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

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.

Comments

There are no such things as human "rights".

[xtal]

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.

Re:Then there was War Plan Red

[Fire_Wraith]

It was part of a series of contingency plans, each labeled with a different color, for various potential conflicts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_color-coded_war_plans

Some examples:
Green - Mexico
Orange - Japan
Black - Germany
Gold - France
Yellow - China

Probably the most interesting (and dangerous) alternate history was War Plan Red-Orange, which postulated a war against Britain and Japan, who were allied at the time.

The most appropriate for this subject, though, would be War Plan White, which dealt with domestic uprising and civil disturbances.

So it was the 1950's PATRIOT ACT

[Lumpy]

Because short of the martial law of troops in the streets with body armor and M16's..... Oh wait... Our COPS have those now.
Well they dont have assult vehicles...... Wait....
Nor do they have grenade launchers...... Welll.....

So basically they have been planning on the shit we have today for decades?

Wow

[sootman]

And yet somehow we survived with these 10,000 people with connections to subversive organizations roaming freely in our midst. Amazing.

Dear ALL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES: *THIS* is why we don't want you to have infinite surveillance. Because those 10,000 people you had files on did EXACTLY NOTHING. You want to wiretap someone, go get some ACTUAL FUCKING EVIDENCE. Not just "he read this book and knows this guy and likes to encrypt his files."