“Down Go the Mean Old Germs!” Creating Antiseptic Havens in Cold War America

Little Doreen had the perfect answer to Mommy’s and Daddy’s woes: a simple spritz of an antiseptic, she chanted, would chase away the possibility of infections, rendering her entire family safe. Topical antiseptics had been marketed for the domestic market since the early twentieth century but the Cold War era witnessed the development of new and easier-to-use antiseptic sprays and ointments. Reflecting the belief that disease could be definitively controlled, if not prevented, these products were aggressively pitched to American consumers, with advertisements featuring cartoons specifically targeting antiseptic sprays and ointments to children. While historians have long argued that cleanliness became an important signifier of Americanism in the early twentieth century it was really only in the post-war era that ordinary Americans of all classes and races were able to create truly clean and even sterile havens for themselves and their families. The widespread adoption of antiseptic sprays---these products became one of the most common items in Americans’ medicine chests during this period---reflected this earlier push for cleanliness but it also stemmed from several broader impulses in Cold War America: the over-arching desire to keep children safe as the threat of nuclear war loomed; the push, even as physicians increasingly came to be seen as authority figures, for patients and consumers to control and manage their own health; a confidence in the power of “scientific” products to protect Americans; and the belief that inexpensive consumer products could keep Americans safe from unseen dangers. This paper explores the ways in which corporations shaped American fears about germs as they sought to create a national, and ultimately, international market for their products.