“Look at this.” Duncan plopped a copy of the Post on Lefkowitz’s desk. They read the competition. They just hoped the competition bothered to read the Ledger. “Latest Gallup poll says Kennedy’s approval rating is eighty-seven percent.”
“That’s Galluping approval, all right,” Lefkowitz agreed.
Duncan sent him a reproachful stare. “I don’t think Jesus had an eighty-seven percent approval rating.”
“They killed Jesus a long time ago,” Lefkowitz said. “Nobody’s tried to blow his head off lately. And Kennedy’s like a pig in clover right now. What did Churchill say?” He grabbed a Bartlett’s and found out what Churchill said: “‘Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.’”
“Christ, what horseshit!” Duncan remembered too many Japanese rifle and machine-gun rounds cracking past too close. He remembered one tugging on his trouser leg like an insistent little kid. And, looking at the stump of his right little finger, he remembered what happened when you were shot at with result. He wished he didn’t.
Lefkowitz had gone through the draft, but he’d fired only on the rifle range. He was too young to have seen action--he’d missed Korea by a couple of years, and spent all his Army time in the States. He put the Bartlett’s away. “He says it with style, anyhow.”
“Stylish horseshit is still horseshit. It’s worse horseshit, ’cause you’re more likely to believe it. What time have you got?”
“Quarter to ten,” Lefkowitz answered, looking at his watch. Duncan could have checked his own or one of the three clocks on various walls, but Lefkowitz supposed he got a top-sergeant kick out of getting somebody else to do it for him.
“I’d better head out, then,” Duncan said. “Something’s going on at the White House at eleven. They just got the word out yesterday, so they cooked it up in a hurry, whatever it is.”
“You really don’t know?” Lefkowitz asked.
“Not this time,” Duncan answered. He grabbed his fedora and headed out the door. Lefkowitz never wore a hat any more. He thought it was incredibly old-fashioned. Duncan didn’t care--and had that bald spot to keep warm.
Security at the White House was a little tighter than it had been, but not much. The guards recognized Duncan, of course. They had him open his briefcase, but didn’t pat him down--it wasn’t the way it had been in Austin earlier in the week. The feeling seemed to be that even if Oswald had been shooting at the President, all that madness was left behind in Texas, where it belonged.
None of the reporters in the press room seemed to know why the administration had called the press conference. That was unusual--somebody in the know blabbed more often than not. More often than not, the White House wanted reporters to know what was up before it summoned them.
At eleven on the dot, Pierre Salinger lumbered in. If he had to make one of JFK’s fifty-mile hikes, he’d drop dead. All he said was, “Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.”
In strode Jack Kennedy, looking all the more dapper and fit beside his rotund press secretary. As Salinger sat down, Kennedy took his place behind the lectern. “I have a brief statement to read,” he said. “Then I’ll make an introduction, and after that there will be time for questions.”
He pulled a piece of paper from his inside coat pocket and set it on the lectern. “This morning, I signed Executive Order number 11130, creating a commission to investigate the assassination of Governor John B. Connally of Texas on November 22, 1963. I am directing this commission to evaluate all the facts and circumstances surrounding the assassination, and to report its findings and conclusions to me.
“The subject of the commission’s inquiry is a chain of events that saddened and shocked the people of the United States and, indeed, the world. By my order establishing this commission, I hope to avoid parallel investigations and to concentrate fact finding in a body having the broadest national mandate. As chairman of the commission, I have chosen Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and former Attorney General and Governor of California.” Kennedy turned back toward the doorway through which he’d come. “Chief Justice Warren?”
White-haired and pink-faced, Earl Warren looked like everybody’s kindly grandfather. Duncan was used to seeing him in judicial robes, not a dark blue suit. He came up to the lectern and shook the President’s hand.
“We will conduct a thorough and independent investigation of these tragic events,” he said. “We will cooperate with the Dallas Police Department in any way we can. Obviously, they have a criminal investigation and trial to conduct. We do not want to interfere with Mr. Oswald’s right to a fair trial. If he is found guilty, we do hope to determine whether his sole purpose was the assassination of Governor Connally, or whether, as is now widely believed, he intended to kill President Kennedy, too. We will also examine all rumors or assertions relating to a possible conspiracy.”
