Editing Seven Days in May (section)

==Plot==
During the [[Cold War]], the unpopular U.S. President Jordan Lyman has signed a [[nuclear disarmament]] treaty with the Soviet Union which has produced a wave of dissatisfaction, especially among Lyman's political opposition and the military, who believe the Russians cannot be trusted. His popularity reaches an all-time low of 29%, and rioting about the treaty occurs right outside the White House. The presidential physician warns him of a dangerous cardiac condition which he blithely disregards, too busy to take a prescribed two-week vacation.

[[United States Marine Corps]] Colonel "Jiggs" Casey is the [[Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff]]. He serves its [[Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff|chairman]], [[Four-star rank|four-star]] [[United States Air Force general]] James Mattoon Scott, a highly-decorated commander and [[air ace]].

Casey stumbles upon evidence that Scott is leading the Joint Chiefs to stage a ''[[coup d'etat]]'' to remove Lyman in seven days. Under the plan, disguised as a training exercise, a secret [[United States Army|army]] unit known as ECOMCON, training at a secret Texas base, will take control of the country's telephone, radio, and television networks while the president, participating in a staged "alert," is seized. Scott, who is busy advancing his charismatic public persona through nationally televised anti-treaty rallies, plans to head a [[military junta]]. Although personally opposed to Lyman's policies, Casey is appalled by the plot and alerts Lyman.

Still somewhat skeptical, Lyman gathers a circle of trusted advisors to investigate: [[United States Secret Service|Secret Service]] White House detail chief Art Corwin, [[Treasury Secretary]] Christopher Todd, longtime advisor Paul Girard, and Raymond Clark, the senior [[U.S. senator]] from [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] and a close friend of 21 years.

Casey has deduced that the heads of all U.S. military branches but the Navy support Scott's coup scheme, with Vice Admiral Barnswell, then aboard an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean, apparently the only invited officer to decline. Lyman cancels a previous commitment to participate in Scott's alert, pretending he will be away for a fishing weekend. He then dispatches Girard to Gibraltar to obtain Barnswell's confession, sends the alcoholic Clark to Texas to locate the secret base, and tasks Casey to gather dirt on the general's private life. Meanwhile, the Secret Service surreptitiously films evidence of an attempt to kidnap the president during the phony fishing trip, removing all doubts about the existence of a plot.

Girard successfully secures Barnswell's confession in writing, but this is lost with him when a plane crash in Spain claims his life. Clark is taken captive when he reaches the secret base and held incommunicado. Exploiting Casey's longtime friendship with the base's deputy commander Colonel Henderson, Clark convinces Henderson of the actual intent of the impending "alert". Henderson frees Clark and leads an escape back to Washington but is abducted and confined in a military stockade. In a radiophone conference call with the president, Barnswell denies knowledge of any conspiracy.

Knowing he cannot prove Scott's guilt, Lyman nevertheless calls Scott to the White House to demand that he and the other conspirators resign. Scott refuses and denies the existence of any plot. Lyman argues that a coup would prompt the Soviets to launch a [[preemptive nuclear strike]]. Scott maintains that the American people are behind him. Lyman challenges him to resign and run for office in order to seek power legitimately, but Scott is unmoved. Lyman restrains himself from confronting Scott with damning letters that Casey had obtained from Scott's former mistress Eleanor Holbrook. Casey, who has his own romantic interest in Holbrook, eventually returns them to her.

Scott meets the other three Joint Chiefs and reasserts his intention to execute the coup. He plans a nighttime network broadcast, but Lyman holds an afternoon press conference to announce he has fired the four men. As he speaks, Barnswell's confession, recovered from the plane crash, is handed to him and he delays the conference. In the interim, copies of the confession are delivered to Scott and the other plotters. As the conference resumes, Scott abandons the plan and, devastated, returns home when Lyman announces that the other three conspirators have resigned.

Lyman delivers a speech on the state of the nation and its values, declaring that the nation gains strength through peace rather than by conflict. The press corps applauds.