by Unknown
The President was escorted through the handshake line and back into the shipyard offices to sit for a few minutes with Jack Latham, the shipyard superintendent and a few other dignitaries. As he came in, Latham offered him a chair and a cold can of Coke. Someone had told Latham it was the President’s favorite refreshment.
“You don’t know how bad I needed that,” the President said after a long pull. “Mister Latham, what you have done here is amazing. How much longer do you think before she’s ready?”
“We just got the search and fire control radars yesterday. My people are making sure the waveguides are set. We light off the boilers and start testing the systems tomorrow. Give me the rest of the crew and about three more weeks and she will be ready enough for loading,” Latham said proudly. He sat forward in his chair. “Mister President, this isn’t the kind of job I like to turn out. When a ship leaves my yard, I want all the welds ground and the paint even. But for this work, I told my guys make it functional. Pretty can be gotten later. So if you see some places that look a little rough, just know underneath it’s rock solid,” he said.
“Jack, you aren’t doing anything less than Tim Reardon is doing out of Newport News. But you beat him at his own game and got this ship started before the others. Mind telling me how you’ve done it?”
Latham laughed. “Hell, sir, I didn’t do it. I had about 800 old guys show up on us and just about take over. It was that damned veterans association. They came in wearing dungarees, took over all the menial labor and helped out in the places where my guys fell a little short. They knew their ship and kept us in line. This guy named Moosally showed up one day and kind of took charge. He said he was too old to serve, but not too old to lead. Man, did he know his ship. He and a couple of other guys who showed up named Morse and Geneckow just kind of grabbed the reins.” He pointed out the window. “They were all out there grinning when you talked about their ship. Most of them signed up through the Reserve Center to be crewmen when she’s commissioned. About all they need is a CO. You have anyone in mind?”
The CNO tilted his head. “You got her up a little faster than we expected, but I’ll get something lined up,” he said. “I was actually thinking about someone in particular, but I can have him here before she gets under way for Seal Beach. Are the other crewmen settling in?”
“Yes, we have them in the best hotel in town. We work them hard and put them up wet. I haven’t had a one get pulled in by the police or have any complaints by the local citizens. As a matter of fact, there’s an old Chief Warrant Officer who showed up and took charge of keeping the guys in line. From what I understand his language scares the hell out of some of the younger sailors. The older ones just roll their eyes,” he said grinning. “But he made it clear that the crew would measure up to what he calls battleship standards. He even produced a booklet that I had reprinted and passed out. Even some of my guys started using parts of it,” he said. “There’s something about these men. It’s something I have never seen before – kind of like a spirit that has them really working close and keeping things tight. When they do finally get underway; watch out. They’re going places.”
Both the President and CNO could see the man was totally impressed. If this was true, it meant they really would need to get someone special as the CO. “That’s good to know,” said the President. “Now on to other things. I know you guys are going deep in the hole getting this ship operational. I know we tried to help and you guys turned us down. But you got our attention. If you can do a job this good with this ship, you can do it with others. We need to send some other ships this way. Would you like a contract to bring them back as well?”
Latham smiled. “It wouldn’t hurt. I had to call in a few favors to make this happen for the city. It would be nice to see a payoff.”
“I thought it might. So here’s the deal. I will send up two cruisers and a couple of destroyers for you to bring back. I have an admiral who loves cost-plus contracts and that should bring cash flow back to your organization. The other part of the deal is, when this ship is commissioned you will be paid the $20 million in leasing fees and another $1 million a month for the United States to lease this asset from the city. Once the costs you and the city have incurred are paid back in full plus an additional ten percent, that lease will be reduced to $500,000 a month. Once the federal government no longer needs the ship, it will be returned to the city where it will become a museum again. However it will be maintained by you in a restricted status and used as necessary by the city until such a day when she may be needed again. We will set up the contract with you to maintain her for a period of no less than ten years. Then we can look at it again. Does this sound like a reasonable plan?”
Latham was dumbfounded. He hoped this might bring in more business, but this was guaranteed income that would help move his small yard into the big leagues. It would also repay the company and the city all it had invested and then some. He didn’t know what to say.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” the President said as he extended his hand.
“Y-Yes, sir. That will be very welcome news. We thank you,” he said taking the President’s hand.
The CNO was next in line. “We really do appreciate it, Mister Latham, and we look forward to working with you,” he said. “There will be an Admiral Shranski calling on you sometime next week. He’ll help get things set up.”
The men said a few more words then the President left for Air Force One and his return flight home. The CNO rode with him. The President was curious about one thing. “Admiral, you mentioned you had someone in mind to command the ship. Mind telling me who?”
The CNO took a breath. “You may not like it,” he said. Then he told him the name. To his surprise, the President liked the idea a lot.
