A lot of us were the people of those times, myself included. I remember having the drills in school, 1969 grade 1. Pretty scary *hit for a young child. I'm glad cooler minds prevailed as I think they do a lot more often than many of us realize.
BTW, I'm sure every civilized country has pulled a Northwoods or two in their time.
On a similar but somewhat sideways topic/hijack, anybody know why Canada has become the world's 6th largest arms supplier?