All around the table, mouths fell open and eyes regarded him with disbelief.
He paused and smiled, enjoying one of those rare moments when he could surprise men who walked the world thinking they knew everything.
One Senator caught on immediately. “You’re talking about the Confederacy,” said Isadore Shiffer, (D-CA), the House Majority Whip, a short, balding man, whose sharp and sometimes wicked wit tended to keep others at bay.
“Give that man a cigar,” Callaway said, then laughed when he saw Katz reach into his jacket pocket, “I didn’t mean that literally, Marty. But yes, the Confederacy. I have reason to believe that the ten states of the CSA are about to petition Congress to be readmitted to the union.”
Sen. Wendell was also quick to put two and two together. “Ah, now I begin to understand all this nonsense with President Bourque.”
“Yes,” Callaway admitted. “That’s why Bourque asked for a meeting. The Confederacy is just about bankrupt and it’s facing a serious military threat from Mexico.”
Sen. Wendell nodded sagely. “I knew he was going to ask for money, but I expected you to do the sensible thing and refuse. Evidently, you had other ideas.”
“We always seem to have different ideas, Oliver,” Callaway said pleasantly.
“Frankly, I don’t give one good God damn about Mexico and its financial condition.” Sen. Linscott proclaimed.
“It’s the CSA that’s just about bankrupt,” Wang said, correcting him. “Mexico threatens them militarily.”
“Assuming that’s even true, why should we care?” said Rep. Ezra Crump, a tall, gangly, plain-spoken Kansas farmer, with an untamable grey cowlick, who had unexpectedly become the House Republican Minority Whip. “It’s not our business.
“Ah, but it is,” said Veronica. “If Mexico invades and occupies the Confederacy, which seems very likely, who do you think will be next?”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” said Sen. Ed Lockett. “I don’t buy any of this. We hate the Confederacy. They hate us. If I remember right, they were so stubborn about their bigotry that they quit the union so they could keep practicing it.”
“All true,” Callaway said. “But no longer applicable. They know they’d have to nullify all the Jim Crow laws if they rejoined the union. They know they’d have to ratify the Constitution and all of its amendments and abide by all Federal laws.”
“They should have dumped the Jim Crow laws decades ago,” said Sen. Tom Poulos (D-RI), the Senate Majority Whip, a long-time civil rights advocate, a dark-haired, dark-eyed beak-nosed man. He’d been born in Greece, but came to America as a teenager. “It would have been in their own best interest,” he said with a slight accent.
“Okay, they change their laws. But what would we have to do?” asked Sen. Linscott. He sounded like he wasn’t willing to do anything.
“Give them all the rights and privileges every other state has,” Wang said.
Sen. Linscott considered that. “They’re bankrupt, you say? So you expect us—they expect us—to pay their debts and take over their social programs?”
“Yes, but they’d be paying taxes to us,” Marty Katz pointed out.
“They’d be us,” Wang said. “And we’d be them.”
“You’d make them our equals?” Senator Wendell asked, as if the idea were unthinkable.
“I can’t see any good reason to do this,” said Rep. Crump. “And I don’t think we have anything to fear from Garcia, even in the very unlikely event that he invades the Confederacy.”
Sen. Wendell caught Callaway’s eye. “Mr. President, am I to understand that you expect us to support you on this?” He asked, vastly amused.
“I do,” Callaway said. “When it comes time for a vote, I hope to have your enthusiastic support.”
That got a laugh from Trace Powell, the would-be Jack Kennedy. “Well, we can all dream.”
“It is a dream, in a way,” Callaway replied, undiscouraged. “It’s a secret dream that I think we’ve all had, even Southerners—bringing the Confederacy back into the union, rebuilding the our country as it once was and should be. And now, we may have the power to make the dream a reality.”
Sen. Wendell raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Mr. President, you make it sound like reunion was your idea,” he said, feigning confusion. “I was under the impression that Bourque came to you. Am I mistaken?”
“He did,” Callaway said. “And he was the first to use the word. But the idea has been in the back of my mind for years.”
Sen. Wendell nodded. “I am truly sorry you did not mention that during the campaign, and especially in the third debate, Mr. President. If you had, I’m not so sure you would would be President.”
