Chapter 16: A Moral Issue

As a group, we were finding it useful to have at least informal discussion of upcoming things in the morning, and then a more formal review meeting. During the day, many of us still had formal studying to do, although it met two objectives: the official high school curriculum from our “special school”, as well as graduate-level study facilitated by the Cultivators.

The more we used telempathic powers, the more we could do with them. Key to our influencing activities was the ability to formulate a concept, mostly as a single image, and then to convey approval or disapproval. At the most basic would be an erotic image, such as Edie’s Marilyn Monroe lips and bust, and a desire to caress them. More complex, however, was the idea of rejecting Soviet control of Vietnam while empowering nationalism.

June 12

To my bedroom, where I had spent the night with Frankie and Edie, Shelley rolled in the coffee cart. As ever, I appreciated her fantastic waist-length cascade of midnight blue-black hair. In my mind, I had the flash thought from my earlier life: Shelley still looked spectacular in her sixties, with about the only difference that she wore her hair shorter. As I appreciated her legs, I thought to a high school reunion where she, her daughter, and her granddaughter all wore minis, and well. Shelley, however, had the experience to move gracefully in six-inch heels that would have sent her granddaughter to the emergency room.

Shaking my head of the flash though -- I didn’t know whether to call it, in time travel, a flashback or a flashforward -- I saw a sadness in her eyes. She feels a bit outside the action, because she isn’t in the core group going to the White House. Remember, there was a time where she was a key policy influencer, with Senator Tower. As things evolve with civil rights, remember that while her heritage isn’t obvious, she doesn’t look like a WASP. She also has very strong language skills. In this timeline, the civil rights emphasis is on black Americans, but she can connect to Hispanics, and, if need be, Muslims.

At the moment, though, I was captivated simply by looking at her. I smiled at the thought that our team had a spectrum of ways to present gorgeous legs. Vivian, Greta, and Elaine had slim legs that would not have been out of place on a marble but sexy statue. Arlene, Edie, and Shelley, however, were more full and soft, without the slightest sag or excess fat. Frankie and Marcyne went much farther into elegant, powerful muscle. Dawn went beyond marble statue to gold.

Roger’s team, in JFK’s eyes, did not ask the question of “what to do next”. Instead, it asked a question that a general of the future, David Petraeus, would ask: “tell me how this ends.” One of my goals, based on knowledge that I could not share, was to encourage the U.S. to have a coherent strategy in Southeast Asia, rather than reaction and short-term goals, especially political goals.

I kept up a loose telepathic link with Roger, listening to what he did, but not sending back explicit words. Instead, I could encourage some of his ideas, but then have detailed face-to-face discussions afterwards. Telempathy meant that he’d take such discussions seriously.

In the short term, Charge d’Affaires Truehart again Diem again to protest his lack of action on the Buddhist problem and says that Thich Quang Duc’s suicide has shocked the world. He gave an even stronger warning that the US might withdraw support. Diem didn’t seem to care.

Roger asked his team, with Krulak and Lansdale, if there was any good reason not to start planning to work with dissidents in supporting a coup. Would American objectives be met under Diem? Should the US cut its losses if he stays in power, with the full understanding that the Communists would be likely to take over? Alternatively, were there potential outcomes with a north-south neutralist government, or even a nationalist Communist one, not under the thumb of Moscow, analogous to Tito’s Yugoslavia?

Krulak and Lansdale bristled at the thought of any kind of Communist progress. I had told Roger that this was one reflexive belief in U.S. policymaking. Even worse was an activist theme, perhaps mirroring some of the Kennedy style, of “vigor” and “doing something”. Lansdale, however, was always open to covert political action, while Krulak tended to think in military and paramilitary ways.

Archimedes reminded the group, “I’ve spent time with Ho. He isn’t just a kindly grandfather, and, if it seemed appropriate, would kill you in a minute. At the same time, I think he wants good things for his people, not personal power.”

“Who might be some neutralists?”

“On the civilian side, there’s Tran Van Huong, the former Mayor of Saigon. Diem, in 1960, put Huong in jail for signing the Caravelle Manifesto that criticized Diem. Eighteen civilians, many with leadership promise, signed it. A more questionable civilian is Truong Dinh Dzu, but he may have some working relationships with the Buddhists as well as the Communists.”

In my timeline, I knew that Huong was furious with the generals that overthrew Diem, deciding to kill Diem and Nhu because those two still could command loyalties, if from a minority, that the generals could not.” Archimedes paused. “Huong is an honest man, which can be a real detriment in politics.”

“I think of, General Tran Van Don, who is the nominal Chief of the General Staff but has no power. He and Ngo hate one another, and he was moved to offices in Dalat, away from Saigon, to do “research and planning”. I knew that in my timeline, when coup leader Khanh fled in 1965, his legacy were files that cleared Don and the others charged with him. When Nguyen Khanh fled the country after being deposed in 1965, he handed over a dossier which cleared Don and the other generals of the charges for which they were convicted. Again, here was an honest man.

“Don has a good deal of loyalty in the military.

“Am I correct, then, that we could work with Huong and Don?”

The Brute gritted his teeth. “Probably so. They may not be open to destabilizing the North, which is something on which I’ve had my staff working.”

