Have I mentioned Jim Riley? In 1950, James K. Riley was the manager of Santa Fe's Chamber of Commerce, an association of businessmen, bankers and merchants created to promote commerce in the city. This was 1950 and the nation was considerably spooked over the shocking news that the godless communists in Russia had an atomic bomb, which they got incidentally, by stealing our atomic secrets in their sneaky godless communist way.
In the wake of this news, the federal government began to form the Civil Defense Administration which, among other things, was tasked with establishing a wartime national capital, a strategic city from which to operate the government in the event Washington was destroyed by an atomic bomb. In early 1950, a number of cities were being considered as potential wartime capitals, including Salt Lake City and Denver.
The question occurred to James K. Riley, why not Santa Fe as the nerve center for a federal government after a nuclear apocalypse? As manager of the Chamber of Commerce, Jim Riley was apparently convinced of a bright commercial future in the aftermath of an atomic war. So he promptly telegraphed the state's congressional delegation to recommend Santa Fe, the nation's oldest capital as a candidate for the nation's wartime capital, to the Federal Civil Defense Administration.
In his request, Riley shrewdly pointed out that the Sangre De Cristos, a solid granite mountain range, would provide security and shelter for the necessary underground bunkers, and, as an added bonus, it was all on land already owned by the government as a national forest.
Sadly, nothing was heard from Paul J. Larsen, Director of the National Civilian Defense Board, who was charged with selecting the emergency capital. But, later that year, Jim Riley got nice “thank you for your interest” note from Senator Dennis Chavez.
No comments:
Post a Comment