Callaway grinned. “I have more faith in the American people than you do, Senator.”
“That’s true,” Sen. Wendell mused. “And in my opinion, it’s one of your chief failings.”
“I know you see it that way,” Callaway said. “And that is one of yours.”
Wang intervened. “Let’s not fight that battle again, gentlemen.”
“Battle? What battle?” Wendell said, pretending innocence.
“Veronica, you said that Mexico was very likely to invade the CSA,” said Sen. Lockett. “You know something I don’t?”
“Show him, Eric,” Veronica said to Eric Wang, who passed out the Canadian satellite photos of Garcia’s landing craft fleet. For a few moments, the Senators studied the pictures.
“I can’t make heads or tails out of this,” said Rep. Crump. “Looks like rows of canoes to me.”
“They’re LCMs according to our military analysts—mechanized landing craft, each capable of carrying one tank plus 100 troops,” Callaway said. “They say 234 of them had been built when these photos were taken. And they’re probably making more.”
“They’re all sitting in a sheltered Mexican lake just off the Gulf,” Wang added, pointing to one of the pictures. “Looks like Garcia is just about ready to go.”
“We think he wants to seize and eventually annex the entire Confederacy, just like he did with Texas fifteen years ago,” Veronica explained.
Katz cleared his throat. “And that, Senators, would make Mexico the largest and most populous and eventually most powerful country in North America,” he said, looking at Sen. Wendell.
“Hmmm,” said Sen. Wendell, perturbed, but not overly. “Perhaps—if everything you say is true. But seems to me you’re doing a little mindreading there, Veronica, if you don’t my saying so.”
“Really?” Veronica replied. “So what do you think Garcia is going to do with 200 landing craft? Take 20,000 of his closest friends to his private island for a swim and a barbeque?”
“I think we have a remarkable combination of circumstances here,” Callaway persisted. “We’ve never had an opportunity like this before and it may never come again. It’s a chance for us to achieve our manifest destiny, to finally heal a wound that’s been festering for 150 years. You’re in favor of that, aren’t you Oliver?”
“Well, considering how things have turned out, I’m not so sure our destiny was all that manifest,” Sen. Wendell said. “And as for wounds, we’re doing pretty well without the Confederacy, wouldn’t you say?”
“Fairly well,” Callaway agreed. “But this would provide a new avenue for growth and prosperity—and world influence. It would insure our predominance in North America and it could help us become a true world power, a genuine competitor to Germany.”
“So now you’re ready to take on Germany?” Rep. Powell asked, taking a shot. “Pretty ambitious fellow, aren’t you?”
“I find this idea quite offensive,” said Rep. Crump. “Reunion? Paying off their debts? That just rewards bad behavior. Let ‘em boil in their own oil, I say.”
“I might agree with you,” Veronica said, “if we weren’t sitting in the same pot.”
Sen. Wendell shook his head. “Their destiny isn’t connected with ours, Veronica. They pulled the plug on that deal 150 years ago.�
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“Let’s say we refuse Bourque’s most generous offer,” said Senator Powell, not sparing the sarcasm. “What happens then?”
“Well, Senator, from a political standpoint, I think his next play would be obvious,” Marty Katz said.
Wendell raised an eyebrow. “By all means, enlighten us.”
Katz ignored his tone of voice. “Okay,” he said. “If I were Buddy Bourque—and thank God I’m not—I’d book a plane ticket for Mexico City and make Garcia the same offer I made to President Callaway. And if I were Garcia, I’d probably accept—peaceful acquisition is a lot less messy than conquest. Cheaper too.”
“Hmmm,” said Sen. Wendell.
“And that would make Mexico the largest and most powerful country in North America,” Callaway pointed out.”
“I think you said that before,” Sen. Powell said.
“Well, it bears repeating,” said Rep. Robert Wilcox, Speaker of the House, finally speaking up. He was a plain-faced, brown-haired man, and, quite famously, about as talkative as a wooden plank.
“How long do you think it would be,” Veronica asked Sen. Wendell, “before El Presidente started eyeing Oklahoma—or California?”
