Raven Rock (Five Stars)

Following the Soviet detonation of their first atomic bomb the United States government had to look at the possibility that Washington D.C. could be destroyed, totally and with little or no notice. Thus began the plans for Continuity of Government (COG) to ensure that the government of the United States would go on and, perhaps more importantly, that the United States' nuclear retaliation would be swift and sure.




Graff's book follows the efforts to build bunkers, first in D.C. and later in the surrounding states when the USSR detonated their own H-bombs. Plans were laid to keep the Selective Service System running so new soldiers could be drafted and trained and deployed to fight WWIII. The Federal Reserve printed and stored $4 billion in currency to spend in the aftermath of a nuclear attack. Congress would meet in a secret underground facility under a luxury hotel, ready to pass new laws for a post-nuclear USA. The post office would track who was alive and who was dead... and use their vehicles to transport casualties.




Using declassified material, interviews with personnel involved in COG planning and those who were to participate in emergency plans, Raven Rock discusses not just the plans to preserve the government but the extraordinary measures in place to ensure that U.S. nuclear weapons would be available to hit back. When even underground bunkers seemed unlikely to survive then airborne options became the means to preserve command and control. In all of this, the efforts to protect the ordinary U.S. citizen fell by the wayside but there were plans for that as well.
A very well-written account of a government we never knew we had. Illustrated with excellent photographs.