Chapter 11

The twenty-fifth Amendment did not exist in nineteen forty-five, which is why Truman never nominated a successor for himself. Congress was of two minds on the matter, but when Kennedy was assassinated in nineteen sixty-three, the Twenty-fifth Amendment began to pick up momentum. By seventy three it was passed and Gerald Ford was the first person ever appointed to succeed a sitting Vice President without an election. Ford then named Nelson Rockefeller after Nixon’s resignation.

Barkley wanted to set a precedent AND feather his own nest by moving up the timeline. There were others who saw the practicality of having a succession plan in place, particularly after Roosevelt died during wartime. Having a President with no Vice President made many members of Congress nervous during the latter days of the war. Over the next ten days several high-ranking Democrats made the trek out to my office to discuss what was being referred to as The Barkley Plan.

Because Roosevelt only saw Truman as a concession pick for the nineteen forty-four reelection campaign, he never consulted him about the war or national events, left him off every invitation list to the White House, and only actually spoke to Truman twice, neither time about government business. Roosevelt agreed to boot Henry Wallace from the ticket to placate a group of Democrat Senators that viewed Wallace as far too closely allied with socialists and communists. Though popular with voters, he was anathema with the establishment.

Truman had no idea what was going on when he assumed the mantle of President in April of forty-five. Once sworn in, he had little to no support from those loyal to Roosevelt. Truman had been vice president for eighty-two days when President Roosevelt died. That afternoon, Truman presided over the Senate as usual. He had just adjourned the session for the day and was preparing to have a drink in House Speaker Sam Rayburn’s office, when he received an urgent message to go immediately to the White House.

He assumed President Roosevelt wanted to meet with him, but Eleanor Roosevelt informed him her husband had died after suffering a massive cerebral hemorrhage. Truman’s first concern was for Mrs. Roosevelt. He asked if there was anything he could do for her, to which she replied, “Is there anything we can do for you? For you are the one in trouble now!”

Truman assumed office with a reputation as “the Senator from Pendergast.” His problem was being seen as a tool of Pendergast, a notorious patronage politician – “If it’s free it’s for me!” Truman turned over all patronage to Pendergast and defended it by saying that “by offering a little to the machine, he saved a lot”.

The White House was a huge puzzle to Truman, and all of us around him knew it. He ended up living in Blair House while the White House was renovated, and it was there that the Puerto Rican Nationalist Movement tried to assassinate him in nineteen-fifty.

All that happened later.

This was nineteen forty-five, and Barkley was trying to move the clock ahead and get a Vice president seated so that he could have another supporter for his own run as Truman’s running mate.

We worked tirelessly to avoid a Korean showdown with China and, Senators, Representatives, and all manner of government officials managed to find their way to my office to ‘chat.’ Those chats invariably turned to finding a pathway to appointing a Vice President. Why they all wanted my take on the problem was a mystery, until I found out that they were making the same trek to speak with most of the other Cabinet Secretaries.

Either way, I stayed out of the fray and concentrated on the Chinese problem.

Jenny kept me abreast of her stolen moments of passion with Helen. And they finally cornered me about two weeks after her first liaison. I was resting on a Saturday morning, with no engagements scheduled and no crisis to take me away from home, when Jenny walked into my study stark naked with an equally naked Helen in tow.

Jenny was at the peak of her beauty at that time. Childbirth had filled her out in all the best ways. Her breasts cried out for attention, as did her spectacular bottom. Looking at her naked and obviously aroused made me wonder why she would think I wanted to include Helen in our bed.

It never came to that because Helen shoved Jenny face down into the couch cushions and dove in for a meal. The shock of being taken like that caused Jenny to climax noisily. Helen never let up and used her mouth to pummel Jenny straight into her next one, while using her free hand to tend to her own need.

The sight of my wife being dominated right before my eyes, by our nanny was just too much, and I walked up behind Helen without a word and slammed Mr. Johnson into her from behind. The wail that came from Helen should have upset the children, but Jenny had mentioned that they were both spending the day with the children of one of our neighbors at the church.

Helen panted as I pounded her from behind. To compensate, she increased the speed and impact on Jenny, forcing over the edge one more time. When I was satisfied that Helen knew her place in my life, I relented and moved her aside so that I could finish inside Jenny. The sensation of Mr. Johnson replacing Helen’s fingers was all she needed to go off on her big one.

We were all three spent after such a brutal start to the morning. Jenny and I lay intertwined while Helen slumped beside us. I had one hand gently stimulating both women as we caught our breath. The day started hard, but we settled down after that and spent hours getting familiar with the ins and outs of a threesome.