Josiah for President

by Martha Bolton

  Until Josiah’s inauguration, Franklin Pierce had been the only president to change the word swear in the oath to affirm. It had been Josiah’s personal choice to do the same.

  He also chose to follow the action of George Washington and kiss the Bible following the ceremony. Elizabeth knew his intention wasn’t to offend anyone; he simply figured if it was good enough for Founding Father George Washington, then it was good enough for Josiah Stoltzfus as well. It was the part of the ceremony that was left up to each individual president being sworn in. The chief justice wasn’t involved in these highly personal decisions.

  Only a few from the Amish community attended the ceremony. Josiah hadn’t been shunned as yet, but the controversy of his running for national office made it risky for members of the community to be too involved with Josiah and his blatant disobedience. A shunning was just a matter of time. Bishop Miller had told Elizabeth that he was hoping to wait until after the inauguration before throwing any disciplinary action from the church into the mix.

  The absence of the Amish wasn’t all that noticeable, however, because vendors were selling Amish-style hats and bonnets to anyone with the means to buy them. Elizabeth thought it was rather enterprising of the vendors, but then, she thought, the items did make a nice souvenir for such a historic event.

  Following the oath, Elizabeth watched as President Josiah Stoltzfus stepped up to the microphone to deliver his inaugural address.

  “My fellow Americans,” he began, then paused and smiled. “The beards are back!”

  The crowd went wild. They laughed, they cheered, they whooped and hollered.

  “We love you, Josiah!” they yelled. A multitude of “Josiah” signs waved among the crowd, and people chanted, “Josiah! Josiah!” until their throats hurt.

  When the enthusiasm died down, which took well over a minute, Josiah continued, “When Vice President Mark Stedman’s path crossed with mine on a road outside of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, I believed it was a God-ordained moment. When I later learned that Mark had entered my name in the race for president and that I was already doing rather well in the polls, well, to be honest with you, I wondered if maybe I should have ridden on by and not stopped to help the congressman out of the ditch that day. I even told him that I had pulled him out of a ditch, but he was trying to pull me into one!”

  The crowd roared with laughter. Elizabeth smiled as Josiah nodded good-naturedly in Mark’s direction before continuing.

  “But today I am glad I listened to my friend, because as I stand before you now, I have no doubt that this is what I was meant to do. Not everyone has agreed with me, of course, and to those I would ask their patience, understanding, and in some instances, their forgiveness.

  “I’m here now, elected by what is nothing short of a miracle. I feel the burden of that miracle and will do my very best to serve as your president — each and every one of you — those who voted for me and those who didn’t. We are one now; let us come together as Americans. I know we can do it. We’ve done it before; we’ll do it again. I look forward to working with Congress and putting together a plan that will jump-start our economy, get our people back to work, and get America back on course. We will recalculate and find our way once again!”

  The audience gave boisterous approval, and the band, complete with dulcimers, began playing “Hail to the Chief.”

  NEEDLESS TO SAY, THE INAUGURAL PARADE WAS LIKE NO OTHER in recent times. The Secret Service ran alongside “Horse-and-Buggy One,” as it was later dubbed by the press.

  DayBreak, Josiah’s buggy horse from Lancaster, had been brought in early for the special occasion and seemed quite pleased to be showing off her trotting skills for the crowd of spectators.

  Reporter Emily Watson covered the parade from her vantage point. “The president and Mrs. Stoltzfus will ride in their horse and buggy all the way to their new residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” she announced to the rest of the country, tuned in via TV, radio, or the Internet.

  Just then cheers and applause broke out in the background, and Emily knew that the president’s buggy had come into sight. Josiah and Elizabeth waved to the hundreds of thousands of well-wishers who lined both sides of the parade route.

  “Folks,” Emily said, with confetti raining onto her hair, “all I can say is — this is going to be an interesting four years!”

