New Air Raid Warning System (1943), the Office of Civilian Defense's siren chart

New Air Raid Warning System is OCD Publication 7015-1, a 1943 chart approved by the U.S. Office of Civilian Defense. In blue, red and white it lays out each siren signal, what it means, and what to do, from Blue Warning to White All Clear (NAID 515062).

A table, not a picture

This sheet is a set of instructions laid out as a three-column table: the signal, its meaning, and the listener's duty. The archive describes siren symbols paired with drawings of aircraft and bombs in the rows, printed in blue, red and white. Most of the wording is procedure.

NEW AIR RAID WARNING SYSTEM

[...]

BLUE WARNING

STEADY BLAST

ENEMY PLANES HEADED IN YOUR DIRECTION

1. All lights blacked out, unless specifically exempted.

2. Autos continue, with lights on low beam.

3. Pedestrians may walk.

4. Workers remain at jobs.

5. Civilian Defense mobilizes.

RED DANGER

SERIES OF SHORT OR WAVERING BLASTS

BOMBING EXPECTED

1. Traffic stops.

2. All lights blacked out, except authorized emergency lights.

3. Take shelter.

[...]

CAUTION! If enemy planes get too close before discovery, the first audible signal will be RED! Listen closely!

REMEMBER! Check your local regulations and observe them!

APPROVED BY THE U. S. OFFICE OF CIVILIAN DEFENSE

OCD PUBLICATION 7015-1

Four rows, and blue twice

The table has four rows. Blue Warning appears at the top, meaning planes are headed toward the listener, and again in the third row, meaning they have passed but may return. Red Danger sits between them, and White All Clear ends the sequence with a radio announcement or another local signal. The repeated blue could confuse a reader; the wording in each row tells the two apart.

The archive tags the poster as a fear appeal and calls the technique faint. The only alarm in the text is the Caution line, which warns that the first signal may be red. Its purpose field reads "Warn or inform."

Who gave the orders

The federal office approved the chart; the details sit with local rules. "Check your local regulations and observe them" sends the reader to local law, not to Washington. Blackouts and stopped traffic are real restrictions on ordinary movement, and the sheet presents them plainly as rules, with exemptions and a stated end ("Blackout ends."). That is a government telling citizens what it requires and when the requirement lifts.

The Roosevelt administration essay places the period's posters inside the government that issued them. Civil defense messaging from 1945 to 1969 is collected on the civil defense and atomic age hub.