Beijing, China
“Comrades we have an extremely dangerous situation before us, said Minister Inu Che, special delegate to the People’s Congress. Che was the head of the Bank of China and well respected by the Party and its members. Today he was attending a closed door Politburo meeting with select high level leaders. They were seated in the Politburo offices overlooking Tiananmen Square. The sunlight streamed in through the windows making it a little warm. Che was dressed in a western style business suit.
“Our Communist brothers to the south decided to assert themselves a few weeks ago and, although they did not attack our nation, we are experiencing serious repercussions,” he said solemnly. “I believe we have all known that our brothers might do things rashly on occasion; however, I do not think anyone in this room expected them to attack the United States in the way they have. While doing relatively little damage to the population of the country, they nevertheless did bring the United States temporarily to its knees.”
“However, I do not believe this caused the political turmoil that our neighbors expected. Had they sought our wisdom in this matter, we would have gladly shared our experiences in dealing with the United States. In this case, instead of dividing and segregating the people, we know through our contacts that the opposite has occurred. Their President, whom they considered a weak newcomer to the political arena, has demonstrated extreme leadership and foresight. His decision-making powers were sorely underestimated, even by our own intelligence services. Where we initially estimated it would take at least six months before order would be restored, we now know it returned within one week. We know that their free press has been curtailed and there are forces at work within their military. However, because of the loss of communications and the news blackout, we have been unable to ascertain what measures have been taken or what the plans are.”
“So their news media, such as CNN, are not reporting the news?” asked a delegate.
“Yes, comrade, the news media, through its now limited resources, has begun reporting news, but it is being read only and is obviously censored. As you recall, comrades the effect of the nuclear attack was to damage all of their electronic capability. This includes their satellites. Where before there was str
ong centralized control of the news by a few people, that has now relegated to local news reporting and a limited amount of news on a national scale. In the past we could count on getting a good idea of what the Americans were doing through their media, but this is no longer the case,” Che said flatly. “Unfortunately, our intelligence assets are hampered by what our brothers did as well. The energy pulse disrupted the communications and there are severe restrictions on who can use them. Our contacts can get word to us only through diplomatic bags delivered once per week.”
“So, comrades our communist brothers to the south have seriously misjudged the effect of their attack on the Americans. First, by using nuclear devices, they have displayed the most open and deadliest form of aggression. I will note that two of the weapons actually detonated on the ground. The Americans are using the figure of 1.7 million people dead. Second, they misjudged the anger of the American people. Many remember what anger was generated when the Japanese performed a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The result of that error was the almost total ruin of Japan. Third, they misjudged the resourcefulness of the Americans. Instead of wallowing in the aftermath of an attack, they jumped back aggressively and restored basic services. Lastly, they misjudged the political will and leadership of the American President. The man has clearly demonstrated firm resolve and control,” Che said.
“It is obvious there have been errors, Comrade, but why should the People’s Congress be concerned?” asked another delegate.
“Very simple, Comrade. With this attack, the United States changed its buying patterns.”
Some of the men around the table laughed. “And how does this affect the Party?” the delegate snickered.
Che smiled. “Comrades, many years ago you sent me to learn banking from the Americans and the British. In that time, I did not forget my dedication to the party and our political system, nor did I waste time by learning just the basics. I tried my best to understand why the system works as it does and what it responds to. Since that time, our nation has embraced what some would call a more capitalistic outlook. We did this for good reason. It allows us to operate in a world market and have influence in areas where our former comrades the Soviet Union could not. As you have seen, their system failed, where ours continues to flourish. In this case, we trade with the Americans and other free nations to earn hard currency that we can use to purchase technology and expertise we do not have. For example, to drill for oil, we use American equipment and expertise. Our computers are licensed from IBM, our automobiles are American designs – even much of our food comes from the United States. We all know our communist ideals are spreading slowly but surely; however, by adapting our methods we are able to continue the progress over the long term while assuring our people are happy and our appearance to the world is a benevolent one.”
“In particular, the People’s Republic of China brings in approximately four billion dollars a week in revenues from the United States alone. This is from their purchase of clothing, electronics, ore, toys, porcelains, any number of items. Do you know how much was brought in this past week? Zero,” Che said forming a circle with his fingers to emphasize the point. It was a shame he had to lead them by the hand, but it had to be done.
That figure got the attention of everyone at the table. The men started conversing with the delegates seated beside them. After a moment, a gavel was heard from the front of the table and order was restored.
Che continued his remarks. “Thank you, Comrade Chairman. So you see, comrades, although politically we are against the United States and firmly behind our communist brothers in Korea, economically, we must make a decision on who we shall openly support and the consequences of our decisions. If we firmly support Korea, we risk losing our largest paying customer and most influential player in the geopolitics of the world. However, if we support the United States openly, we provide conflicting messages to our own people and the politics of our own nation. We also send messages to our allies that may not be what we desire. It is a most difficult set of decisions comrades,” he said finally seating himself in his chair.
