Alternate Gerrolds Read Online Free PDF

close to a dictator as this country has ever had. Think of what he could have become if he had been motivated like Hitler. Maybe it’s time to rein in the presidency and make the office more responsible to the voice of the people. Maybe I can leave this country with a presidency that’s less dangerous .”
    “You want to trust Congress with the future of the country?”
    “The last I heard, that’s how democracy is supposed to work. We trust our elected officials.”
    “Mr. President, resigning will destroy trust in the Democratic party. You know what that will do to the election process—it’ll give the Republicans a stampede.”
    “The Democratic party is not America. And they’ll recover. They always do. Maybe after they’ve lost a few presidential contests they’ll lose some of their arrogance and rediscover some of their purpose. I hope so.” He took off his glasses and rubbed his nose again. “I’m tired. I’m beaten and I want to go home. I did my best. I’m not ashamed of that. But I know when it’s time to quit. It’s time.” He reached across the big
desk to shake my hand. “Thank you. You’ve done good work for me. I’ve always appreciated your loyalty and your advice.”
    “Yes, sir.” It was a dismissal. I accepted his thanks perfunctorily and headed for the door. I suppose I should have thanked him for the chance to work for him, but I was hurting too badly. I could see why so many people hated him. Maybe the Republicans had been right all along. Adlai Stevenson was too smart to be president....
    I headed down the hall, back to my office, and finally began doing what I should have done weeks ago. I started cleaning out my desk.
    Adlai Stevenson had too much compassion and too much integrity, and he respected the so-called wisdom of the American people far too much to do any real good as president.
    Okay, Mr. Stevenson. Go ahead. Resign. Forget the dream. Forget the promises. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the firestorm. Quitters are failures. A dumber man would have kept on fighting until he outlasted his enemies.
    I slammed the last empty desk drawer in angry disgust. “Next time, I’m going to work for a man who’s too stupid to know when he’s beaten.”
    Hmm.
    The senator from California hadn’t declared yet, but he was certainly the front-runner for 1960, and many people were already looking to him to restore the nation’s pride and confidence in itself. They said he had the kind of stern statesmanlike quality the country needed right now. I didn’t particularly like the man, but he was a great poker player. He’d probably be one hell of a president. Best of all, he’d once remarked to me at a White House reception that he wished he had a speechwriter who could write an “Our Children” speech. At the time, I hadn’t given the comment any thought, but it was clearly a hint.
    Okay, I wasn’t exactly thrilled about working for a Republican, but what the hell? I could learn. And Richard Nixon was exactly what this country needed and deserved.

What we remember of Kennedy are not the mistakes, but the aspirations. Not the missteps, but the goals.
    Regarding this story, satire is a lousy vehicle for idealism—but what the hell, whatever it takes.
    The Kennedy Enterprise
    —IS THAT THING ON? Good. Okay, go ahead. What do you want to know?
    Kennedy, huh? Why is it always Kennedy? All this nostalgia for the fifties and the sixties. You guys are missing the point. There were so many better actors, and nobody remembers them anymore. That’s the real crime—that Kennedy should get all the attention—but the guys who made him look so good are all passed over and forgotten. Why don’t you jackals ever come around asking whatever happened to Bill Shatner or Jeffrey Hunter—?
    Ahhh, besides, Kennedy’s been done to death. Everybody does Kennedy. Because he’s easy to do. But lemme tell you something, sonny. Kennedy wasn’t really the sixties—uh uh. He’s just a