Come Nineveh, Come Tyre: The Presidency of Edward M. Jason

by Allen Drury

  (“How’s that?” AP murmured to UPI. “Shh,” UPI responded. “The indisputable logic will unfold.”)

  “Outside, what do we have?” Fred asked, and his colleagues and the gallery were quite still in the thought of what they did have. But Fred proved to them that it was different from what many of them thought.

  “We have, it is true, an ill-advised and overreactive series of moves by the Soviet military. I think we all agree on the unfortunate extremism of that. But note this, members of the Senate: since those initial unfortunate Soviet moves, we have had no further overt attack upon the United States and its citizens. We have had no further—”

  “Mr. President,” Bob Munson said sharply, rising to his feet. “Is the Senator trying to tell us that the continuing incarceration of American troops from Gorotoland and Panama, the continuing harassment of American fishing vessels seeking to ply their trade from Alaskan harbors, the continuing pell-mell rush of Soviet sea power into the oceans of the world—”

  “Mr. President!” Fred said with equal sharpness. “I did not yield to the Senator and I do not welcome his impolite interruptions!”

  There was an approving smarter of applause from the galleries and he turned to address them directly.

  “No, Mr. President, I do not welcome it, and I do not think the American people welcome it! We are aware of our difficulties, Mr. President, I will say to the Senator, and we agree that they exist. But not all of us are as quick to see deep, dark, sinister plots directed at the ending of the American Republic as he is! No, Mr. President,” he said, as there was a little sarcastic, approving laughter from floor and galleries, “some of us are not that paranoid, I will say to the Senator! We can see, Mr. President, how a military organization can get out of hand and sometimes embarrass a civilian government, because God knows we’ve had that here, in Viet Nam, in Gorotoland, in Panama and in a lot of other places in recent decades. We know how easy it is for the military to get out of hand, and we know that’s what happened the other day in the Soviet Union. But we know it’s being brought under control, and we know as a result of our great President’s journey to Moscow that we can expect a world of peace from here on.”

  “Mr. President,” Cullee Hamilton demanded without even bothering to seek recognition from the chair, “how do we know that? What crystal ball is the Senator using? No one else knows what went on between the President and the Chairman. How come the Senator from Wyoming knows?”

  “Now, Mr. President,” Fred Van Ackerman cried with a fine indignation, “that is exactly the sort of thinking that hampers and cripples our great President in his search for peace! It is exactly that kind of conservative, reactionary, warmongering blindness that makes it so difficult for him to deal effectively with the problems he faces! It is exactly—”

  “It is exactly,” Bronnie Bernard declared to the packed and restless House and its packed and restless galleries, “what makes his task, and the task of all the millions who believe in him, so terribly difficult. It is exactly why all of us who support him must close ranks and turn a united front to his reactionary right-wing enemies. It is exactly why we must pass this Help America bill, so that we can not only help America, but help Edward M. Jason, the greatest President America has ever had!”

  A roar of applause approved him, and in the chair Jawbone gaveled busily, but not too hard, for order.

  “Mr. Speaker—” Bronnie’s voice dropped to the low and solemn tone he had found effective so often in debates with the intransigent who could not be convinced and must therefore be overwhelmed, “I say to this House, we must pass this bill. We must preserve the domestic peace and tranquility which furnish the only framework within which our great President can seek, and achieve, a viable and lasting peace. We must support him, Mr. Speaker, for he … is … the … only … President … we … have!”

  And he sat down to another roar of applause that turned quickly to hisses, boos and grumbles of discontent as Hal Knox, William Abbott and half a dozen others jumped to their feet and sought recognition. After a moment’s hesitation the Speaker said, “The distinguished gentleman from Illinois, great son of a great father!” with an elaborately kindly, heavy-handed graciousness. For just a second Hal gave him a look of mingled surprise and amusement that said as plainly as words, Who are you kidding, old buddy? “And a great mother, too,” Jawbone added solemnly, and this time Hal grinned and gave him an obvious wink. It was the last moment of even moderate lightness in the debate of either house on the Help America bill.