George Reedy initiated a conference call with JFK, LBJ, Bobby Kennedy, Burke Marshall, and Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach. “The FBI has learned that George Wallace is going to confront some black students trying to enroll at the University of Alabama.

JFK told the team “Obviously, I need to make a statement, but I want to be sure the rest of you are seen as prominent. Nick, I want you to lead the response. Fly down there. George has arranged to delay the enrollment, both to give us time for the logistics, and to annoy Wallace.”

“Annoying that pissant, Wallace, is its own reward.” LBJ snorted. “Seriously, I think we should take opportunities to tie finding freedom in the American South with our efforts in South Vietnam.”

“I like that,” the President responded. He thought a little. While JFK certainly made use of gifted speechwriters like Ted Sorensen, he could turn a phrase on his own. “How about, “ Today we are committed to a worldwide struggle to promote and protect the rights of all who wish to be free. And when Americans are sent to Viet-Nam or West Berlin, we do not ask for whites only. It ought to be possible, therefore, for American students of any color to attend any public institution they select without having to be backed up by troops.”

“Lyndon, perhaps we might have you make some informal remarks today? Let a TV reporter “catch you”?

June 13

The President came to the lectern of the White House Press Room. “This afternoon, following a series of threats and defiant statements, the presence of Alabama National Guardsmen was required on the University of Alabama to carry out the final and unequivocal order of the United States District Court of the Northern District of Alabama. That order called for the admission of two clearly qualified young Alabama residents who happened to have been born Negro. Mr. Vice President?”

“Thank you, Mr. President. With the assistance of the Justice Department and the U.S. Marshals’ service, they were admitted peacefully on the campus. This is due in good measure to the conduct of the students of the University of Alabama, who met their responsibilities in a constructive way.”

JFK continued, “I hope that every American, regardless of where he lives, will stop and examine his conscience about this and other related incidents. This Nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.

This is not a sectional issue. Difficulties over segregation and discrimination exist in every city, in every State of the Union, producing in many cities a rising tide of discontent that threatens the public safety. Nor is this a partisan issue. In a time of domestic crisis men of good will and generosity should be able to unite regardless of party or politics. This is not even a legal or legislative issue alone. It is better to settle these matters in the courts than on the streets, and new laws are needed at every level, but law alone cannot make men see right.

“Across the world, especially in Southeast Asia, we ask Americans to fight for the freedom of others. We preach freedom around the world, and we mean it, and we cherish our freedom here at home, but are we to say to the world, and much more importantly, to each other that this is a land of the free except for the Negroes; that we have no second-class citizens except Negroes; that we have no class or cast system, no ghettoes, no master race except with respect to Negroes?

“Soon, I will speak on the issues of South Vietnam, where there are different problems of freedom, principally associated with religion. Today, however, I emphasize that we are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution.
The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated. If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public, if he cannot send his children to the best public school available, if he cannot vote for the public officials who represent him, if, in short, he cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place? Who among us would then be content with the counsels of patience and delay?

One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free. They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice. They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.
Now the time has come for this Nation to fulfill its promise. The events in Birmingham and elsewhere have so increased the cries for equality that no city or State or legislative body can prudently choose to ignore them.

The fires of frustration and discord are burning in every city, North and South, where legal remedies are not at hand. Redress is sought in the streets, in demonstrations, parades, and protests which create tensions and threaten violence and threaten lives.

We face, therefore, a moral crisis as a country and as a people. It cannot be met by repressive police action. It cannot be left to increased demonstrations in the streets. It cannot be quieted by token moves or talk. It is a time to act in the Congress, in your State and local legislative body and, above all, in all of our daily lives.
It is not enough to pin the blame on others, to say this is a problem of one section of the country or another, or deplore the fact that we face. A great change is at hand, and our task, our obligation, is to make that revolution, that change, peaceful and constructive for all.
Those who do nothing are inviting shame as well as violence. Those who act boldly are recognizing right as well as reality.

Next week I shall ask the Congress of the United States to act, to make a commitment it has not fully made in this century to the proposition that race has no place in American life or law. The Federal judiciary has upheld that proposition in a series of forthright cases. The executive branch has adopted that proposition in the conduct of its affairs, including the employment of Federal personnel, the use of Federal facilities, and the sale of federally financed housing.
But there are other necessary measures which only the Congress can provide, and they must be provided at this session. The old code of equity law under which we live commands for every wrong a remedy, but in too many communities, in too many parts of the country, wrongs are inflicted on Negro citizens and there are no remedies at law. Unless the Congress acts, their only remedy is in the street.

I am, therefore, asking the Congress to enact legislation giving all Americans the right to be served in facilities which are open to the public—hotels, restaurants, theaters, retail stores, and similar establishments.
This seems to me to be an elementary right. Its denial is an arbitrary indignity that no American in 1963 should have to endure, but many do.
I have recently met with scores of business leaders urging them to take voluntary action to end this discrimination and I have been encouraged by their response, and in the last 2 weeks over 75 cities have seen progress made in desegregating these kinds of facilities. But many are unwilling to act alone, and for this reason, nationwide legislation is needed if we are to move this problem from the streets to the courts.”