect themselves from nuclear attacks. Located near a beach in Queens, Fort Tilden was a military base that defended New York citizens from global air raids and served as an artillery for soldiers to store their weapons. After the end of the Second World War, the United Nations was constructed, replacing the League of Nations, and was completed in 1952 to improve their civil defenses. Even though the Cold War was a broad hostility throughout all nations, this geopolitical war still motivated New Yorkers to construct shelters and eventually establish the United Nations headquarters, in order to protect their city and state from further antagonism.

  • Cold War New York
    Cold War New York

    The Cold War, a forty-five-year global and political crisis, has not only affected many countries and governments, but it impacted New York as well. This international tension led New York to organize their own civil defenses, especially fallout shelters, to protect themselves from nuclear attacks. Located near a beach in Queens, Fort Tilden was a ...

  • Fallout Shelters
    Fallout Shelters

    In The Dying City: Postwar New York and Ideology of Fear, Brian Tochterman described how the Cold War dropped “flight” and “hysteria” like bombs upon New Yorkers as they struggle to organize their own “civil defenses” because of “overcrowding” of buildings and the lack of preparation to defend the city, however, it still offers “a ...

  • Fort Tilden
    Fort Tilden

    Another defense that was used to protect soldiers and civilians from the Cold War hostilities was Fort Tilden, which is in the Queens borough of New York (40°33’42.2″N 73°53’43.2″W). This base was established in 1917, as a “harbor defense of New York.” In the Fort Tilden guidebook, Christina Selvek wrote that Fort Tilden was originally ...

  • U.N. Headquarters
    U.N. Headquarters

    The establishment of the United Nations headquarters is one of the accomplishments completed during the Cold War. In 1946, the United Nations officials decided to construct the headquarters, after the League of Nations failed to protect the United States from World War II conflicts. Zipp acknowledges how the construction of the UN Headquarters will “become ...