  AT THE REQUEST OF JOSIAH AND ELIZABETH, ONLY ONE INAUGURAL ball was scheduled. In the past, incoming presidents had been expected to spend the evening making brief appearances at multiple inaugural balls, but Josiah was emphatic that there would be only one.

  “Do a party right, and you only need one,” he had told the event planners.

  “But, sir, how will we accommodate all the dignitaries and donors if we only have one ball?”

  “We’re broke,” Josiah said. “Most folks don’t throw a party to celebrate that.”

  “I realize that, sir, but it is well-established protocol to have several inaugural balls.”

  “One’ll do just fine,” Josiah had replied. “Besides, just think how much money this will save.”

  Josiah was intent on looking for ways to save America and the American people money, and he was ready and willing to start at his own address first. Whatever ways he could find for the White House to cut back on its own expenses without sacrificing dignity or historic procedure, he wanted to do it.

  “Washington is going to tighten its own belt first, before we ask the public to tighten theirs — or in my case, its own suspenders. Like ole Benny, no one wants to be the only horse pulling. Our recovery will be a team effort, or there will be no recovery,” he said to one reporter.

  The nation respected the one inaugural ball idea. Josiah was doing what he had promised to do — living simply and by example. In fact, simplicity was the theme of the ball. Simple Elegance.

  Elizabeth wore her own blue wedding dress, which she hadn’t worn in years, and only a few times since her wedding day. It still fit, and without a shred of Spanx. Despite all the good home cooking for which Elizabeth was so well known back in Lancaster County, she had somehow managed to maintain her youthful figure over the years.

  The inaugural partying went well into the night, but the First Couple excused themselves early. They needed to get up before dawn the following day to start the business of running the country. Besides, the moving van would be dropping off their furniture and various other belongings to the White House first thing in the morning.

  Josiah and Elizabeth enjoyed a good party as much as anyone, but they were tired, their feet hurt, and the music was way too loud.

  The exhausted couple slept soundly that night. Not even the fireworks could wake them. But that was okay. They’d earned their rest.

  What a day it had been for both of them. When they had woken up that morning, they’d been Josiah and Elizabeth Stoltzfus. But when they went to bed that night, they were the president and First Lady.

  What in the world had this sweet Amish couple from Lancaster County gotten themselves into?

  CHAPTER 19

  JOSIAH HESITATED IN THE DOORWAY, OVERWHELMED BY THE sheer magnificence and magnitude of the Oval Office, which stretched out before him. It was nothing like the space where he conducted his farm business at home. Josiah’s home-office desk had been relegated to a corner of the common area in his Lancaster home.

  But now Josiah would be sitting where so many great men had previously sat — at this massive desk, which was flanked on one side by the presidential flag and on the other by the flag of the United States. It humbled him.

  Josiah appreciated the fact that President Holt hadn’t gotten caught up in the fray of the campaign mudslinging. Josiah also knew that since the economy was in such bad shape, most politicians running for office might have figured they’d do better without attaching their name so closely to President Holt’s. It wasn’t completely fair, of course, that Holt was being blamed for everything that had gone wrong in the country. But even Josiah saw that
although Holt had been the one standing at the helm of the ship, he hadn’t seen the iceberg approaching.

  The incumbent now rose from his chair and welcomed his successor. Josiah nodded a greeting but remained frozen in the doorway, hesitating to step on the immaculate rug with its inset presidential seal. It appeared far too splendid for mere men to set foot upon.

  “Welcome to your new home,” President Holt said and then motioned toward the presidential chair, offering Josiah his first experience sitting on it. Josiah stepped forward, humbly and haltingly, his shadow overlapping President Holt’s shadow as he walked toward the chair and sat down upon it. The chair was bigger than he imagined it would be.

  “You grow into it,” President Holt said. President Holt’s relief at exiting his post was evident on his face. It had been a long four years.

  Josiah ran his fingers over the Resolute desk. He loved his own desk back home, the one he had carved with his own hands and sweat, but the Oval Office desk was a mighty fine piece of furniture and history. Its superb craftsmanship didn’t escape the Amish man’s notice.

