“You speak of today, Frank. What about tomorrow?”
Twigg shrugged. He was a newspaperman. Today was what counted.
“Consider what happened ten years ago,” the president said. “Russia could have conquered the United States then-and if not the United States, at least South Africa, Japan, Australia, and Canada. Yet it did no such thing. Why not?”
That was a moot question, one that evoked the strongest and most varied opinions, because short of reading the minds of the men in the Kremlin, no one could be sure. Fear of a universal holocaust in which they too would be consumed, territorial indigestion, a triumph of the Russian peace party over the hawks, dissension within the Kremlin, a fight for leadership that immobilized all parties-these were some of the theories advanced for the halt to Russian imperialism.
“But my military and naval analysts have finally . agreed on a more complex scenario. They believe that what most of you maintain-that the Russians feared a nuclear war that would exterminate humankind-is substantially correct. Russia feared that if it attacked the last of the few reliable allies the Americans possess-South Africa, Canada, Australia, and Japan- the Americans would, in desperation, push the button. So far so good. But what, then, about the countries they could have taken with impunity, but did not-Egypt, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, and China? Why did they leave these inexhaustible sources of manpower and armies for the free world to exploit?
“According to my service chiefs, because they were sure, having dealt with such Third World countries for decades without benefit to themselves, that far from being a blessing, the backward nations would be the graveyard of the West.”
“Nonsense!” roared Bernard Davis, the television king of America and the second most powerful man in the room.
“You think so, Bernie? Well, we’ve poured a steady stream of wheat and trucks and building materials and arms into these seven pauper countries for the past ten years, and what have we reaped besides an enormous internal and external debt? We’ve got 700 million more mouths to feed than when we began a short decade ago, and we’ve subsidized armies that couldn’t beat that of Paraguay in a stand-up fight. I’ll grant you, they have a lot of field marshals and beautifully tailored uniforms and rows of fruit salad on their chests and put on impressive parades, but they can’t fight!”
“They need time,” said Davis aggrievedly. This was his beloved Third World the president was knocking. “After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
“We’re not building Rome. We’re trying to build armies. We’ve failed. Today, having strewn our food and technology and materiel on foreign sands, we’re barely able to defend ourselves against a conventional amphibious attack by Russia and its armies of slaves. That’s not theory; that’s fact.”
“But Russia is peace-loving,” Davis said soothingly.
“They keep saying so,” President Wynn admitted. “But do you believe them?”
“Of course, because they keep demonstrating it. Look at South Africa. They could have knocked off South Africa any time they wanted.”
President Wynn’s distinguished patrician face was creased in a scowl. What Davis said was all too true.
“Still, my analysts feel that this whole scenario was constructed deliberately to weaken the West. The Russians knew the pauper Third World would make no contribution to free-world defense. They knew the Third World’s exploding population and demands to feed it would impoverish us-as they have. In time, we will be too weak, at the rate we’re going, to resist a determined push. A little shove will do, and the U.S. will crumble.”
He licked his lower lip. He could see that his words were making little impression, except on Forte and old Pascal, who had been saying the same things as long as he could remember. With the others, ten years of peace was hard to argue away.
“Is this why we’ve been called together?” said Dr. Werner Spoke, the scholarly chief of the Continental News Service. “Is it to inform us that we are so weak that a Russian attack is imminent?”
President Wilson Wynn shook his head. “No, on the contrary, I have received new proposals from the Russians. We have examined them, and while on the surface they seem most attractive, we believe they carry the seeds of national disaster.”
“Let’s hear the good news first, Mr. President,” said Davis tartly.
“Very well. The proposal is quite long, complicated in the Russian manner, and detailed. But it boils down to this: the Russians propose the total demilitarization of the Third World-plus their poor possessions such as Poland and England as well as those that are technically our allies, such as, China and India.”
The men around the table nodded. The better-armed, better-organized Russian satellites would be a greater loss to Russia than America’s client nations would be to the United States. A distinct plus for the United States.
“Next, Russia proposes the conversion of its arms industries to the production of plowshares, pen wipers, petroleum pipe, and other products for peaceful purposes. Russia will assume the burden of supplying the entire Third World with capital and consumer goods.”
“What?” Spoke exclaimed. “But that’s wonderful. What do we have to do in return?”
“In return, we too convert our arms industries to peaceful endeavors. But we will supply fertilizers, desalination plants, seed, and other products, and processes for the agricultural sector of the world, and intensify our own agricultural production at home and in Canada and Australia.”
“Then that is wonderful,” said a grinning Dr. Spoke. “It is indeed the millennium.”
“So the Russians claim,” President Wynn remarked warily. “But how do you figure it, Dr. Spoke?”
“Isn’t it obvious? We have, as you justly remarked, Mr. President, exhausted ourselves in producing arms, building materials, and other necessities for the Third World. We could use a rest. Russia is giving it to us by assuming the burden of providing for the growing needs of the world’s poor. We, on the other hand, are preeminent in food production. By concentrating on this, an American specialty that no one in the world has come close to equaling in efficiency, we can supply all the food mankind requires. The two hands wash each other-Russia providing capital and consumer goods, and the United States the wherewithal to eat.”
“Yet-”
“But there is another dividend even more vital,” continued Spoke, declining to yield the floor. “Neither can exist without the other. Russia cannot wage war against us without losing its daily bread. It would starve in six months. We, for our part, could not be enticed into martial adventures, because we would no longer have the capacity to produce arms. Whoever thought up the Russian plan is a genius, and I take off my hat to him. Always providing, of course, that there will be mutual inspection to be sure that the terms of the agreement are carried through.”
“Oh, yes,” the president said, “there are provisions for mutual inspection, all right.”
“You seem, nevertheless, to have reservations,” Bernard Davis noted. “Care to share them with us?”
“I’m thinking about the United States becoming an agricultural nation. I’m not sure I like the idea.”
“Thomas Jefferson did,” Davis shot back.
“Thomas Jefferson lived two hundred years ago. Times have changed.”
“For the worse. It’s time we went back to the soil.”
“Six feet under?”
“Ah,” said Dr. Spoke. “So there’s more to the story. I might have known it was too good to be true. What’s the catch, Mr. President?”
President Wynn rubbed his jaw. “We’re not sure. But we’re suspicious. Leopards don’t change their spots, and Russians who have been shooting their way down the road to expansion for four hundred years don’t suddenly stop and build rest houses. I’m thinking about their proposed fleet visits, and I don’t like the idea at all. Neither do my service advisers.”
“Fleet visits?”
“Yes, this is another part of their proposed package. The concept is an ancient one, actually-an exchange of hostages. The idea is that if either party tries to dishonor its undertaking, the other has a hostage to deal with, in this case the whole country.”
“I don’t understand,” said Davis.
“I’m not sure I do, either,” Wynn sighed. “The way it is supposed to work is this: a large portion of each nation’s fleet will visit the other nation’s ports each summer; a trial visit this summer I have already authorized, by the way. Presumably, the courtesy calls will help dispel suspicion by letting the crews meet the people on a person-to-person basis. Another part of their mission will be overflights as an element in the inspection procedure to ensure that no covert arms build-up takes place. But mainly, as the Russians envision it, the fleets will be able to take immediate punitive action if they detect any sign of aggressive movement on the part of the other side, and this option is designed to inhibit such aggressive action absolutely.”
“Well,” Spoke said, “that sounds fair. In fact, it sounds great. What possible reservations could you entertain about such an intelligent suggestion? It’s failsafe.”