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I sat tight. "Look here," I said, "all of you. It's evident that you don't believe me and think this is a put-up
job. Well, for the love of heaven, bring in a lie detector! Or use the sleep test. This hearing is a joke."
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The chairman banged his gavel. "Stand down, Mr. Nivens."
I stood.
The Old Man had told me that the purpose of the meeting was to report out a joint resolution declaring
total emergency and vesting war powers in the President. The chairman asked if they were ready to
consider the resolution. One of the newspaper readers looked up long enough to say, "Mr. Chairman, I
call for clearing the committee room."
So we were ejected. I said to the Old Man, "It looks bad to this boy."
"Forget it," he said. "The President knew this gambit had failed when he heard the names of the
committee."
"Where does that leave us? Do we wait for the slugs to take over Congress, too?"
"The President goes right ahead with a message to Congress and a request for full powers."
"Will he get them?"
The Old Man screwed up his face. "Frankly, I don't think he stands a chance."
The joint session was secret, of course, but we were present?direct orders of the President, probably.
The Old Man and I were on that little balcony business back of the Speaker's rostrum. They opened it
with full rigamarole and then went through the ceremony of appointing two members from each house to
notify the President.
I suppose he was right outside for he came in at once, escorted by the delegation. His guards were with
him?but they were all our men.
Mary was with him, too. Somebody set up a folding chair for her, right by the President. She fiddled
with a notebook and handed papers to him, pretending to be a secretary. But the disguise ended there;
she had it turned on full blast and looked like Cleopatra on a warm night?and as out of place as a bed in
church. I could feel them stir; she got as much attention as the President did.
Even the President noticed it. You could see that he wished that he had left her at home, but it was too
late to do anything about it without greater embarrassment.
You can bet I noticed her. I caught her eye?and she gave me a long, slow, sweet smile. I grinned like a
collie pup until the Old Man dug me in the ribs. Then I settled back and tried to behave but I was happy.
The President made a reasoned explanation of the situation, why we knew it to be so and what had to
be done. It was as straightforward and rational as an engineering report, and about as moving. He simply
stated facts. He put aside his notes at the end. "This is such a strange and terrible emergency, so totally
beyond any previous experience, that I must ask very broad powers to cope with it. In some areas,
martial law must be declared. Grave invasions of civil guarantees will be necessary, for a time. The right
of free movement must be abridged. The right to be secure from arbitrary search and seizure must give
way to the right of safety for everyone. Because any citizen, no matter how respected or how loyal, may
be the unwilling servant of these secret enemies, all citizens must face some loss of civil rights and
personal dignities until this plague is killed.
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"With utmost reluctance, I ask that you authorize these necessary steps." With that he sat down.
You can feel a crowd. They were made uneasy, but he did not carry them. The president of the Senate
took the gavel and looked at the Senate majority leader; it had been programmed for him to propose the
emergency resolution.
Something slipped. I don't know whether the floor leader shook his head or signaled, but he did not take
the floor. Meanwhile the delay was getting awkward and there were cries of, "Mister President!" and
"Order!"
The Senate president passed over several others and gave the floor to a member of his own party. I
recognized the man?Senator Gottlieb, a wheelhorse who would vote for his own lynching if it were on his
party's program. He started out by yielding to none in his respect for the Constitution, the Bill of Rights,
and, probably, the Grand Canyon. He pointed modestly to his own long and faithful service and spoke
well of America's place in history.
I thought he was beating the drum while the boys worked out a new shift?when I suddenly realized that
his words were adding up to meaning: he was proposing to suspend the order of business and get on with
the impeachment and trial of the President of the United States!
I think I tumbled to it as quickly as anyone; the senator had his proposal so decked out in ritualistic
verbiage that it was a wonder that anyone noticed what he was actually saying. I looked at the Old Man.
The Old Man was looking at Mary.
She was looking back at him with an expression of extreme urgency.
The Old Man snatched a pad out of his pocket, scrawled something, wadded it up, and threw it down
to Mary. She caught it, opened it, and read it?and passed it to the President.
He was sitting, relaxed and easy?as if one of his oldest friends were not at that moment tearing his name
to shreds and, with it, the safety of the Republic. He put on his old-fashioned specs and read the note.
He then glanced unhurriedly around at the Old Man and lifted his eyebrows. The Old Man nodded.
The President nudged the Senate president, who, at the President's gesture, bent over him. The
President and he exchanged whispers. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]