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Plan C: The Cold War Plan Which Would Have Brought the US Under Martial Law

Posted by samzenpus on from the gentlemen-you-can't-fight-in-here-this-is-the-war-room dept.

v3rgEz writes with this story of a top secret Cold War plan which would have brought the U.S. under martial law. Starting on April 19, 1956, the federal government practiced and planned for a near-doomsday scenario known as Plan C. When activated, Plan C would have brought the United States under martial law, rounded up over ten thousand individuals connected to 'subversive' organizations, implemented a censorship board, and prepared the country for life after nuclear attack. There was no Plan A or B....Details of this program were distributed to each FBI field office. Over the following months and years, Plan C would be adjusted as drills and meetings found holes in the defensive strategy: Communications were more closely held, authority was apparently more dispersed, and certain segments of the government, such as the U.S. Attorneys, had trouble actually delineating who was responsible for what. Bureau employees were encouraged to prepare their families for the worst, but had to keep secret the more in-depth plans for what the government would do if war did break out. Families were given a phone number and city for where the relocated agency locations would be, but not the exact location.

4 of 313 comments (clear)

  1. Urban legend? by Zardus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This reads like an urban legend... Every field office got a copy, (seemingly) lots of employees were notified, but it's only public 30 years later? Hmm...

    --
    You can mod your friends, you can mod your nose, but you can't mod your friend's nose.
    1. Re:Urban legend? by NotDrWho · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This reads like an urban legend... Every field office got a copy, (seemingly) lots of employees were notified, but it's only public 30 years later? Hmm...

      It probably was just one of a multitude of government-produced silly guides about what to do in X unlikely (or hopeless) scenario. Anyone with even common sense would have known that any "plan" involving the aftermath of a true major-scale nuclear war between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. would be as worthless as the paper it's printed on (maybe good for starting a fire for a few unlucky survivors). No one probably took it seriously enough to bother leaking it.

      In the event of a major nuclear war:

      Call this number (all the phone lines are down),
      Stay tuned to this emergency TV station (no electricity),
      Go to this city (you mean the highly radioactive rubble of that city?),
      Stay in this bunker (and do what?),
      Arrest this person (everyone at this address is dead)
      Respect this authority (I can't even find safe food)
      etc.

      --
      SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  2. Re:Did anyone expect otherwise? by TheGavster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We survived for centuries with the number of people and level of industrialization that would remain after a widespread, devastating war, without resorting to these measures. In fact, we have measured the society that this plan seeks to "protect" by the rights and freedoms that the average citizen has gained.

    I don't know what "society" means to you, but to me it's the structure by which we all agree that other people exist and have rights; martial law means that society has already fallen.

    --
    "Because Science" is one step from "Because old book". Try "Because of my experiment testing my falsifiable assertion".
  3. There are no such things as human "rights". by xtal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Freedom, and everything else, is a privilege given to you by your betters; when the chips are down, that's all out the window. Never forget that.

    It's for your own good, you know.

    Wish more people read history.

    --
    ..don't panic