[UnderseaLcpl]

The very first thing I would do is hire a good tax lawyer to help me get as much of the money under the IRS' radar as possible.
I'd probably quit my regular job, as well. Working for the railroad is a sweet gig, but I dislike working for a polygopolistic industry with a union labor force. Everything is slow, expensive, and inefficient.

After that, I'd like to start a business. I'm not sure what kind. I'd love to run a private security firm, or a private school, but the red tape and tax overhead would make either venture difficult, especially with such a small amount of capital. And it depends on what the tax lawyer says as well. There are many industries that recieve hefty subsidies, even if they aren't productive.
I would also invest a few million in agricultural futures, for the time being. The stock market is a bit too volatile for my taste at the moment, and there is going to be a general devaluation of currency, making traditional low-risk investments less rewarding.

Finally, I would donate what I could spare to charities I like and friends and family. I'd bank about half a million as a rainy-day fund in case everything goes horribly wrong. I'm not a person with expensive tastes, so that would more than suffice. If things looked really bad, I'd buy gold with that 500k. It would be a loss at that point for sure, but gold prices tend to go up(inflation adjusted) when the economy gets really bad, so I'm sure I would at least break even in the long run.