Wendell didn’t answer.
“That would make my constituents very nervous,” said Sen. Shiffer. “How about yours, Oliver?”
“Perhaps—if that photo analysis is right and everything else I’ve heard is true.” Sen. Wendell said. “But I’m not convinced. Reunion seems to me a wild overreaction to the circumstances. My constituents aren’t going to like it one little bit. Hell, I’m not sure Bourque can persuade his own people.”
“He’s pretty confident,” Wang said. “He’s talking to his governors today.”
Sen. Wendell looked at Wang dubiously. “And you really believe he can pull it off?” Before Wang could answer, the President’s phone rang. He picked it up and listened for a moment, then put his hand over the receiver. “I have to take this one, gentlemen.” He swiveled around, putting his back to the Senators. After a few minutes of inaudible chatting, he hung up and turned back to his guests. “We have some news, gentlemen, and it is directly related to this conversation. The National Security Agency has discovered something and I’ve asked Linus Hawke to join us.”
The Senators looked at each other, surprised and curious, failing to notice the exchange of knowing glances between Veronica, Katz and the President, none of whom seemed surprised at all. Linus Hawke arrived less than five minutes later.
“Oh, I didn’t realize you were in a meeting, Mr. President,” Hawke lied smoothly.
“You know everyone don’t you, Linus?” Callaway said.
“I do indeed,” Hawke said, nodding to the Senators. “Good afternoon, gentlemen. Oliver. Ed. Nice to see you.”
“Have a seat, Director,” said the President. “And tell everyone what you told me. Don’t hold anything back.”
Hawke slipped into a chair with his usual grace and elegance. In an earlier era, he might have snapped open a slim gold case and lit up a long, brown Turkish cigarette and, in his infuriatingly deliberate manner, began to deliver his news.
“Gentlemen, the National Security Agency has intercepted an electronic transmission from the German Ambassador to Mexico, Friederich von Zimmerman to the German Chancellor, Walther Wohler. I felt I had to call it to the President’s attention.”
He looked around the table, delaying the dénouement, as was his habit, for no obvious reason other than to heighten the drama. Then he pulled a piece of paper out of an inner breast pocket.
He read: “Eure Exzellenz, ich habe gerade ein ziemlich merkwürdiges Gespräch mit dem mexikanischen Präsidenten…”
“Hold on there,” Ezra Crump interrupted. “My German is a little rusty, Director Hawke. Think you could give that to us in plain English?”
Hawke smiled and surveyed the room. “Everyone want it in English?"
“Yes, we do,” said Oliver Wendell, who was getting annoyed.
“Alrighty then,” Hawke said. “I’ll read the translation.” He pulled another piece of paper out of his pocket. “Your Excellency: I have just had a rather remarkable conversation with the Mexican President that may provide us with a way to simultaneously rid ourselves of our CSA loans and help our long-range plan to contain the North American Union.”
He paused, waiting for the gasp, and he was not disappointed.
“Contain the North American Union?” Sen. Lockett sputtered. “What does Zimmerman mean by that?”
“Doesn’t sound very friendly to me,” Senator Shiffer said.
“Keep reading,” said Callaway.
“Of course,” said Hawke. “Garcia has offered to pay off the Confederacy’s debt to us in its entirety, in gold. In return, he wants us to stand by and do nothing when Mexico invades, conquers and occupies the CSA, and to make sure the League does not act. He has written a letter to this effect, which I am sending in the diplomatic bag.”
Callaway studied the Congressmen. As he had expected, they were seething, even Wendell.
Hawke continued. “This, of course, would quell the Kaiser’s fears about the loans to President Bourque, but it would also thwart any potential alliance between the NAU and the Confederacy, short-circuiting any possibility of NAU growth or expansion. I recommend Garcia’s offer be accepted, but subjected to the highest level of secrecy. Any leak would damage our reputation as peacekeepers and seriously injure our relationship with the NAU. Still, the upside here is too great for us to pass up.”
Hawke looked up. The Senators were staring at him, open-mouthed, not sure he was finished. “It’s signed von Zimmerman.” He added.
“Well now,” Veronica said. She took a deep breath. “Hadn’t been expecting that.”
