That didn't stop a wild rumor circulating at Central High School...I heard it while climbing the stairs to German II class...that there had been government evacuations in Washington and we might be going to war in short order; school was to be dismissed...yadda and yada...NO GERMAN TEST!...my priorities, sadly.
We did have the Defoe Shipbuilding Company that produced a very limited number of destroyers for the Navy so we all talked each other into thinking that we were right behind the White House as a prime first strike bulls eye. We lived about a mile or so from this potential ground zero so there was more than a little angst albeit horribly misplaced. It was our dream to be important enough to be in the "first strike".
Our little hacienda on Carroll Park was built in the late 20s by a fairly wealthy family with a million kids. The basement had a huge walk in safe. No kidding. it was 6 feet wide and 12 feet long and it had a thick metal door, carpeting and was soundproof so it became my music practice room. Way back then, it was made
My dad came home from work about 56 or so years ago this fall and quietly moved everything out of "my" room and stocked it up with bedding, food and water, flashlights and a new-fangled transistor radio that had the emergency bands clearly marked - I think 640 and 1240 on the dial.
About 13 days later he moved everything back. The doomsday clock reset with 7 minutes to go instead of 30 seconds. I got back to practicing my trumpet.
Frau Smith did give the German test.