John F. Kennedy's bomb shelter draws onlookers - San Francisco Chronicle

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Peter W Cross / NYT

Tourists enter the Peanut Island, Fla., bunker built for President John F. Kennedy in 1961. Known as the Detachment Hotel, it was never used.

Peanut Island, Fla. --

A nuclear bomb shelter was a must-have in the 1950s and '60s.

President John F. Kennedy, who was facing a series of nail-biting face-offs with the Soviets, even recommended a fallout shelter for all Americans "as rapidly as possible" in an October 1961 speech. Two months later, Kennedy was presented with his own top secret tropical bomb shelter off Palm Beach, Fla., on an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean.

Few even know it is there, but some area residents believe the bunker is a must-see attraction that could put Peanut Island, a man-made islet, on the map.

Termed the Detachment Hotel in documents, the fallout shelter was built by Navy Seabees in less than two weeks. Deftly camouflaged by trees, it was hard to spot. If people asked, they would be told it was a munitions depot, nothing more. Kennedy visited the bunker twice during a drill.

"The government never declared it existed until 1974," said Anthony Miller, a member of the executive board of the Palm Beach Maritime Museum, a nonprofit organization that leases part of the land on Peanut Island and gives tours of the bunker. "But it was the worst-kept secret in Palm Beach."

With the Soviets intent on shipping nuclear warheads to nearby Cuba, Kennedy was assured a radiation-proof haven a mere five-minute helicopter hop from his oceanfront winter home on millionaire's row in Palm Beach. Peanut Island sits just between Palm Beach and its ritzy companion, Singer Island.

The bunker, which fell into disrepair in the 1990s, was cleaned up and has been open for tours since 1999.

The decor is fittingly rustic, a far cry from Jacqueline Kennedy's sensibilities. There is room enough to hold 30 people on 15 metal bunk beds for 30 days, if not very comfortably.

Shelves are stocked with giant tins of waterless hand cleaner (today's hand sanitizers), cans lined with lead that contained drinking water (no longer advisable), deodorant to clean clothes, petroleum jelly, castor oil and ample Army K-rations. Gas masks sat at the ready. An escape hatch lies at one end, just in case the Russians were coming.

In one corner, there is a rocking chair, a nod to Kennedy's bad back.

This article appeared on page A - 9 of the San Francisco Chronicle

02 Oct, 2011

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