He shook hands. He had a good grip.
"General Hayes, you know. Admiral Lacey, Admiral Jessop, Mr. Hoover
you know, General Buckley. Gentlemen. Mr. Miller."
We shook hands all around. "Glad to know you." My palms were slippery.
The President sat, and we followed suit. The guest of honor, I felt
like my head was shaved, and I had a slit pants leg. You don't meet
the President every day.
The President broke the ice. It was thin to begin with. "You have
within yourself the ability, the power, to do a great deal for your
country, Mr. Miller, or would you prefer to be called Pete?"
Pete was all right. He was older, and bigger. Bigger all around.
"A great deal of good, or a great deal of harm."
No harm. I'm a good citizen.
"I'm sure of that. But you can understand what I mean, by harm."
Likely I could, if I really wanted to. But I didn't. Not the place
where you were born.
"Naturally, Pete, it makes me feel a great deal better, however, to
hear you say and phrase it just like that." The light of the lamp
glittered on his glasses. "Very, very much better, Pete."
I was glad it was dark beyond the range of the lamp. My face was red.
"Thank you, Mr. President."
"I like it better, Pete, because from this day on, Pete, you and I and
all of us know that you, and you alone, are going to have a mighty
hard row to hoe." That's right; he was a farmer once. "Hard in this
respect--you understand, I know, that for the rest of your natural
life you must and shall be guarded with all the alert fervor that
national security demands. Does that sound too much like a jail
sentence?"
It did, but I lied. I said, "Not exactly, Mr. President. Whatever you
say is all right with me."
He smiled. "Thank you, Pete.... Guarded as well and as closely as--the
question is, where?"
* * * * *
I didn't know I'd had a choice. The Old Man had talked to me before on
that.
"Not exactly, Pete. This is what I mean: General Buckley and General
Hayes feel that you will be safest on the mainland somewhere in the
Continental United States. Admirals Lacey and Jessop, on the other
hand, feel that the everpresent risk of espionage can be controlled
only by isolation, perhaps on some island where the personnel can be
exclusively either military or naval."