Page 3 (2/2)
“Good , Madam President”
“Goodunder control?” She smiled at her
“I think so, Madam”
“Good Why don’t you run my day as usual? Don’t worry about me, I’ll just follow your instructions What do you want me to do first?”
“There are 842 telegrams and 2,412 letters but they will have to wait, except for the Heads of State I’ll have replies ready for them by twelve o’clock”
“Date then every one of them as soon as they are ready”
“Yes, Madam I also have your schedule You start the official day with coffee at eleven with the foran and Carter, then you will be driven to the Inauguration After the Inauguration, you’ll attend a luncheon at the Senate before reviewing the Inaugural Parade in front of the White House”
Janet Brown passed her a sheaf of three-by-five index cards, stapled together, as she had done for fifteen years since she joined her staff when Florentyna had first been elected to Congress They summarized the President’s hour-by-hour schedule; there was rather less on thelanced over the cards, and thanked her Chief of Staff Edward Winchester appeared at the door He smiled as he always did, with a mixture of love and adretted her alhteenth hole on that extraordinary day she was told of President Parkin’s death, and she felt for certain that Richard would have approved
“I’ll be working on my papers until eleven,” she told him He nodded and left to prepare himself for the day ahead
A crowd of ishers was already gathering outside the White House
“I wish it would rain,” confided H Stuart Knight, the head of the Secret Service, to his aide; it was also one of the most important days of his life “I know the vast ive me the jitters”
The crowd nued to Mr Knight The advance car that always goes fivethe route to the White House; Secre
t Servicethe way, souration, and would one day tell their grandchildren how they had seen Florentyna Kane being inaugurated as President of the United States
At 10:59 the butler opened the front door and the crowds began to cheer
The President and her husband waved to the s eyes and only sensed by experience and professional instinct that fifty people were not looking toward them
Two black limousines came to a noiseless stop at the North Entrance of the White House at 11:00 AM The Marine Honor Guard stood at attention and saluted the two ex-Presidents and their wives as they were greeted by President Kane on the Portico, a privilege nor Heads of State The President herself guided theh to the library for coffee with Edward, William and Annabel
The older of the ex-Presidents was gru that if he were frail it was because he had had to rely on his wife’s cooking for the past eight years “She hasn’t dirtied a frying pan in ages, but she’s iiven her a copy of The New York Times Cookbook; it’s about the only one of their publications that didn’t criticize et on with the official proceedings, but she was conscious that the ex-Presidents were enjoying being back in the White House so she pretended to listen attentively, donning a mask that was second nature to her after nearly twenty years in politics
“Madam President …” Florentyna had to think quickly to prevent anyone noticing her instinctive response to the words “It’s one minute past midday” She looked up at her press secretary, rose from her chair, and led the ex-Presidents and their wives to the steps of the White House The Marine band struck up “Hail to the Chief” for the last tiain for the first time
The two former Presidents were escorted to the first car of the motorcade, a black, bubble-topped, bulletproof liht, and the Senate Majority Leader, Robert Byrd, representing the Congress, were already seated in the second car Directly behind the limousine there were two cars filled with Secret Service men Florentyna and Edward occupied the fifth car in line Vice President Bradley of New Jersey and his wife rode in the next car
H Stuart Knight was going through one rown to a hundred By noon, counting the local police and the FBI contingent, there would be five hundred Not forgetting the boys froht ruefully They certainly didn’t tell hi to be there or not, and even he could not always spot the of the onlookers reaching a crescendo as the presidential limousine pulled out, on its way to the Capitol
Edward chatted ahts were elsewhere She wavedPennsylvania Avenue, but herover her speech The renovated Willard Hotel, seven office buildings under construction, the tiered housing units that rese, the new shops and restaurants and the wide landscaped sidewalks passed by The J Edgar Hoover Building, which housed the FBI, still named after its first Director, despite several efforts by certain senators to have the naed How this street had been transformed in fifteen years
They approached the Capitol and Edward interrupted the President’s reverie “May God be with you, darling” She sripped his hand The six cars came to a stop
President Kane entered the Capitol on the ground floor Edaited behind for a moment as he thanked the chauffeur Those who stepped out of the other cars were quickly surrounded by Secret Service agents and, waving to the crowd, they made their way separately to their seats on the platfor President Kane quietly through the tunnel into the reception area, Marines saluting at every ten paces There she was greeted by Vice President Bradley The two of the in the other’s reply