  “Mr. Speaker,” Hal said, “I thank the Speaker for those kind words. And I appreciate his generosity in recognizing me so that I may attempt, albeit feebly, to answer the very able and very voluble gentleman from New York. Now, Mr. Speaker,” he said, ignoring the little wave of hisses that greeted this disrespectful reference to Bronnie Bernard, who simply gave him a blank, exaggerated stare and shook his head in a pitying way, “the gentleman has been very colorful in his language this afternoon.

  “He has told us of the many crimes of the United States of America, going back unto the first generation, and he has used them to justify perhaps the most repulsive and dangerous measure ever put before this free Congress.

  “He has managed, in so doing, to absolve the Soviet Government and the Russian nation from any responsibility for anything that has happened in the world, as nearly as I can understand his argument, clear back to the Russian Revolution in 1917.

  “He has painted a picture, and I find it a very familiar picture, because I went through the same schooling he did and I heard the same clichés—of an America cruel, rapacious, imperialistic and corrupt. He has balanced it with a picture of a Soviet Union pure, peace-loving, humanitarian and noble.

  “And seeing the world that way, he has of course arrived logically at the conclusion that in this present crisis it is simply a rather absent-minded piece of overreaching on the part of the Soviet military which confronts us. It is not a deliberate campaign by the Russian Government to embarrass and, indeed, destroy, the United States of America.”

  There were a few derisive hoots at this, but he ignored them and went on.

  “And so, with equal logic, he arrives at the conclusion that all Americans who are in any way suspicious of Soviet Russia, are in any way concerned about the present crisis, are in any way upset and critical about the course of action—if it can be called action, Mr. Speaker, which is very much in doubt, it seems to me—of the President of the United States, are somehow traitors to the President, traitors to America and traitors to the cause of world peace.

  “And so, with equal inevitability, he argues the conclusion that if free American citizens make any public demonstration of disapproval or dismay, they must be suppressed for the higher good of the future as conceived, formulated and directed by Edward M. Jason. They must be subjected to the restrictions of this bill, which are as sure a prescription for dictatorship in America as have ever been put before the Congress. The great American tradition of protest and dissent must be destroyed because it offends the political ideas and programs of one man. It has been implicit and inevitable in all the violent protests of recent years that sooner or later this would be proposed by somebody in this Congress on behalf of some President, but it strikes me as fantastic and even more dangerous that it should be proposed by ‘liberals’ in the interests of a ‘liberal’ President. Yet I suppose, Mr. Speaker, it has also been implicit and inevitable that when such a move came, it should come from the ‘liberal’ side, because only they can manage to find language pious and self-righteous enough to camouflage the true nature of the malodorous package they have put before us today.”

  But this was too much, not only for the galleries and many members, who hissed and booed and shouted, but for the bill’s coauthor and introducer. Bronnie Bernard was on his feet, face twisted with anger, shouting, “Mr. Speaker!” in a tone that brooked no denial. Nor did Hal intend to deny it, for with an open contempt he snapped, “I will be glad to yie
ld to the gentleman, Mr. Speaker!” and turned to Bronnie an expectant and grimly skeptical face.

  “Mr. Speaker,” Congressman Bernard said, and his voice shook with the disgust and contempt he felt for his antagonist across the chamber, “the Congressman from Illinois and I are new in this chamber, but I warrant you if we stay for a hundred years we will not hear such unfair and inflammatory language as the Congressman has just uttered here today!” Applause rewarded him and his voice raced on, furious, self-righteous and accusatory. “No one, Mr. Speaker, wants any dictatorship! No one is accusing the United States—except for clear crimes against humanity amply borne out by the historical record! No one is defending the Soviet Union—save for her many patient attempts to achieve world peace! Certainly no one is defending her military, who have temporarily exceeded the bounds of civilian control! And certainly no one is advocating a dictatorship in this free land! That is the farthest thing from the thoughts of any of us!