  “This desk was a gift from Queen Victoria back in 1880,” President Holt said. “They made it from wood taken from the HMS Resolute.”

  “Is that so?” Josiah said, admiring the grain of the wood.

  Glancing around the room, Josiah could hardly believe all the history the space held. And he could barely wrap his mind around the fact that this day had actually come. America was his charge now, and while he hoped everyone would pull together once they realized how much stake they had in their own futures, he knew much of the responsibility for the outcome still fell to him, the one holding the reins.

  And he was a long, long way from Lancaster.

  IT WAS ABOUT 8:00 A.M. WHEN THE MOVING VAN, PULLING A horse trailer behind it, made its way up the delivery drive of the White House.

  “Where do you figure they want the horses?” Kenny, the driver, asked.

  “Beats me,” Hank said, looking over the work order from the passenger seat. “It doesn’t say.”

  “Well, where does the White House usually keep its horses?”

  “I don’t think they have any.”

  “Sure, they do. Didn’t George Washington ride a horse?”

  “Yeah, but that horse has gotta be dead by now,” Hank said. “Wait. Here it is on the work order. It says to tie ‘em up to the new hitching posts in the Rose Garden.”

  “The Rose Garden has hitching posts?”

  “Guess it does now.”

  Kenny shrugged his shoulders and then drove as close as he could to the Rose Garden. The two movers began unloading the animals.

  White House personnel watched in shock as the creatures were escorted down the driveway toward the Rose Garden. A few gasps could be heard, frenzied whispers, and even some oohs and aahs. They were beautiful horses. Even the mule was exceptional.

  True to his word, Josiah was indeed bringing the Amish influence to the White House. He’d had some of the White House furniture in the living quarters moved into storage so it could be replaced by more sparse and simple furniture.

  “Is it true he’s living without electricity in the living quarters?” one reporter asked a member of the White House staff.

  “It is. But only on that floor,” the staff member said.

  Due to national security issues, Josiah couldn’t very well turn off the electricity in the entire White House. But in those areas where he could, he opted for the Amish style of living and, again, saving the nation money.

  “How can he keep up with everything going on in the world and Washington with no television or Internet?” the reporter asked.

  The White House staff member didn’t hesitate. “Guess they’ll all just have to talk to each other. What a concept, huh?”

  What a concept, indeed. Unfiltered information, straight from the horse’s mouth. Of course, if he needed it, television, Internet, and every kind of technology Josiah would ever need was available on other levels of the White House. But in his personal living quarters, it was the Plain world, the Amish world, Josiah’s world.

  Some of his own hand-carved furniture and gas lanterns were brought from his house in Lancaster, and he had a clothesline installed on the East Lawn. Josiah stretched the line out between two trees, and when Elizabeth hung their family’s Amish clothing from it, it was quite a sight to behold. It was rumored that the first time she did this, the echo of the collective gasps could be heard all the way to the National Mall. Postcards, posters, and T-shirts featuring the charming visual immediately began selling to tourists from all over the world.

  Most people thought the changes at the White House were a refreshing difference from the expensive tastes of a few of the former first ladies. This wasn’t the time for wasteful spending, and President Josiah and his first lady were leading by example.

  But it was the barn raising that caused the biggest stir. The White House staff was involved, as were some members of Congress, along with anyone else who wanted to help. The event attracted a crowd of onlookers, drawn by both curiosity and the sheer novelty of the event.

  HARLEY TRIED HIS BEST TO CUT THE NEW PRESIDENT SOME slack. If the nation wanted an Amish man in the White House — and apparently they did — then he would have to accept it and try to work with the man. But that didn’t stop him from bending the ear of anyone within earshot, complaining about the changes.

  “A barn, Senator O’Brien?” Harley said over lunch one afternoon. “The president had a barn raising at the White House? Preposterous!”

