Office of Civilian Defense …36

Thomas A. Scott …46

Helena H. Smith and William Sloane …57

As war spread through Europe and Asia in 1940 and 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945; served 1933–45) issued a call for war mobilization among U.S. industries. He also asked U.S. communities to begin organizing civil defense plans. Civil defense refers to a system of defensive measures designed to protect civilians and their property from enemy attack. In the twenty-first century, after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against American civilians on the U.S. mainland, government officials began to refer to civil defense as "homeland security."

On May 20, 1941, President Roosevelt established the Office of Civilian Defense (OCD), replacing the inactive Council of National Defense created by Congress in 1916. The purpose of the OCD was to help states and communities set up civil defense councils. Roosevelt also hoped the OCD would spur civilians' awareness of...