  “No, Mr. Speaker, the gentleman will have to do better than that. He cannot scare us with these bugaboos—the work we have to do here is too important. We are engaged in no less than the saving of the world, Mr. Speaker. Let us address ourselves to it with the solemn dignity it deserves!”

  Again he received applause, spontaneous and noisy, mingled this time with the boos, hoots and shouts of the bill’s opponents. With a look of satisfaction he turned to face the tumultuous House.

  “Mr. Speaker, I submit to you that this proposed bill does just three fundamental things: it guarantees to the President the climate of calm and national unity that he needs to meet the present crisis brought on by the temporary aberration of the Soviet military machine. It guarantees him the united public support which he must have in order to deal calmly and constructively with the peace-loving Soviet civilian government, which wishes so desperately to cooperate with us. And it guarantees that certain sinister reactionary elements, which will seize upon any crisis to mask their incessant attack upon this democracy and all its institutions, will not be able to advance their anti-democratic schemes behind a smoke screen of phony so-called ‘patriotism!’

  “That’s what it does, Mr. Speaker, and I submit to my frightened friend from Illinois and all his frightened friends wherever they may be throughout this broad land—a land which is much more confident and much less afraid than they are—that this is all the bill does.

  “They cannot frighten us into believing more, Mr. Speaker! They cannot stampede us with their divisive, reactionary, terroristic rhetoric into abandoning the greatest advocate of world peace who has ever come to the White House. They cannot stampede us—”

  “Mr. Speaker,” William Abbott interrupted, biting off his words in a way that brought immediate attention from the House, “will the gentleman from New York permit a brief rejoinder, or is the right of reply too reactionary to be included in his concept of democracy?”

  “Mr. Speaker,” Bronnie Bernard said angrily, “I yield to one of the major architects of our present troubles.”

  Even for the House in its present mood that proved a little strong. There was a gasp of surprise and a sudden silence. Into it the ex-President spoke with a savage and hammering deliberation.

  “Mr. Speaker,” he said, “I won’t waste time on the personal attacks of the gentleman, which are about on a par with the rest of what he has been saying. He is very good at words. Unfortunately in my estimation most of them don’t make sense.

  “He and those who agree with him here have done a lot of clever arguing in an indefensible cause. The main point they’ve made, as near as I can figure it out, is that we have to have this bill because opposition to this President is undemocratic and can’t be permitted.

  “What kind of talk is that in a democracy, Mr. Speaker? And just what do they know about this President, anyway? Has he spoken to them? Have they spoken to him? What does he really think about this bill, I will ask the gentleman from New York, its principal mover? Does the gentleman know? Tell us what the President told you about it, Congressman. We all want to hear.”

  “Well—” Bronnie Bernard began, but William Abbott was onto his hesitant tone at once.

  “Hasn’t told you a thing, has he? You haven’t seen him, you haven’t talked to him, you haven’t heard from him, isn’t that right? He hasn’t talked to anybody about anything at any time since getting back from Moscow, as near as I can find out. And yet you get up here in this House, and over there in the other body that great statesman from Wyoming is doing the same, and you claim to be presenting a bill in the President’s name that you’re trying to tell us he needs and approves of. How do you manage that, Congressman? Isn’t that making pretty free with the name of the President of the United States?”

  “He hasn’t said he’s against it,” Bronnie snapped, “and God knows he’s had plenty of opportunity!”

  “True enough,” Bill Abbott agreed. “And he hasn’t said he’s for it, either, and he’s had the same opportunity. So I think somebody for some reason is trying to put over something pretty vicious on this Congress and on the American people. I can excuse you, because you’re young and inexperienced here and haven’t had time to learn that there are sharks in these waters. But I can’t excuse those who are using you, Congressman. I can’t excuse them at all, because they know better.”

  At this Bronnie Bernard seemed to swell up and threaten to pop. But with great and obvious difficulty he forced himself to hold it and presently replied in a voice uneven with anger but under control.

