Expanded from Wheeler's short story "Abraham '59" (originally published in the Winter 1959 issue of Dissent under the pen name F. B. Aiken), it was initially serialized in three installments in the Saturday Evening Post on October 13, 20, and 27, 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

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 and starring Henry Fonda, Dan O'Herlihy, and Walter Matthau.

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.

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 points.

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.

At meetings in Omaha, at the Pentagon, and in the fallout shelter of the White House, American politicians, generals and scholars debate the cause and implications of the attack.

The President orders them to try anyway, and the six "Skyscrapper" supersonic fighters[c] in the area engage their afterburners and, just prior to their fuel running out, fire their rockets in futile attempts to hit the bombers.

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 at the same time, using four 20-megaton bombs, targeting the Empire State Building as ground zero; this also involves a grave personal sacrifice, as the First Lady is visiting New York, and he decides not to warn her.

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.

The suit was settled out of court, with the agreement for Fail-Safe to wait until well after Dr. Strangelove had been released, greatly reducing its popularity at the box office, given their perceived commonality.