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''Fail-Safe'' is a bestselling American novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. Expanded from Wheeler's short story "Abraham '59" (originally published in the Winter 1959 issue of ''
Dissent Dissent is an opinion, philosophy or sentiment of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or policy enforced under the authority of a government, political party or other entity or individual. A dissenting person may be referred to as ...
'' under the pen name F. B. Aiken), it was initially serialized in three installments in the ''
Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...
'' on October 13, 20, and 27, 1962, during the
Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons d ...
. The novel was published in book form on October 22, 1962, and was then adapted into a 1964 film of the same name directed by
Sidney Lumet Sidney Arthur Lumet ( ; June 25, 1924 – April 9, 2011) was an American film director. Lumet started his career in theatre before moving to film, where he gained a reputation for making realistic and gritty New York City, New York dramas w ...
and starring Henry Fonda, Dan O'Herlihy, and Walter Matthau. In 2000, the novel was adapted again for a televised play, broadcast live in
black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...
on CBS. All three works have the same theme, accidental
nuclear war Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a War, military conflict or prepared Policy, political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are Weapon of mass destruction, weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conven ...
, with the same plot. ''Fail-Safe'' was purported to be so similar to an earlier novel, '' Red Alert'' (1958), that the latter's author, Peter George, and film producer
Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...
(whose own forthcoming picture '' Dr. Strangelove'' was loosely adapted from George's novel) sued on a charge of
copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of Copyright#Scope, works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the c ...
, settling out of court.


Title

The title refers to the "fail-safe point" used by the
Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile compon ...
(SAC) to prevent any SAC bomber from accidentally crossing into Soviet airspace and precipitating a nuclear war. In general, a fail safe ensures that, as far as possible, the machine or process will not make things worse in the event of something going wrong. The title's irony is that the nature of SAC's fail-safe protocols could make things worse, causing the event it was intended to prevent.