  “Perhaps my youth,” he said shakily, “in contrast to the Congressman’s age, is what this is all about. Maybe it takes us younger members to really appreciate what the President is trying to do. Maybe it takes us to understand how sincere he is, what a great leader he is, how dedicated he is to world peace and to all of humanity. Maybe it takes us to be unafraid to face up to what is required if he is to achieve this goal. Maybe it takes us to understand how he can’t possibly achieve it if he is constantly going to be hampered and hamstrung by reckless and irresponsible protest and opposition at his back. Maybe we and the President are the future, I suggest to the Congressman from Colorado, and maybe he and his friends, even if some of them are young and reactionary, are the past.”

  Again he was rewarded by prolonged and hearty applause from floor and galleries. The ex-President let it die completely before he attempted to speak.

  “If you are the future,” he said slowly, “God help this Republic. And I’m not saying you’re not, Congressman. I wouldn’t be that certain about it. You may very well be. I hope not, I will say to you frankly, because I don’t think you have the slightest concept of the Pandora’s box you will open if you pass this bill into law. You think it will be administered fairly and idealistically, maybe, in some perfect fashion that will just restrain people a little, not really hurt anybody. But laws aren’t administered fairly and idealistically, Congressman, no matter who proposes them: they’re administered by men. And men can be terribly hard on other men when they come to administer a law—particularly if they are men, like yourself, who are absolutely—and I grant you, quite sincerely—convinced that they and they alone know what is right and best for everybody.

  “I submit to this House, Mr. Speaker, that this is a monstrously dangerous proposal we have here before us, rushed to the floor by the Rules Committee without time for witnesses or adequate study. I submit that it will establish the machinery for the most arbitrary and absolute control of the individual citizen that has ever been seen in this Republic. I submit—”

  “I submit,” Bob Munson said, and the Senate and galleries were quiet as he spoke, listening intently to his summation, “that this measure, brought in here by the Senator from Wyoming and friends of his in the other body under God knows whose auspices, rammed through the Judiciary Committee in the wee hours of the morning by a narrow vote, will establish nothing less than a dictatorship in America.” There was a titter of disbelieving laughter from somewhere in the room and with a
sudden anger he snapped, “Yes, a dictatorship in America! We had better call it by its right name, right here and now before we go any further. You set up this Domestic Tranquility Agency to peek and pry and tell us what to think—and write, Mr. President,” he said, turning suddenly to stare up at the packed Press Gallery above, “and write, make no mistake about that—and you’ve got dictatorship. You accompany it with this so-called ‘Special Branch’ in the Department of Justice, with all its power to go into the private and confidential records of the citizenry—and you’ve got dictatorship. You will have gone a terrible way down the road from which free nations don’t return. And it won’t be lightly administered, Mr. President, don’t let anybody fool himself on that. It won’t be a joke. Those who support this measure want it, Mr. President, and they mean to use it if they get it. And we won’t have the opportunity later to reverse it or repeal it. There won’t be a second chance.”

  “Mr. President,” Tom August said in his gentle, hesitant way, “would the distinguished Maj—ex-Majority—Leader yield to me for a comment, to be followed by a question?”

  “Certainly I shall yield to my old and dear friend, the Senator from Minnesota,” Senator Munson said, thinking, God, now we’re going to get things fumbled up, “whom I find, to my sadness and disbelief, on the other side of an issue on which I had thought he of all people would stand foursquare for democracy and against dictatorship.”

  “Well, Mr. President,” Senator August said, still gently, while a few partisans in the gallery laughed scornfully at Bob Munson’s comment, “I am not going to argue those terms with the Senator from Michigan, who is my old and dear friend also, and who distresses me as I distress him, because he cannot see the reasons why we need some such measure.

  “Let me postulate to him my view of the situation as I see it, and then let me ask my question.… I see, Mr. President, a President of the United States who campaigned for his great office on the constant pledge that he would go as far as might prove necessary in the search for world peace. I see him winning on that platform, and winning overwhelmingly, to the plaudits of the great majority of his countrymen and the plaudits of peace-loving men everywhere in this world.