Chapter 114: Taking Advantage of the Issue
The moment those words left Dawes's mouth, the press room exploded.
The attempted assassination of a foreign dignitary was already enough to stir discussion across the country, but the attempted assassination of an American President was something else entirely. It was an event that could shake the whole United States. Worse still, the Vice President had concealed the news for days before finally disclosing it.
Several reporters immediately prepared to attack him on that point, but Dawes had anticipated the angle long before they opened their mouths.
"The reason this matter was not made public at once," he said solemnly, "was because the investigation required secrecy. President Coolidge and the Secretary of War were not merely my colleagues. They were also my friends."
"As a friend, and as a member of this nation, I could not allow this case to be hastily closed without uncovering the truth. In order to determine who was really behind the attack, Director Hoover of the Federal Bureau of Investigation proposed that the news be sealed for the time being while all possible conspirators were quietly investigated."
That answer only sharpened the reporters' interest.
In an instant, countless possibilities flashed through their minds. Was it a criminal syndicate? A political assassination? A foreign intelligence operation? Every one of those possibilities was enough to sell newspapers by the tens of thousands.
Then Dawes delivered the next sentence, and it hit them like a bucket of cold water.
"But the truth," he said, his expression grave, "is often less dramatic than fiction."
"The perpetrators were three retired veterans addicted to narcotics. Dissatisfied with the President's current policies, they exploited old personal connections to persuade two serving officers in the Army and Navy to assist them. Those two officers, in turn, used their positions to obtain itinerary details through two former members of the White House security staff."
"After the incident, the two officers, fearing discovery, took their own lives. The Army and Navy withheld information relating to the matter and will face corresponding punishment. The former White House security personnel responsible for leaking confidential information have already been taken into custody."
He paused briefly.
"Of course, the investigation is not over. It will continue until every remaining doubt has been removed."
The answer left the room deeply dissatisfied.
They had expected a dark and dramatic political conspiracy. Instead, what they had been given sounded almost mundane, disappointingly so. It was like going to a cabaret expecting a beautiful dancer to undress, only to discover halfway through that the performer was a man.
The atmosphere turned restless at once.
"Mr. Dawes, that explanation doesn't make sense. Why was the President riding in an Imperial Eagle with diplomatic plates instead of the presidential motorcade?"
"Exactly. How could two former security employees obtain such sensitive itinerary information? Mr. Dawes, are you concealing something?"
Faced with those pointed questions, Dawes did not engage them directly at all. He stepped aside with practiced calm and passed the burden of explanation to his chief of staff.
"The specific details will be further clarified by the Chief of Staff. Tomorrow, the Federal Bureau of Investigation will also hold a supplementary press conference regarding the attempted assassination of the President."
He adjusted his cuffs, then gave the crowd a restrained nod.
"Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen. I still have matters requiring my attention, so I will not remain."
With a glance toward the Chief of Staff waiting nearby, Dawes turned and left the press room at once, making directly for the Capitol.
He did not particularly care whether the reporters believed him.
Any news, no matter how explosive, would fade with time. As for the hidden truth, from Lincoln's assassination to Theodore Roosevelt surviving an assassination attempt and continuing to speak, which great political event in American history had ever been entirely free of secrets?
Besides, with the Morgan family guiding public opinion from behind the curtain, whatever he chose to define as truth would become truth. Not the complete truth, perhaps, but the accepted one, the only one that mattered.
The matter of the Navy Commander plotting against the President was simply too serious to be aired in full. It had to remain sealed forever in official archives, an open secret known only to those at the very top.
When Dawes entered the Capitol, the quiet murmur of conversation instantly died down.
The progressive aligned Democrats and the members of the Progressive Party obviously had far broader access to information than newspaper reporters. Although the arrests had been carried out in great secrecy the day before, even the slightest leak was enough for them to reconstruct the general outline of events.
Dawes could have used Krag's actions as a weapon and tied the entire old Roosevelt military network to the attempted assassination. With that, he might have saddled them all with a crime they had never directly committed.
But he had not done so.
That meant something very clear. Dawes did not intend to tear the entire house down. Not yet. Instead, he meant to use the affair as leverage, to force concessions over the election of the Attorney General and over the shipbuilding agreement.
The progressive bloc already knew that the Attorney General's office would likely slip from their grasp. But the shipbuilding agreement was another matter entirely. Even if most politicians and senators were inclined to approve it, they could still obstruct it by raising procedural objections and conflicts with existing legislation, dragging the matter out indefinitely.
Originally, they had planned to exchange cooperation on the shipbuilding agreement for the appointment of a progressive figure as Attorney General, a straightforward political trade.
Krag's actions had shattered that plan in an instant.
Now Dawes held the stronger hand.
So long as the attempted assassination remained under investigation, he could always use the matter to force them back into line.
A single life exchanged for so many advantages. The thought left one member of the Roosevelt aligned progressives shaking his head bitterly.
Krag's madness had hurt the Roosevelt faction more than anyone else. Not only had they lost the military connections Theodore Roosevelt had spent years building, they would now carry the stain of this affair for a long time to come.
Perhaps, he thought grimly, this was the price of impulsiveness.
In politics, killing was not the greatest sin. Being caught was.
Seeing the chamber fall silent as he entered, Dawes felt the corners of his mouth start to lift, though he quickly suppressed the reaction. He had to admit it: Coolidge's shooting had not only made him President, it had handed him a priceless bargaining chip.
With it, he could force the progressive members aligned with the Democrats to fall in behind him.
"Gentlemen," Dawes said evenly, "I will not waste time on preliminaries. I have already nominated Republican member Mr. Henry Windo to assume the office of Vice President. Today will therefore be my final day serving simultaneously as President of the Senate and Vice President."
He let his gaze sweep across the chamber.
"And I hope this session will reach an orderly conclusion."
He raised a document.
"The nomination of Republican member Mr. Winners Gask to serve as Attorney General has already been discussed. We may now proceed to the vote."
Under ordinary circumstances, the vote for Attorney General would have been far closer. There were no great industrial syndicates pressing their full weight behind it, and under normal political conditions the progressive bloc would have fought hard over the appointment.
But Krag had changed the atmosphere completely.
Several members who had once followed Theodore Roosevelt's line chose to yield rather than risk further escalation.
The result was not close at all.
The nomination passed.
Seeing it, Dawes allowed himself the faintest smile. A deadlock that might have consumed enormous political capital had just been broken with barely any effort from him at all.
"Next," he said, "we will proceed to discussion and voting on the new shipbuilding agreement. Members may state their views on the measure before voting begins."
As he spoke, the first draft of the agreement, prepared by the German delegation, was distributed throughout the chamber.
Most hardly bothered reading it.
With the Attorney General's office already lost, the progressives had no intention of opening another front at such a dangerous moment. Several simply flipped through a few pages before laying the draft aside altogether.
The vote began shortly afterward.
And this time, the result pleased Dawes even more.
It was one of those rare moments in the history of the chamber, a vote so lopsided it could only be called overwhelming.
.....
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