He stepped away from the microphone. Kennedy took his place. “The makeup of the Warren Commission is not yet complete,” the President said. “Two other distinguished gentlemen who have agreed to serve are Allen Dulles, former director of Central Intelligence, and John J. McCloy, former U.S. High Commissioner for Germany and Assistant Secretary of War. Both are attorneys, and have served administrations of both parties.”
When he stayed at the lectern but didn’t say anything more, reporters started calling questions. “Can you have this commission do its job and still give Oswald a fair trial?” someone shouted.
“We hope so. We believe so. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have formed it,” Kennedy said.
After a couple of minutes, he recognized Duncan. “How will this affect the Congressional investigation Senator Dirksen has been talking about?” Duncan asked.
“It will do many of the same things. I don’t know that both ought to go forward. But I’m not trying to tell Senator Dirksen what to do.” Kennedy grinned a self-deprecating grin. “It would take a bolder man than me to try any such thing.”
Several reporters grinned. Everybody knew Dirksen did what he wanted to do and worried about everything and everybody else a long way afterwards, if at all.
“When do you expect this commission to finish its report?” Two people asked the same thing at the same time.
“I don’t have a due date in mind.” The President turned to Earl Warren. “Mr. Chief Justice?”
“Part of that will depend on the progress of Mr. Oswald’s trial, and on whether any further arrests are made,” Warren responded. “In the absence of those, I would expect it to take something on the order of a year.”
“That means it would come out around the time of the next election?” Duncan said.
“We will not delay it past the election if it is in any way unfavorable to the administration.” Yes, Earl Warren had been a political animal before he put on his robes. He understood what Duncan was driving at. “Nor will we move it forward if it shows the administration in a particularly good light. We aim to keep it as far removed from national politics as we possibly can.”
“This is one advantage an independent commission has over a Congressional investigation,” JFK put in. “By the very nature of things, a Congressional investigation is bound to be partisan.”
After the press conference broke up, Duncan headed back to the Ledger building to write up his story. Lefkowitz was going to be disappointed. And so was Everett McKinley Dirksen.
#
When Lefkowitz walked into the Senate Cloak Room just before three o’clock on the thirtieth, he wondered if Senator Dirksen would show up. He also wondered whether any other reporters would. The crowd turned out to be better than he expected. “Let’s see how Ev finds a silver lining in this,” someone aid, which seemed to sum up the mood of the room.
Dirksen came in right on time. “Good afternoon,” he said, and gave a wry shrug. “I find myself today in the unpleasant position of the atheist in his coffin: all dressed up with no place to go.”
Most of the laughter that filled the room was sympathetic. Disagreeing with Dirksen’s policies was easy. Disliking him was much harder.
“Many of you know I planned to announce a Congressional investigation into the recent tragic events in Dallas,” he went on. “The President has forestalled me. There is no doubt he has chosen a very able and distinguished figure to head his commission, while the one formed by Congress would have been stuck with . . . me.”
More laughter. Lefkowitz thought Dirksen was playing it as well as he could. When the President decided to, he could upstage members of Congress, even the most prominent, in any number of ways. He’d decided to here.
“Two of my illustrious colleagues, Senator John Sherman Cooper of Kentucky and Representative Hale Boggs of Arkansas, whom I had approached with an eye toward their serving as part of the Congressional investigatory”--only Dirksen could come out with a six-syllable word so naturally, even casually--“committee have volunteered their services to the Warren Commission and have been accepted, so it will include some representation from the legislative branch.”
Kennedy hadn’t said anything about that the day before. Was he throwing Dirksen a bone by letting him announce it? Lefkowitz wouldn’t have been surprised. Cooper was a Republican; Boggs, the majority whip, a Democrat. That made things nicely bipartisan.
“Did you also try to volunteer for the Warren Commission, Senator?” Lefkowitz called.
“Yes, I did,” Dirksen replied. “They are trying to limit its size, however, in the hope that that will correspondingly increase its efficiency. I believe its full membership is now set.”
He didn’t show any hurt at being excluded. But then, he wouldn’t, not unless he thought he could get some advantage from it. He was too cagey to wear his heart on his sleeve.
“Will the Congressional investigation continue alongside the Warren Commission’s?” another reporter asked.
