““Another unexpected problem in emergency planning became apparent during the exercise: The wives of the cabinet leaders rebelled—the first in what would be a long line of spouses who realized that the government had planned for their partners’ survival but not their own. As syndicated columnist Doris Fleeson wrote in a column entitled “Men First; Women, Children Last,” “Apparently it had not dawned on those ladies until they actually saw their husbands pack a suitcase for a three-day stay that no such plans had been made for them or their children. Their wives’ farewell embraces were described by some of the men as rather lacking in warmth.” Adding to the domestic chill was the realization that 200 of the cabinet leaders’ secretaries—“Government Girls,” as the newspapers referred to them—had been afforded space in the relocation planning.II””