  “Gerald Ford put in a new outdoor pool,” Senator O’Brien said. “Not to mention, the pool Franklin Roosevelt had put in, which was later covered up to house the Press Briefing Room.”

  “I’m fully aware of the outdoor pool. Every First Family since has benefitted from that. But a pool isn’t a barn, Senator.”

  “Well, what about Nixon? He added a bowling alley.”

  “One lane,” Harley said defensively. “And even he had the good sense to keep his addition indoors.”

  “Clinton added a jogging track. And what about Obama’s half basketball court? And don’t forget the jungle gym President Holt installed for his kids,” the senator said, taking a bite of his ham sandwich. “So the White House has a barn now.” He shrugged.

  “And that’s an improvement?”

  “To the mule I suppose it is.”

  “You mean the First Mule, don’t you, Senator O’Brien?” Harley smirked.

  HARLEY PHILLIPS ASIDE, MOST CONGRESSIONAL MEMBERS FROM both sides of the aisle were willing to give Josiah a chance. Oh, there were a few who, like Harley, didn’t want the grounds of the White House being altered in this or any other way. But the barn Josiah raised wasn’t a very large barn, and he did need a place for the animals during the cold winter months. Winter in Washington, D.C., could be brutal.

  Once the barn was up, Vice President Stedman shook his head in wonder. “Presidents have remodeled this house before,” he said, “but I don’t think any of them ever did it quite like this, sir.”

  “A house isn’t a home without a good barn!” Josiah said. Then, standing back to admire the hard work of so many, he added, “Now it feels like home.”

  TWO WHITE HOUSE STAFF MEMBERS, ADELE AND WINSTON, WHO had been watching the barn raising from a window in the White House, were flabbergasted.

  “I’ve been here thirty-nine years, and I’ve never seen anything like this!” Adele said. “Have you, Winston?”

  “No, ma’am, I haven’t,” he said. “I surely haven’t.”

  “A barn raising. Horses. Clotheslines. It’s starting to feel like Green Acres around here!”

  Adele and Winston both laughed and went back to their duties of dusting and sweeping and … wait a minute!

  What was that standing in the open doorway?

  “Oh, my!” Winston exclaimed. “Looks like we’ve got us some company.”

  Adele turned to see what Winston was looking at and th
en shrieked. It was a goat! The little fella was standing right there on the marble floor just inside the room, staring up at them, almost daring them to try to shoo him away. Joseph, Josiah’s boy, appeared on the scene.

  “I was just trying to sneak him up to my room, but he wiggled himself loose from me,” Joseph said. “Am I in trouble?”

  “Not if we can catch him,” Winston said.

  Within seconds, Secret Service was on the scene trying to contain the farm critter.

  “Grab him before he breaks something!” Adele yelled.

  Winston lunged toward the goat, but it took off running down the hallway, its little hooves slipping and sliding as it desperately tried to get traction on the marble floor. Adele and Winston, Joseph and the Secret Service all chased after the critter.

  Each time it rounded a corner, the goat would barely maintain its footing, but it kept going.

  Other White House staffers noticed the pursuit and joined in the adventure. Before long, the White House staff, the Secret Service, the First Kids, and even a few lobbyists and congressmen were chasing after the renegade goat.

  Winston finally caught up to it, and when he did, he reached out, barely tagging the goat’s hind leg. The goat lost its footing but managed to work loose from Winston’s grip before running away again, ultimately slipping and sliding on its bottom down the marble hallway, directly toward an open elevator. There was barely an inch to spare as the critter slid through the closing doors just in the nick of time.

  Nathaniel, the elevator operator, quite mellow from far too many hours spent listening to soothing elevator music, didn’t even look away from the elevator buttons to see who it was who had just entered the elevator.

  “Floor please?” Nathaniel said, lifting his gloved hand toward the buttons in preparation for pushing the correct floor.

  “Maaaaa!” the goat answered. Nathaniel slowly turned and looked down at the goat who was innocently looking up at him.

  “Only in Washington,” Nathaniel said, undaunted.