Promise of Joy Read online

  Table of Contents

  Major Characters In The Novel

  Publisher’s Foreword

  Note to the Reader

  Book One1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  Book Two1

  2

  3

  4

  Book Three1

  Book Four1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  Book Five The Promise Of Joy1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  Appendix

  About the Author

  Allen Drury

  Book Description

  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 The Promise of Joy, with his Vice President Ted Jason and his wife Beth Knox dead at the hands of an assassin, newly elected President Orrin Knox contends with a game of one-upmanship between the Soviet Union and China. The United States, guided by Knox’s inflexible will, begins to assist rebels seeking to break away from their Communist overlords, despite mounting pressure from the international community and within the U.S.

  When nuclear war breaks out between Russia and China, President Orrin Knox, aided and opposed by the media, senators, congressmen, cabinet officials, ambassadors, and the people, must act to safeguard peace and democracy in America and the entire world.

  ***

  Smashwords Edition – 2014

  WordFire Press

  wordfirepress.com

  ISBN: 978-1-61475-208-0

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

  Originally published 1975 by Doubleday & Company, Inc.

  “Based on the Novel”

  Previously Unpublished.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

  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and Archive for the care with which they have maintained our uncle’s archive and their assistance in making previously unpublished material available—Kevin D. Killiany, Kenneth A. Killiany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

  Cover artwork images by Dollar Photo Club

  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

  ***

  Dedication

  To Ken McCormick

  Editor sapiens et patiens

  ***

  Major Characters In The Novel

  In Washington

  Orrin Knox of Illinois, President of the United States

  William Abbott, ex-President of the United States

  Mrs. Ceil Jason, widow of the Governor of California

  Robert A. Leffingwell, Secretary of State

  Blair Hannah, Secretary of Defense

  Fred Van Ackerman, chairman of the Committee on Making Further Offers for a Russian Truce (COMFORT) and chairman of the National Anti-War Activities Congress (NAWAC)

  LeGage Shelby, chairman of 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

  Robert Durham Munson, Senator from Michigan

  Dolly, his wife

  Tom August, Senator from Minnesota

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

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

  Representative Bronson Bernard of New York

  Lafe Smith, Senator from Iowa

  Mabel Anderson, widow of Senator Brigham Anderson of Utah

  Walter Dobius, a columnist

  Frankly Unctuous, a commentator

  Other members of the media

  Other members of Congress

  Members of NAWAC

  At the United Nations

  Lord Claude Maudulayne, the British Ambassador

  Raoul Barre, the French Ambassador

  Krishna Khaleel, the Ambassador of India

  Nikolai Zworkyan, Ambassador of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

  Sun Kwon-yu, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China

  In Moscow and at the United Nations

  Alexei Shulatov, President of the United States of Russia

  In Peking and at the United Nations

  Lin Kung-chow, President of the United Chinese Republic

  ***

  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

  Most of the Characters in this concluding novel of the Advise and Consent series, and the background of most of its events, will be found in its predecessors, Advise and Consent, A Shade of Difference, Capable of Honor, Preserve and Protect, and Come Nineveh, Come Tyre: The Presidency of Edward M. Jason.

  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 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 the United Nations of His Royal Highness the M’Bulu of Mbuele, 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 Presidency; 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 activities of Walter Dobius, columnist all-knowing and all-powerful; and 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) 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 vacant 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 forms the basis for Come Nineveh, Come Tyre and The Promise of Joy.

  In Come Nineveh, Come Tyre: The Presidency of Edward M. Jason (written in 1972, published in 1973) will be found his first unhappy weeks in the White House, with all their attendant perils for the country and himself; how he meets them; and what such methods as his might portend for the United States; and in The Promise of Joy: The Presidency of Orrin Knox, his first unhappy weeks in the White House; and how he meets perils dissimilar in nature but perhaps even greater in scope; and what such methods as his might portend for the United States.

  Running through all six novels—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 law lie the surest path to world peace and a stable society.

  ***

  Book One

  1

  Now the august day has come when he and Governor Edward Montoya Jason of California 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 Secretary of State Orrin Knox, twice unsuccessful candidate for President, now Presidential nominee by fluke of death, circumstance, savagely bitter political battling and a squeak-in vote of 658 for him to 635 for Ted Jason, may find out whether he can trust the attractive, intelligent, equivocal flirter-with-the-violent that fluke and circumstance have thrust upon him as his running mate.

  As he finishes shaving and prepares to rejoin his wife, Beth, in the living room of their comfortable, rambling old house in Washington’s secluded Spring Valley, he does not know just how much cooperation with Vice Presidential nominee Ted Jason there will be. But he has given Ted 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 President Harley M. Hudson win renomination in the wildly violent national convention; have seen Orrin become his running mate after a furious struggle with Ted Jason; have seen Harley’s death in the mysterious and still unexplained crash of Air Force One, followed by the accession to the Presidency of Speaker of the House William Abbott; and have seen that event in turn followed by the emergency 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’s for Vice President.

  Some have said that Ted, 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 flirted too much with violence.

  Some—and they include Orrin and President Abbott—have said Ted has put himself in pawn to violence. Some—and they include Ted’s lovely wife, 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 Ted’s side for today’s ceremonies—have said that Ted has betrayed something essential in himself in so doing. And some—and they include all of those and many more besides, both in Washington and throughout the country—have made plain their fear that Ted may never be able to break free from violence and the begetters of violence, no matter how he tries.

  And many of these—their uneasy discontent and frequently bitter criticism reaching him through a thousand channels in the past twenty-four hours—have said that Orrin Knox, in accepting Ted as his running mate, has betrayed everything Orrin has stood for in three decades of public life, and has taken a fearful chance with the country’s well-being for no other reason than sheer political opportunism and greed for office.

  This, he knows, is the chief burden he carries before his countrymen today: the glibly cynical and disillusioned belief, on the part of so many, that Orrin Knox, so long regarded as a man of principle even by those who have disagreed with him most bitterly, is not so principled after all.

  This he carries, and with it his worries about Ted, which are fully as lively, did his countrymen only know, as those anyone els
e may have. But how can he convince anyone of this now? He has apparently made a deal, hasn’t he? He has apparently reversed himself 180 degrees to accept Ted as his running mate, hasn’t he? He has apparently been just as much of a political trimmer and grasper after power as any he ever criticized in all his long and controversial years as Senator from Illinois … and he did not criticize with much charity, sometimes, in those days.

  Fittingly enough, perhaps, many of his countrymen are not willing to grant him charity now.

  And yet—and yet. Reviewing the immediate past as he casts an appraising glance at the steady eyes, the emphatic face, the brusque and somewhat impatient expression that stare back at him from the mirror, he does not find it in his heart to blame himself too much, even as he concedes that those who question him now do indeed, from their point of view, have more than reasonable grounds. He has had to answer for his decision to his son; and having done that, believes he can in the long run justify it to all but the most deliberately obtuse and intransigent.

  In all these furiously tumbling weeks, the moment of greatest truth for Orrin Knox came, as it perhaps did for Ted Jason, on the night when the sinister forces of NAWAC waylaid and beat his daughter-in-law, Crystal Danta Knox, outside the national convention at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Crystal had lost the son she was carrying, and it seemed for a while that Orrin’s son Hal had lost all faith in his country, its political system and the ultimate human decencies that are the only protection men have against the fearful winds of decay and dissolution that howl unceasing around a free but sometimes achingly imperfect nation.

  When his father selected for running mate the man Hal regarded as the principal cause of his wife’s beating and his son’s death, it seemed that Hal no longer had anything at all in which to believe.