“If we were to support our communist brothers, what is our potential loss?” asked the chairman.
“Comrade, we not only lose the four billion a week, we also lose support from the British, European nations, some South American nations and many in the Pacific as well, including Australia. We potentially lose the technology we currently receive from those nations. Even more disturbing, we could lose our food imports. Comrades, we already have difficulties with the size of our population and we are moving towards solving these problems; however, when people are hungry, they tend to do a great many things that are not planned or expected and often not very pleasant. We have seen this in the past as well,” Che concluded.
“What about other communist nations? Do they not trade with us?” another asked.
“Comrades, none of our communist brothers has the money to trade for anything. You must understand, we all know communism is a political movement. What we are talking about is economics. These are two different things. If everyone were under a communist government, all things would be owned by the state and all products could be shared equally. But three quarters of the world are not under our influence. They trade openly and support their people through that trade. We decided to do the same and it has worked for us. It can continue to work for us if we desire to allow it.”
The discussion continued all morning. Some still could not understand why decreeing something or another would not necessarily make it happen. These tended to be the delegates without a western education or at least some western experiences. The delegates who received their formal education outside China understood completely. They were the ones now trying to get the others to understand what Che was saying. The final decision was a Chinese one, full of compromise and manipulation.
“It is decided then,” said the Chairman. “We will say nothing negatively about the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. However, we will secretly make contacts with the United States and offer some limited assistance. It must be made clear, however, that these efforts are informal and will never be acknowledged. Our political leaders will begin working with them to maintain our trading and possibly improve our relations with the west, without openly jeopardizing our communist ideals and policies,” he said stiffly. The Chairman banged the gavel and everyone left the room. Che was one of the last to leave. He almost doubted they would be able to pull it off.
Washington D.C.
“Thank you, gentlemen, for meeting with me at the White House,” the President said as he ushered four Congressmen and two Senators, including a grinning Senator Williamson, into the Oval Office. The meeting had been hurriedly set up when these same congressmen had said they were going to call a public hearing on the recent firings and shuffling in the various military departments. In every case, they had invested some political capital in the senior officers and were not going to let them go down without opposition. Jim Butler asked for the meeting so that everyone could ‘understand the feelings of the others and address the subject with the respect it deserved.’
It had been a masterful stroke to bring the men over after dinner for some drinks and a more relaxed setting. Through a couple of disgruntled employees Butler learned these senators and congressmen were hoping to spring a political trap on the President by calling into question his decision making and possible favoritism by the White House. There were also some questions about a few government contracts. The senators and congressmen thought they were in the right and might even get a public apology – something that could damage the President’s party. That changed once the meeting actually started. After a few pleasantries the President began.
“My friends, you have all voiced some concerns about a shake up in the Department of Defense. You should rightly be concerned and I am here to answer your questions fully and completely, understanding the Department of Defense comes under my purview as one of my departments. Necessarily, I
may make changes as I deem necessary for the conducting of military operations,” he said flatly. Several of the men began fidgeting in their seats.
“You see, recently we have begun preparing this nation for a war. In each of the changes we made, grounds were sufficient to remove the individual in question and transfer them to other duties, also vital to our war effort. If any of the individuals decided to retire, their resignation was taken without prejudice and they were allowed to retire with their full rank and benefits. One thing I did not want to have was a lineup of courts martial. That would have embarrassed the nation or yourselves in the process. We did not need people becoming disenfranchised with our fighting forces or political leadership.”
“I wanted to discuss this with you tonight in a private setting so you could understand our reasoning.” The President picked up one of a foot high stack of records on the table beside him. “Here is one example. Two of you contacted my office regarding Vice Admiral Granger. In his case, he met with shipbuilding officials and was preparing the authorization of well over a trillion dollars in shipbuilding over the next two years. He made the statement that he was in charge of how the money would be spent and he would authorize it. I do not believe the Congress would have approved of what he was doing. He was further doing so without proper authorization from the chain of command. In digging further into his background, we found he authorized a number of sole source contracts within certain congressional districts or states that were supposed to be competed out. Upon going over his military record, there are a number of events that narrowly avoided the loss of a ship or plane related to his own incompetence. Along the way there are documented intercessions by some political leadership in Washington that steered his career. In this last case, he was attempting to make presidential policy and authorize expenditures without the approval of either myself or the Congress,” he said finally looking around the room. His gaze lingered on a few of the men. “Of course I shall not go into who has gone to bat for the Admiral in the past. I seriously doubt anyone would have supported the man if they had known his true record. And again, we cannot let this man’s actions hurt someone who may be innocent,” he said finally closing the folder.