Come Nineveh, Come Tyre: The Presidency of Edward M. Jason Read online

  The Presidency of Edward M. Jason

  Allen Drury

  Come Ninevah, Come Tyre

  Allen Drury

  The Advise and Consent series is a landmark of political fiction, displaying a depth of insider Washington knowledge and a canvas of compelling characters that catapulted each novel to the top of the bestseller lists. At the end of the previous novel, Preserve and Protect, Allen Drury left his readers with one of the greatest cliffhangers of all time. After an assassin’s bullet rings out, we are left to wonder who was killed—the Liberal Vice President Ted Jason, or staunch Conservative Presidential Candidate Orrin Knox? The answer to that question was so large that Pulitzer-Prize winner Drury had to write two novels, one exploring the full ramifications of each outcome.

  In Come Nineveh, Come Tyre, China and the Soviet Union are waiting and watching for any sign of weakness from the untried Ted Jason, survivor of the assassination attempt that took the life of Orrin Knox and catapulted him into the Presidency. Ted Jason has been thrust into this position of power—is he up to the challenge of leadership in such a time of crisis? Or will he bend too far toward appeasement, at the cost of freedom around the world?

  Looking at the stakes for the United States against the backdrop of war, politics, and scandal, President Jason must play winner-take-all in this game of politics.

  ***

  Other Allen Drury Titles

  from WordFire

  The Advise and Consent series

  Advise and Consent

  A Shade of Difference

  Capable of Honor

  Preserve and Protect

  Come Nineveh, Come Tyre

  The Promise of Joy

  Other Novels

  Decision

  Mark Coffin, U.S.S.

  ***

  Smashwords Edition – 2014

  WordFire Press

  wordfirepress.com

  ISBN: 978-1-61475-206-6

  Copyright © 2014 Kevin D. Killiany and Kenneth A. Killiany

  Originally published Doubleday and Company, Inc. 1973

  “The Dangerous Game of ‘Let’s Pretend’”

  Copyright © 2014 Kevin D. Killiany and Kenneth A. Killiany

  Originally published by Reader’s Digest, March 1964

  We would like to thank the Hoover Institution Library and Archive for the care with which they have maintained our uncle’s archive and their assistance in making previously unpublished material available—Kevin D. Killiany, Kenneth A. Killiany

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the copyright holder, except where permitted by law. This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination, or, if real, used fictitiously.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Cover design by Janet McDonald

  Art Director Kevin J. Anderson

  Book Design by RuneWright, LLC

  www.RuneWright.com

  Kevin J. Anderson & Rebecca Moesta, Publishers

  Published by

  WordFire Press, an imprint of

  WordFire, Inc.

  PO Box 1840

  Monument, CO 80132

  Grateful thanks are expressed to Carla Koss Roberts for kind permission to use her poem “Remembrance,” on the Dedication page.

  Electronic Version by Baen Books

  www.baen.com

  ***

  Dedication

  To FLORA ALLEN DRURY – 1894-1973

  Here lies a heart,

  Dead not half a year;

  I shan’t defile her grave

  With half a tear.

  I would, instead, recall

  The many times she paced

  This ground to meet

  Her love’s embrace …

  Remember her smiles,

  Easily won …

  Remember how her hair

  Shone in the sun …

  Remember how great beauty

  Brought her tears …

  Remember that she loved me

  Many years.

  ***

  Major Characters in the Novel

  In Washington

  Edward Montoya Jason of California, President of the United States

  William Abbott, ex-President of the United States

  Mrs. Beth Knox, widow of the Secretary of State

  Representative Harold Knox, their son

  Robert A. Leffingwell, Secretary of State

  Ewan MacDonald MacDonald, Secretary of Defense

  George Henry Wattersill, Attorney General

  Fred Van Ackerman, Senator from Wyoming, Chairman of the Committee on Making Further Efforts for a Russian Truce (COMFORT)

  LeGage Shelby, Chairman of the Defenders of Equality for You (DEFY)

  Rufus Kleinfert, Chairman of the Konference on Efforts to Encourage Patriotism (KEEP)

  Mr. Justice Thomas Buckmaster Davis of the Supreme Court

  Patsy Jason Labaiya, sister of the President

  Robert Durham Munson, Senator from Michigan

  Dolly, his wife

  Tom August, Senator from Minnesota

  Arly Richardson, Senator from Arkansas, Majority Leader of the United States Senate

  Representative J. B. “Jawbone” Swarthman of South Carolina, Speaker of the House

  Representative Bronson Bernard of New York

  Roger P. Croy of Oregon, Vice President of the United States

  Lafe Smith, Senator from Iowa

  Mabel Anderson, widow of Senator Brigham Anderson

  Cullee Hamilton, Senator from California

  Lady Maudulayne

  Celestine Barre

  Walter Dobius, a columnist

  Frankly Unctuous, a commentator

  Other members of the media

  Members of NAWAC (the National Anti-War Activities Congress)

  At the United Nations

  Lord Claude Maudulayne, the British Ambassador

  Raoul Barre, the French Ambassador

  Krishna Khaleel, the Ambassador of India

  Nicolai Zworkyan, Ambassador of the U.S.S.R.

  In Moscow and Washington

  Vasily Tashikov, Chairman of the Council of Ministers, U.S.S.R.

  ***

  Publisher’s Foreword

  The fate of the country, and even the planet, can turn on a dime, a branchpoint where two different courses of action can lead to wildly different outcomes. Allen Drury left us with one such crux point at the end of Preserve and Protect, in one of the most compelling cliffhangers in all of 20th Century fiction. Drury brought us to a climactic showdown that resulted in the death of a pivotal character and changed the course of U.S. history.

  But in which direction?

  At the end of Preserve and Protect, readers don’t know who survives—is it the weaker, more pacifistic Presidential candidate Edward Jason, or the more hardline Vice President Orrin Knox? The survivor will succeed to the U.S. Presidency and lead the country in a time of ever-increasing threat against foreign enemies. One man can make a difference, perhaps a tragic one.

  The Advise and Consent saga is one of the most compelling and influential works of political fiction ever published.
Advise and Consent (1959) itself is one of the best-selling novels of the 20th Century; it won the Pulitzer Prize and was adapted into a highly successful film starring Henry Fonda. Drury followed that novel with A Shade of Difference (1962), Capable of Honor (1966), and Preserve and Protect (1968).

  And then Drury did something even more astonishing—he wrote two endings to his series, alternate histories of what would have happened if one or the other man became the next President. Though starting at the same point, Come Nineveh, Come Tyre: The Presidency of Edward Jason and The Promise of Joy: The Presidency of Orrin Knox, are entirely different extrapolations, with the depth of character development and political nuances that readers have come to expect.

  Drury’s intent was that both alternate endings be released simultaneously, so that readers could make their own choice. The author felt it important that the wildly different consequences of these two paths be presented simultaneously, but that did not prove to be possible at the time. Come Nineveh, Come Tyre was originally released in 1973 and The Promise of Joy in 1975. The former remained on national bestseller lists for six months, and the latter was a bestseller for four months.

  Now, though, we have a second chance. WordFire Press has been releasing the entire Advise and Consent series throughout the 2014 election season, culminating with the final two volumes, which include never-before-published supplementary materials. We are publishing both alternate endings to the saga at the same time—as was the author’s original intent. Read them both, and decide for yourself.

  Kevin J. Anderson, publisher

  WordFire Press

  ***

  Note to the Reader

  This novel, like others in the Advise and Consent series, is not a prediction of what will happen. It is a prediction of what could happen if certain attitudes and trends in America and the world proceed unchecked to their logical conclusion.

  As such, it will of course receive the usual shrill denunciations from that sector of the media whose members have done so much to help create the attitudes and encourage the trends.…

  Come Nineveh, Come Tyre: The Presidency of Edward M. Jason, is the first of two sequels to Preserve and Protect which will conclude the Advise and Consent series.

  Its companion volume, The Promise of Joy: The Presidency of Orrin Knox, is scheduled to appear in 1975.

  Most of the characters in this novel, and the background of most of its events, have appeared in its predecessors, Advise and Consent, A Shade of Difference, Capable of Honor and Preserve and Protect.

  In Advise and Consent (written in 1958, published in 1959) will be found the nomination of Robert A. Leffingwell to be Secretary of State; the accession of Vice President Harley M. Hudson to the Presidency; the successful Soviet manned landing on the moon; the death of Senator Brigham Anderson of Utah; the appointment of Senator Orrin Knox of Illinois to be Secretary of State following Bob Leffingwell’s defeat by the Senate. There also will be found the marriage of Orrin’s son, Hal, to Crystal Danta, the marriage of Senate Majority Leader Robert Munson of Michigan to Washington hostess Dolly Harrison, and many other episodes leading into later books.

  In A Shade of Difference (written in 1961, published in 1962) will be found the visit to South Carolina and New York of His Royal Highness Terence Wolowo Ajkaje, ruler of Gorotoland, with all its explosive effects upon the racial problem in the United States and the United Nations; the beginnings of the war in Gorotoland; the early stages of Ambassador Felix Labaiya’s activities in Panama looking toward seizure of the Canal; the opening moves of California’s Governor Edward Montoya Jason in his campaign for the Presidential nomination; the death of Senator Harold Fry of West Virginia and his decision to entrust his son, Jimmy, to Senator Lafe Smith of Iowa; and many other episodes leading into later books.

  In Capable of Honor (written in 1965, published in 1966) will be found the bitter convention battle between President Hudson and Governor Jason for the Presidential nomination; the selection of Orrin Knox for the Vice-Presidential nomination; the escalation of the war in Gorotoland, the outbreak of war in Panama, and their effect upon the Hudson-Jason battle. There also will be found the ominous formation of the National Anti-War Activities Congress (NAWAC), which turns the convention into a near battleground and puts Edward M. Jason increasingly in pawn to the lawless, the sinister and the violent.

  In Preserve and Protect (written in 1967, published in 1968), there will be found the violent aftermath of the sudden and mysterious death of just-renominated President Hudson; the furious contest in the National Committee between Orrin Knox and Governor Jason in their struggle for the nomination; the open civil rebellion of NAWAC in its drive to nominate—and dominate—Ted Jason; and the climactic episode at the Washington Monument Grounds where Orrin Knox, nominee for President, and Edward M. Jason, nominee for Vice President, meet the destiny that furnishes the basis for Come Nineveh, Come Tyre and The Promise of Joy.

  Running through the first four novels, through this and its successor—as it runs through our times—is the continuing argument between those who would use responsible firmness to maintain orderly social progress and oppose Communist imperialism in its drive for world dominion; and those who believe that in a reluctance to be firm, in permissiveness and in the steady erosion of the law lie the surest path to world peace and a stable society.

  Far-called, our navies melt away,

  On dune and headland sinks the fire.

  Lo, all our pomp of yesterday

  Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!

  —“Recessional,” Rudyard Kipling

  ***

  BOOK ONE

  1

  Now the august day has come when he and Secretary of State Orrin Knox are to go to the Washington Monument Grounds and there before their countrymen pledge their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor—and as much cooperation with each other as they can manage.

  It is also the day when Edward Montoya Jason, Governor of California, may find out whether he can control the violent elements that have gathered behind his campaign and run rampant in his name.

  As he finishes shaving and prepares to rejoin his wife, Ceil, in the charming guest suite of his sister Patsy’s house in Dumbarton Oaks, he is confident of his ability to control the violent. But he does not know just how much cooperation with Orrin there will be.

  However, he has given Orrin his word and he intends to keep it:

  There will be as much as he can conscientiously contribute.

  He will make a genuine effort.

  Ambition and the country have a right to expect no less …

  Ambition and the country!

  How much he has done for both, in these recent hectic weeks that have seen the wildly violent national convention; the mysterious and still unexplained death of President Harley M. Hudson; the accession to the Presidency of Speaker of the House William Abbott; and the hasty reconvening of the National Committee, whose deliberations, surrounded by a violence even greater than that which shattered the convention, have finally resulted in Orrin’s nomination for President and Ted Jason’s for Vice President.

  Some have said that Ted Jason, Governor of California, descendant of grandees and shrewd Yankee traders, darling of all that aggregation of uneasy citizens whose hopes and fears are symbolized and given voice by radically activist NAWAC—the National Anti-War Activities Congress—has played too much with violence.

  Some—and they include his running mate and the President—have said Ted Jason has put himself in pawn to violence. Some—and they include the lovely Ceil, who only last night abandoned her self-imposed exile at the great Jason ranch “Vistazo” north of Santa Barbara and flew back to be at his side for today’s ceremonies—have said that he has betrayed something essential in himself in so doing. And some—and they include all of these and many more besides, in Washington and throughout the country—have made plain to him their fear that he may never be able to break free from violence and the begetters of violence, n
o matter how he tries.

  Well: those who think that do not know Ted Jason, so favored by heritage, character, brains and physical presence, even Ceil, astute and perceptive as she is behind the screen of her striking blond beauty and sweetly entrancing personality, does not know Ted Jason. Only Ted Jason, he tells himself with a certain grim defiance that shows for a second in the deep-set dark eyes hooded in the beautifully tanned face, crowned by the distinguished silver-gray hair, knows Ted Jason. And what he knows does not dispose him to be frightened of the hobgoblins of minds less self-assured and certain than his.

  Not, of course, that his mind has been that way consistently in the past few weeks and days. During the convention when Orrin’s daughter-in-law, Crystal Danta Knox, was beaten by rowdies supporting the Jason cause, thereby losing her unborn son; during the final hours of that same convention when President Harley M. Hudson attacked Ted mercilessly in his final speech from the platform accepting renomination and then named Orrin as his Vice-Presidential running mate; and again when NAWAC’s sullen ranks burst into Kennedy Center and attempted to actually assault the National Committee because it named Orrin its Presidential nominee after Harley’s death—on those occasions Ted Jason had come very close to terror and despair as he contemplated what seemed to be the abyss opening beneath his own and his country’s feet.