Book Report: Seven Days in May
Not sure exactly why but got an urge to read the 1962 book: Seven Days in May. The book was also made into a 1964 movie starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas and Ava Gardner.
This is a Washington DC type of book that was popular in that era that mixed politics and atom bombs. I'm thinking of Fail Safe or Advise and Consent, maybe even Dr. Strangelove.
People were really pre-occupied with atomic war then and rightly so. The screenwriter of Seven Days in May was Rod Serling and of course his show The Twilight Zone had many takes on atomic war and the aftermath. As time went along maybe we all made our peace with atomic war and just realized that worrying doesn't help. But I suspect we are as close as ever to devastating war with a weakened remnant of the Soviet Union and an ascending China along with smaller states that also have or seek atomic weapons. The book is well plotted and engrossing look at a plan by a US military cabal to take over the government.
Maybe it was learning of this story that I had never heard of before that prompted reading Seven Days in May:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/01/13/fdr-roosevelt-coup-business-plot/
The problem with discounting conspiracy theories is that every once in a while there is an actual conspiracy. For example the GM transit conspiracy that was hinted at in the movie: Who Framed Roger Rabbit ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy
Incidentally per this wiki page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldwater%E2%80%93Nichols_Act
the Joint Chiefs are NOT in the line of command since 1986 so the book couldn't be written the same way today. Wonder if K7UGA was influenced at all by Seven Days in May ?
However looking at the rationale of the Goldwater-Nichols Act kinda reminds me of the 21st century debate among Packer fans/pundits. Mark Murphy functions as the "owner" of the Packers. Before the change in structure Murphy had a General Manager, Ted Thompson who looked after all of football operations, he picked the players, he fit their salaries into the cap and he selected the head coach. But when Ted Thompson was replaced by Murphy the structure also changed. Now Murphy has direct control of both the business side and the football side of the Packers. The head coach, cap guy and general manager all report to him.
"it works if you work it" - the system whether it be the Pentagon or the Green Bay Packers relies on the people in charge to do the right thing. A better system might help but there are always tradeoffs.
BTW you can read the book on Archive.org:
https://archive.org/search.php?query=%22seven%20days%20in%20may%22
Now to watch the movie.
Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm