Culture Corner: Seven Days in May

Seven Days in May by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II

The 1962 novel tells the story of an elaborate plot for a military coup in the United States. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, U.S. Air Force General James Mattoon Scott, a dashing and incredibly popular public figure, hatches a scheme to take over the country. The president, Jordan Lyman, is perceived as weak and ineffectual for seeking a nuclear weapons treaty with the Soviet Union that military leadership deems dangerous at best and leaves the United States totally defenseless at worst. As the plan unfolds, the Director of the Joint Staff, Colonel Jigs Casey, slowly uncovers what is going on with the Joint Chiefs and takes his suspicions to the president. What the president does and how the plot resolves make for a great military-political thriller. The descriptions of the 1962 Pentagon and early ‘60s Washington, D.C., are compelling. Highly recommended, especially for the parallels to events of today.