![]() ![]() Although it returned to its original function as a hotel after the war, government officials occasionally held conferences at Greenbrier.Ĭonstruction on the bunker began in 1957. ![]() During World War II, Greenbrier had served as an internment facility for Japanese, Italian, and German diplomats and then as a military hospital, where Eisenhower himself was at one time a patient. ![]() Greenbrier was chosen because of its location -relatively close and accessible to Washington, but far enough away to be safe from an atomic bomb -and because of its prior relationship with the United States government. They ultimately selected the Greenbrier, a luxury resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. As part of these efforts, the Army Corps of Engineers was charged with scouting the location of a nuclear bunker for the members of Congress. Even if Washington, DC was destroyed, American officials needed a procedure to maintain the continuity of government. Eisenhower instructed the Department of Defense to draft emergency plans for Congress in case of a nuclear strike. One of the great vestiges of the Cold War is the Greenbrier bunker, a facility built to house all 535 members of Congress in the event of a nuclear attack. ![]()
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