Chapter 15

At 7:57 A.M., Secretary Lehrer walked into the East Room accompanied by her son and daughter and proceeded to the podium, where they shook hands with Judge John Jay Thompson, who would administer the oath to the new President. The ranking members of each executive department and members of the press had assembled and had been quietly talking among themselves about the events that had thrust Kathleen Lehrer upon the center of the world stage. A grim silence descended upon the room as the new President entered the room.

"Please raise your right hand and repeat after me, 'I, Kathleen Lehrer, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God.' Good luck, Madame President."

"Thank you, Judge Thompson. I'm going to need it." President Lehrer then turned to the people who had assembled in the East Room.

"First we would like to extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to the families and friends of all of the many fine people who were killed last night at the Capitol. Let's have a moment of silence in their memory."

The room became as silent as a tomb as everyone there bowed their heads in memory of their fallen comrades.

"As my first official act as President, I would like to announce a thirty day period of mourning, with all U.S. flags being flown at half mast. I have talked with President Ruskin's two daughters and they have agreed that their parents' bodies will lie in state here in the East Room of the White House. Members of my staff are working very closely with them to plan the funeral, and as soon as the arrangements have been made, we will announce them to the public."

She paused for a moment. "If someone had told me twenty four hours ago that I would be standing here taking the oath of office as President of the United States, I would have dismissed it as a sick joke. But, because of a dastardly act of treachery perpetrated by the Iranian government against the government and against the people of the United States, the responsibilities of the Presidency have been thrust upon my shoulders. I pray that I am worthy of the trust that has been placed in me and that I will be able to safely steer the United States through the hazards that will confront us in the days ahead."

"We will be contacting the governors of the fifty states so they will be able to appoint members of the Senate to replace those who had died so that we can have at least the Senate up and running as soon as possible. I will also ask the governors and the national party leaders later today to arrange a conference so that we can arrange elections for a new Congress as quickly as we can. Personally, I would like to see elections held, and a new Congress installed, as soon as possible so that we will be able to once again have the checks and balances that had been built into our system of government by the Founding Fathers."

"I will serve out the remainder of President Ruskin's term. I will govern using the powers invested in me by the Constitution. I will, until the new Congress is elected, of necessity be forced to rule by executive order. Once the new Congress is elected, I will send those executive orders which I had enacted, that would normally fall under the jurisdiction of Congress, to them for their approval or disapproval, whichever the case may be. The rights granted to the people of the United States by the Constitution will not be infringed upon in any way during my administration. I will try to the utmost of my ability to use my powers wisely and in a responsible way. I do not believe in totalitarian dictatorships and my administration will not become a dictatorship."

"The people of the United States deserve better than that. We will, with your help, show the world how well our system works, even under this, the greatest adversity that we have ever faced as a nation."

The President paused and took a deep breath.

"Our nation faces many threats. The primary threat that we face today is from the revolutionary government of the Ayatollah Makhtol of Iran. We have incontrovertible proof that his government was behind the unprovoked attack on the Capitol last night that caused this crisis."

"The United States is now in a state of war with Iran. I have just received word of the first successful bombing raid that has been made by our forces against Iranian forces inside of Iran. We have caused considerable damage to Tabriz and Hamadan Air Bases, as well as to the Iranian Army Headquarters at Rezaiyah. We lost two planes in the course of our attack, and shot down several Iranian planes that our forces had encountered. I would like to assure you that it is but the first of many that will be made before we invade that country. Our forces are mobilizing and beginning to move into position to continue the fight against the Iranians. We will make the Ayatollah Makhtol rue the day that he had ever heard of the United States, let alone decided to attack us."

"I am using my powers as Commander in Chief to hereby order the immediate mobilization of all reserve units and to have them report to their bases. I am also ordering the Selective Service to begin processing the forms of possible inductees. I am not ordering the actual resumption of the draft at this time, but I do want to be prepared in case such a step becomes necessary.

"Our assistance has been requested and given in other parts of the Middle East as well. Makhtol's nefarious scheme was not just to destroy the United States government. The reasoning behind his despicable attack on the Capitol was the hope that the United States would be paralyzed and would be unable to respond to his treachery throughout the Middle East and Europe. His craving for power has caused him to try to spread his fanatic Islamic Revolution beyond the borders of Iran."

"We would like to live in peace with all parts of the Islamic world. But the Ayatollah Makhtol has left us no choice. He must be stopped! And we must be the ones who stop him! His rigid, closed minded hatred of everything that we stand for leaves us with no alternative. If our system, and the freedom that we enjoy because of that system, are to survive, we must halt the Ayatollah Makhtol's dreams of world conquest. And we must do it now!"

The East Room erupted into a spontaneous, sustained applause that lasted over five minutes. When the applause died down, the President continued.

"As you know, President Ruskin was in the process of announcing a mutually verifiable freeze with Russia on the production and testing of all nuclear weapons when the Capitol was bombed. Our relations with the Russians have been gradually improving over the past several years. We hope that trend will continue. We have been in contact with the Russian leaders and they have assured us that they will not become involved in our conflict with Iran unless the fighting spills over their borders. We will do everything in our power to keep that from happening. The United States respects the neutrality of Russia in this affair."

"Our people are faced with a great number of challenges. We must stop the Iranian terror from spreading. We must reestablish the U.S. government and straighten out our economy. And, most of all, we must preserve the freedom that is enjoyed by the American people."

"It is our hope that the lives of ordinary Americans will not be changed too radically in the days and weeks ahead. We have a lot to do in order to meet the challenges before us. By working together, we will meet those challenges. Thank you."

The room erupted with sustained applause in response to the stirring speech from the new President. The whole ceremony had lasted twenty three minutes. On the whole the comments from the media were positive and went something like what was said by the Most Trusted Newscaster in America:

"The President used her inaugural address to try to reassure the American people that although most of the leaders of the U.S. government had been killed in the explosions at the Capitol, life goes on. She has challenged the American people to pull together against the Iranians, to elect a new government and to begin resolving their problems. President Lehrer has said that she will not be a dictator and will respect the rights and freedoms enjoyed by the people."

"The President said that she hopes that relations with Russia will continue to improve and that the Russians will remain neutral in our war against Iran unless the fighting spills across their border, and that she pledged to do her best to prevent that from happening."

"The President reserved her harshest comments for the Ayatollah Makhtol and the Iranian government, calling what happened last night a 'despicable attack on the Capitol' and an act of 'treachery'. The President said that the United States would like to live in peace with the entire Islamic world, but that the Ayatollah Makhtol's treachery leaves the U.S. no alternative. She said that Makhtol must be stopped because of his 'rigid, closed minded hatred of everything we stand for.'"