Plot summary

In 1967, a U.S. Air Force command center receives information that an unknown aircraft is approaching from Europe. The alert status of the
Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile compon ...
's (SAC) bomber forces is raised, a standard precaution against a sneak attack. The unknown aircraft then disappears from radar, causing the alert status to continue to increase, leading to the bombers being sent into the air to the
fail-safe In engineering, a fail-safe is a design feature or practice that, in the event of a failure causes, failure of the design feature, inherently responds in a way that will cause minimal or no harm to other equipment, to the environment or to people. ...
points. From there, they can proceed to their targets only if they receive a special attack code from the on-board "fail-safe box". After a short time, the unknown target is reacquired and identified as an off-course commercial airliner. The SAC threat level is reduced, and the bomber fleet is sent a recall order. An unobserved electronic technical failure at the height of the alert allows the attack code to be accidentally transmitted to Group Six, which consists of six Vindicator supersonic bombers. Colonel Grady, the head of the group, tries to contact SAC Headquarters in
Omaha Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...
,
Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...
to verify the fail-safe order (called Positive Check), but Soviet radio jamming prevents Grady from hearing them. Concluding that the fail-safe order and the radio jamming could mean only
nuclear war Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a War, military conflict or prepared Policy, political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are Weapon of mass destruction, weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conven ...
, Grady orders Group Six to fly towards
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
. At meetings in Omaha, at the
Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...
, and in the fallout shelter of the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
, American politicians, generals and scholars debate the cause and implications of the attack. Professor Groteschele, an influential "nuclear wise man" advising the Pentagon, suggests that the United States follow this accidental attack with a full-scale attack to force the Soviets to surrender. The
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
refuses to consider such a course of action. Instead, he orders the Air Force to shoot down the bombers. Officers at SAC and in the pursuing fighter jets protest, stating that the fighters cannot easily catch the bombers and will run out of fuel over the
Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...
in the attempt. The President orders them to try anyway, and the six "Skyscrapper" supersonic fighters in the area engage their
afterburner An afterburner (or reheat in British English) is an additional combustion component used on some jet engines, mostly those on military supersonic aircraft. Its purpose is to increase thrust, usually for supersonic flight, takeoff, and combat ...
s and, just prior to their fuel running out, fire their rockets in futile attempts to hit the bombers. The fighters fall into the sea, and the pilots are lost. The President contacts the
Premier of the Soviet Union The Premier of the Soviet Union () was the head of government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). From 1923 to 1946, the name of the office was Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, and from 1946 to 1991 its name was ...
,
Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...
, and offers assistance in attacking the group. The Soviets decline at first; however, they soon decide to accept it. At SAC headquarters, a fight breaks out over the idea of working with the Soviets to shoot down their own aircraft. Air Force General Bogan attempts to stop the attack, but his executive officer, Colonel Cascio, wants it to continue. Cascio attempts to take over command of SAC, but is stopped by the Air Police. Meanwhile, the Soviet PVO Strany air defense forces manage to shoot down only two of the six planes. The Soviets accept American help and shoot down a third plane. Two bombers and a support plane remain on course to Moscow. Bogan tells Marshal Nevsky, the Soviet air defense commander, to ignore Plane #6 (the support plane with radar decoys and
electronic countermeasure An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting info ...
s) because it carries no nuclear weapons. Nevsky, who mistrusts Bogan, instead orders his Soviet aircraft to attack all three planes. Plane 6's last feint guarantees that the two remaining bombers can successfully attack. Following the failure, Nevsky collapses. As the two planes approach Moscow, Colonel Grady uses the radio to contact SAC to inform them that they are about to drop their bombs. As a last-ditch effort, the Soviets fire nuclear-tipped missiles to form a fireball in an attempt to destroy the low-flying Vindicators. A Vindicator shoots up one last decoy, which successfully leads the Soviet missiles high in the air. However, one missile explodes earlier than expected; the second bomber blows up, but Colonel Grady's plane survives. With the radio channel still open, the President attempts to persuade Grady that there is no war. Believing that such a late recall attempt must be a Soviet trick, as per his training, Grady ignores them. The nearby explosion of Soviet missiles exposes the bomber crew to a massive radiation dose, and Grady tells his crew, "We're not just walking wounded; we're walking dead men." He intends to fly the aircraft over Moscow and detonate the bombs on board. Believing that the United States has already been devastated by a Soviet nuclear attack, his co-pilot agrees saying "There's nothing to go home to." When it becomes apparent that one bomber will get through Soviet defenses and destroy Moscow with its two 20-megaton bombs, the U.S. president states that he will order an American bomber to destroy
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
at the same time, using four 20-megaton bombs, targeting the
Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story, Art Deco-style supertall skyscraper in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its n ...
as
ground zero A hypocenter or hypocentre (), also called ground zero or surface zero, is the point on the Earth's surface directly below a nuclear explosion, meteor air burst, or other mid-air explosion. In seismology, the hypocenter of an earthquake is its p ...
; this also involves a grave personal sacrifice, as the First Lady is visiting New York, and he decides not to warn her. On hearing the New York attack plan, the supposedly atheist Communist leader bursts out with " Holy Mother of God!" He is appalled but realizes that it is the only way to prevent a worldwide nuclear war which will probably destroy humanity as "others" (presumably the Soviet military) would not accept the unilateral destruction of Moscow, and would depose him and retaliate against the West. Moscow is bombed and thereafter the New York bombs are dropped by a senior general within SAC, a friend of the President who orders his crew to let him handle the bombing run by himself, assuming responsibility for the destruction of New York; he then takes his own life.


Lawsuit

The book purportedly resembled the 1958 novel '' Red Alert'' by Peter George (which was adapted by George and
Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...
into the
mutually assured destruction Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy which posits that a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by an attacker on a nuclear-armed defender with second-strike capabilities would result in ...
satire '' Dr. Strangelove'' in 1964, as well) so closely that George filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement, intending to be allowed to release their ''Dr. Strangelove'' before the film version of ''Fail-Safe''. The suit was settled out of court, with the agreement for the film version of ''Fail-Safe'' to wait until well after ''Dr. Strangelove'' had been released, greatly reducing its popularity at the box office, given their perceived commonality.


See also

* '' Red Alert'', earlier novel with a similar theme * '' Trinity's Child'', later book and film with a similar theme


Notes


References


Footnotes


Other sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fail-Safe (Novel) 1962 American novels American political novels American thriller novels Political thriller novels Aviation novels Novels set in Nebraska Novels set in Virginia Novels set in Washington, D.C. Works set in the White House Novels set on airplanes Novels set during the Cold War Novels set in one day Fiction set in 1967 Novels set in the 1960s Novels about nuclear war and weapons Novels involved in plagiarism controversies Novels first published in serial form Works originally published in The Saturday Evening Post American novels adapted into films American novels adapted into television shows McGraw-Hill books