“No,” Callaway agreed. “Germany has been nothing but friendly to us, even helpful. Kaiser wrote me after the inauguration, offered to do everything in his power, he said, to ease my way in Europe. Said he hoped we’d be true friends.”
“Just goes to show you,” Katz said.
“It’s the dog thing again,” Wang said.
“The dog thing?” asked Senator Lockett.
“Yes, you know, if you want a friend in Washington, buy a dog.”
“Ha. Ha,” said Katz.
Sen. Lockett was following a different train of thought. “We can’t let Garcia swallow up Mexico,” he said.
“I agree,” said Sen. Poulos. “But must we reunite with the Confederacy in order to protect her? How about stationing our ships and other military units down there.”
Veronica seemed doubtful. “Forever?”
“I don’t like it,” said Sen. Wendell. “I am convinced Southern society is not compatible with ours.”
“You tell us the CSA is dirt poor,” said Sen. Crump. “That means we’d be taking on an enormous economic burden…”
“Not necessarily,” Callaway said. “Mr. Katz here has had some informal and confidential conversations with our largest manufacturers about opportunities in the CSA. Once the tariff on manufactured goods disappears, I think they might be convinced to build factories down there and pay something approaching union wages. They think there’s a great untapped market.”
“Lots of new taxpayers.” Katz reached for a cigar, but thought better of it.
Trace Powell was shaking his head, his attractive head of hair showing no signs of movement. “We can’t do this. It’s a moral issue.”
“That’s exactly why we have to do it,” said Sen. Shiffer. “It’s going to mean genuine equality in the south—maybe not overnight, but there’s no other way to get there.”
“We’ll never be able to change their minds about the Blacks,” Rep. Powell continued. “It’s in their blood. And everybody knows you can’t legislate morality.”
“You’re right, Senator,” Wang said. “You can’t legislate morality. But you can legislate behavior. And eventually, social values will change. Even in the South.”
“Next you’re going to tel
l us Santa Claus is real,” Sen. Linscott said.
“Mr. President,” said Ezra Crump, “why are you telling us this? Is this supposed to pass for ‘consulting Congress?”
“Good question, Mr. President,” Sen. Powell said. “Why are we here?”
“No, Ezra,” Callaway said, taking no notice of Powell. “I’m not consulting you, any of you. I am giving you advance notice of the Confederate request so that when the story breaks, you won’t be caught flatfooted.”
“Well, I appreciate the courtesy, Mr. President,” said Rep. Crump. “But I’m not going to be able to support this, this harebrained idea. Perhaps you can get it through the House of Representatives, but the Senate is a different story. Furthermore, I strongly doubt Bourque can convince his own people. And even if both of those things should happen, I don’t believe our two countries will ever be reunited.”
“Thank you for your frankness, Ezra,” Callaway said. “What about you, Oliver?”
Wendell sighed and shook his head in the negative. “Mr. President, when you announced the Bourque meetings, you were deluged with protests and objections. That’s just a hint of what will happen if a reunion bill comes before the Senate. If that happens, you’ll see a firestorm. And I will be leading it.”
“What about you, Ed?” Callaway asked the Majority Leader. “Are you with me?”
“You’re giving me a damn big boulder to push up the mountain,” Ed Lockett said. “But I don’t see that we have any choice. I am very disturbed by Mexico’s offer to Germany, and by the idea of Mexican expansion. If we don’t do this, we’re asking for trouble. I think it’s a matter of national security. We don’t have any choice.”
“That’s the way I see it,” Veronica said.
“This is a crazy idea,” Tom Poulos said. “And I think it’s more likely to fail than succeed. But I think it’s worth the attempt.”
“Me too,” said Isadore Shiffer.”
“You see,” Katz said, turning to Callaway. “Divided along party lines. Told you.”
The President stood. “Gentlemen, thank you all for coming. You’re going to be hearing a lot more about reunion in the next few days. If you’re against the idea now, I hope you’ll keep an open mind. And those of you who are already on my side—well, we’re in for a battle, but we’re going to win it.”
ReUNION: What if the Civil War had never happened? Page 37