“Not at the present time,” Senator Dirksen said carefully. “The President impressed on me the importance of avoiding duplicative efforts.” He tossed out another five-dollar word as if it cost a nickel. “If, however, I see the Warren Commission faltering for any reason, I reserve the right to revive our own inquiry.” He held up a hasty hand. “I don’t anticipate this, mind you, even if it is my duty to mention the possibility.”
“How disappointed are you that the President formed the Warren Commission?” Lefkowitz asked.
“If it does its job as it should, I have no reason to be disappointed,” Dirksen said, which was different from saying that he wasn’t. “If for any reason it fails to be thorough and impartial, that will be another matter. But, again, I expect nothing of the sort.”
“Do you think Oswald intended to shoot the President?” someone asked.
“I think he needs to be tried and convicted--if he is convicted--before we speak of such things,” Dirksen replied. “Much as I hate to mention it, assertions made in the press are not always completely accurate. I know none of you here would ever commit such a heinous sin as inexactitude, but I cannot vouch for all your comrades.”
“I heard him directly, Senator,” said Lefkowitz. “He was shocked to hear that Connally was the victim.”
“Well, then, I suggest you take your observation directly to this new Warren Commission,” Dirksen said. “Surely they will want to take that information into consideration. Tell them I said you should call.”
Dirksen got a new round of appreciative chuckles at Lefkowitz’s expense. And he went on with the press conference, for all the world like a man who hadn’t just had a rug yanked out from under his feet. You had to play the game like that if you wanted to keep playing. A year earlier, Richard Nixon’s bitter press conference after losing the California gubernatorial election showed what happened when you didn’t. And who would ever hear of Richard Nixon again?
PLEASE finish this book! I've been waiting for it for years!
Posted by: Duane Jenkins | January 19, 2010 at 07:11 AM
Would JFK have hired Allen Dulles? Didn't he fire him after the Bay of Pigs?
Posted by: Mike Bresina | November 08, 2008 at 12:14 PM
if memory serves Gerald Ford was a member of the Warren Commission. There are rumors that he kept papers from the Warren Commission in his home in Grand Rapids, MI. I certainly hope to see Mr. Ford appear in later chapters. If you want any Grand Rapids background info, please consider this offer.
Posted by: steve poling | June 24, 2007 at 10:13 PM
I have enjoyed your work so much. With anticipation I look forward to reading Chapter 4.
Posted by: Silas Bridges | June 20, 2007 at 07:43 AM
When is the next episode? We are running behind!
Posted by: Hattie Caraway | June 04, 2007 at 05:19 PM
-First, considering the assassination attempt, a major President that might be an appropriate analogue would be Ronald Reagan. Although people remember him as the greatest thing since sliced bread, people forget that his approval rating rose after the assassination attempt by John Hincley Jr. in 1981. According to some reports his approval rating went up 15% because of the attempt. Consider that Reagan also had similar problems such as his involvement with the Mafia via Frank Sinatra, the Iran-Contra Affair, and the threat of Impachment Hearings in 1983 and 1987.
-Second, something to consider is having the assassination on President Charles de Gaulle actually work. According to some acconts, de Gaulle had 54 assassination attempts on his life, 6 during the period on 1963, until his death in 1970. If anything, his death would certainly place a measure of discord in amongst the NATO leaders.
-Third, if there is evidence linking the assassination attempt on President Kennedy is placed on Cuba via Lee Harvey Oswald, the situation suddenly turns into a possible analogue of the 2007 situation in Iraq. This would also have parallels to teh Jose Padilla case, wherein classified materials would suddenly be brought into question during his trial (e.g. his defection and sudden return from the USSR, with a Russian wife). This would be complete with questionable links, shady intelligence, and an initially popular "police action" that devolves into a major civil war and humanitarian disaster.
Posted by: Jose Ricardo G. Bondoc | May 30, 2007 at 01:45 AM
I like it so far.
When is the next update due?
Posted by: Technomad | May 30, 2007 at 12:10 AM
At least in this universe, Hale Boggs was from Louisiana. I am enjoying the story so far, even if it doesn't have lizard aliens.
Posted by: Michael Rebain | May 09, 2007 at 12:37 PM