Irving Wallace - The Man

“You were frequently in the company of Miss Gibson while you were a senator?”

“I was.”

“How many times have you personally visited with her from the night you became President until the impeachment proceedings began?”

“Once, sir. I called upon her the evening after I moved into the White House. The meeting was of brief duration. It took place in the Spingers’ flat, while they were present in that flat.”

“Since becoming President, did you communicate with Miss Gibson by any other means? Did you write to her?”

“No, I did not.”

“Did you exchange telephone calls?”

“Yes, nightly the first days I was in office, but never more than twice a week after that.”

“Did you ever, on any occasion, by any means, since becoming President, relate to her information concerning matters of state?”

“No, sir.”

“You are sure of that, Mr. President?”

“Positively sure of it.”

“Did you discuss any other aspects of your new office with her?”

“Yes. I spoke to her of my worries about having been elevated to such an office. I feared that T. C.’s advisers, the legislators, the military, the Party, in fact, the majority of the public, were not prepared to accept a Negro as President, and that they would resent me and cause me difficulty. I wondered, as all men do when they accidentally have a great responsibility thrust upon them, if I could adequately fill the office and please the electors. But most of all, I told Miss Gibson about my misgivings-my feelings that racial prejudice against me would hamper my freedom to serve my country as a President of all men.”

“That was the extent of it? You never discussed with Miss Gibson, let slip to her, any government information of a confidential nature?”

“Not once, sir, not once. I was always mindful of the responsibility of my office.”

“Mr. President, did you know, at any time during the last two years while Miss Gibson was in the service of Vaduz Exporters, that she was being employed by a Communist Front organization?”

“I did not know that. Miss Gibson has testified she did not know that either. The FBI did not know that. I first heard about it on the very day Miss Gibson suspected what was going on, and the FBI informed me of it, the day the director of the Vaduz organization fled. The company was closed down the next morning.”

“Then you do deny the entire substance of Article I, that with knowledge beforehand or through unintentional indiscretion, you passed on national secrets to a Soviet organization through Miss Gibson?”

“I emphatically deny it, sir. If it were possible to use stronger language, I would deny it in that language. I have never been a party to treason, and neither has Miss Gibson. The House charge is base fiction.”

“So much for Article I, and a portion of III. Let us dispose of the remainder of the charges in Article III. Were you at any time in your past life, or in recent years, addicted to drinking alcohol?”

“No, sir.”

“Were you ever in your life treated for alcoholism by a member of the medical profession?”

“No, sir.”

“Were you ever committed, or did you ever commit yourself, to an institution for alcoholics because of such a habit or disability?”

“No, sir.”

“Let us proceed with the only serious specification in Article III. You have read the indictment presented by the House, and elaborated upon by Miss Sally Watson this afternoon, that you attempted to seduce Miss Watson and did commit bodily harm upon her when she resisted?”

“I have read the indictment. I have seen and heard Miss Watson’s testimony on television.”

“On the night in question, did you order Miss Watson to meet you in your bedroom to confer with you on pending social engagements?”

“No, I did not.”

“But she did visit your bedroom?”

“She did. After the dinner for the Joint Chiefs, I joined them for a documentary film showing. Miss Watson took me aside to say she was intoxicated, and desired to forgo the showing. I advised her to return home. She said she was too drunk and would prefer to lie down first. I told her to do what she thought best. When I came back from the showing, I discovered Miss Watson lying upon my bed in a disheveled and drunken condition. I awakened her and told her I would arrange to have her escorted home. When she tried to get off the bed, her purse fell on the floor and the contents spilled out. I picked up these contents, and saw that among them were numerous index cards. The cards carried notes taken from a CIA document that was in my personal briefcase near the bed.”

“Was the CIA document confidential, Mr. President?”

“It was stamped “Top Secret’ and ‘Eyes Only.’ Miss Watson could not have been unaware of that.”

“What transpired afterward? Did you discuss her motivation in trying to acquire this information?

“We did.”

“Could you repeat your conversation at that time?”

“I would prefer not to.”

“Was anything else, besides her motivation, discussed?”

“Yes. It has no pertinence to this trial.”

“And then?”

“I told Miss Watson to leave. I told her she was fired. After some vituperation-”

“Can you be more explicit?”

“The usual thing, references to my race, and a few threats. Then she departed. It was a sad scene. I can only say here I bear her no animosity. She was, at the time, neither sober nor balanced. Emotional circumstances had driven her to this incredible act. I am sorry for her, but I cannot despise her.”

“You did not, then, in any conceivable way, make improper overtures to Miss Watson, or attempt to detain her forcibly, or do her bodily harm?”

“I did not.”

“Have you anything more to say about this charge, Mr. President?”

“It is untrue, every word of it. It is sheer fantasy, conceived by a fantastic mind and nurtured by other vindictive minds who have chosen to be deceived.”

“Finally, Article IV of the impeachment. You did dismiss Arthur Eaton from your Cabinet and from his position as your Secretary of State?”

“I did, sir,”

“You attempted to replace him with another highly qualified appointee, did you not?”

“I did, sir.”

“You dismissed the Secretary of State without seeking the two-thirds approval of the Senate?”

“I did, sir.”

“Were you aware that there existed a special law, the New Succession Act, passed by both Houses of Congress since you became President, forbidding you to fire a Cabinet member without Senate approval?”

“I was aware of the law. I had believed from the outset, and was supported by some of the best legal authorities in the field, that the law was unconstitutional, and would be so proved when it met its first challenge before the Supreme Court. I remembered that Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes once remarked, ‘We live under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is.’ From my knowledge of precedent, I was certain the Supreme Court judges would say that the New Succession Act was and is a political measure entirely at odds with the Constitution. It was a measure rushed through merely to protect the old Administration from anticipated removals and appointments by a new Negro President. This law encroached upon the Constitution, which gives the Senate the right to advise and consent on a Presidential appointment, but gives the President himself the sole power to remove his appointees from office. I fired Eaton summarily, because I felt it necessary to do so, because I believed I had the legal right to do so, because I believed Congress had no right to dictate to the executive branch or freeze into its Cabinet posts the choices of a deceased President, and because I wanted a disgraceful and illegitimate piece of legislation put to constitutional test.”