Shortly after World War II began, the United States had to consider the very real possibility of chemical warfare. As such, the U.S. government started developing gas masks for civilians. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, who was the director of the Office of Civil Defense at the time, proposed that 50 million masks be available to supply to American citizens. These were to come in five sizes to accommodate babies, young children, older children, and both large and small adults.
As time went on, the number of recommended gas masks decreased. Only 300,000 had been shipped around the country by the one-year anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Even still, those were allotted based on the vulnerability of certain areas. In the end, the dreaded poison gas never ended up being used during the war, the consensus being that neither side found it as effective as explosives when it came to destroying infrastructure and terrorizing civilians.
The U.S. Once Tried to Calm Children With Mickey Mouse Gas Masks
However, at one point, Walt Disney of all people got involved with the process of designing gas masks. In January 1942, the legendary entrepreneur flew to Washington to meet with civil defense and chemical warfare officials. The purpose of his visit was to check on the progress of a Mickey Mouse gas mask he’d conceived, complete with big glass eyes, a snout and round ears. Evidently, these terrifying-looking things were intended to calm children:
When all was said and done, only around 1,000 of the Mickey masks were actually produced for U.S. citizens. The few that exist today were manufactured by the Sun Rubber Company, and several have found their way into museums. Curiously, a British version of the mask was also made, but looked nothing like Mickey Mouse. Unlike the U.S., the UK issued millions of gas masks while the war was going on, and their Mickey mask was reportedly given to children between the ages of 18 months and 4 years old.
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