The two ex-Presidents ca For the first tie, his hair seeain, he and Florentyna went through the for hands with one another; they were to do it seven tih a small reception roourations, a temporary platform had been erected on the east steps of the Capitol The crowds rose and cheered for over a minute as the President and the ex-Presidents waved; finally they sat in silence and waited for the cerein
“My fellow A the United States across the world are vast and threatening In South Africa, pitiless civil war rages between black and white; in the Middle East the ravages of last year’s battles are being repaired, but both sides are rebuilding their armaments rather than their schools, their hospitals or their farms On the borders between China and India, and between Russia and Pakistan, there is the potential for war a four of the most populous nations on earth South Aht and extreme left, but neither extre conditions of their peoples Two of the original signatories of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, France and Italy, are on the verge of withdrawing from that pact
“In 1949, President Harry S Truman announced that the United States stood ready with all its ht and resources to defend the forces of freedoered Today, sonanimity has resulted in failure, that America was, and is, too weak to assume the full burden of world leadership In the face of repeated international crises, any Aht well ask why he should care about events so far from home, and why he should feel any responsibility for the defense of freedom outside the United States
“I do not have to answer these doubts in my oords ‘No man is an island,’ John Donne wrote o ‘Every man is a piece of the continent’ The United States stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Arctic to the Equator ‘I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee’”
Edward liked that part of the speech It expressed so well his own feelings He had wondered, though, whether the audience would respond with the sahts of rhetoric in the past The thunderous applause assaulting his ears in wave after wave reassured hi
“At home, ill create a medical service that will be the envy of the free world It will allow all citizens an equal opportunity for the finest medical advice and help No American must be allowed to die because he cannot afford to live”
Many Deainst Florentyna Kane because of her attitude toward Medicare As one hoary old GP had said to her, “Americans must learn to stand on their oo feet” “How can they if they’re already flat on their backs?” retorted Florentyna “God deliver us from a woman President,” replied the doctor, and voted Republican
“But the main platform of this administration will be in the field of law and order, and to this end I intend to present to Congress a bill that will al”
The applause from the croas not quite so spontaneous
Florentyna raised her head “And so I say to you, my fellow citizens, let the end of this century be an era in which the United States leads the world in justice as well as in power, in care as well as enterprise, an era in which the United States declares ar on disease, war on discrimination, and war on poverty”
The President sat down; in a single motion, the entire audience rose to its feet
The sixteen-minute speech had been interrupted by applause on ten occasions But as the nation’s Chief Executive turned from the microphone, now assured that the crow
d ith her, her eyes were no longer on the cheering nitaries on the platform for the one person she wanted to see She walked over to her husband, kissed him on the cheek, and then took his arm before they were accompanied from the platform by the briskly efficient usher
H Stuart Knight hated things that didn’t run on schedule, and today nothing had been on ti to be at least thirty minutes late for the lunch
Seventy-six guests stood as the President entered the room These were the men and women who now controlled the Democratic party The Northern establishment who had decided to back the lady were now present, with the exception of those who had supported Senator Ralph Brooks
Some of those at the luncheon were already members of her cabinet, and everyone present had played so her to the White House
The President had neither the opportunity nor the inclination to eat her lunch; everyone wanted to talk to her at once The menu had been speciallywith lobster bisque and going on to roast beef Finally, the chef’s pièce de résistance was produced, an iced chocolate cake, in the fornore the neat wedge of the Oval Office placed in front of her “That’s why she never needs to slim,” commented Marian Edelman, as the surprise appoint Edward about the ihts Edward tried to listen; perhaps another day
By the ti of the White House had been demolished and the last hand pumped, the President and her party were forty-five ural Parade When they did arrive at the reviewing stand in front of the White House, thethe crowd of two hundred thousand, was the Presidential Guard of Honor, who had been standing at attention for just over an hour Once the President had taken her seat the parade began The State contingent in the military unit marched past, and the United States Marine Band played everything from Sousa to “God Bless America” Floats fro events frohter touch to what for her was not only a serious occasion but a solemn one