Caesar Americanus: An American Civil War - Into Tyranny

By John-Allen Price

June 23, 1935 - President Roosevelt is dead. As the nation mourns, the forces of darkness see their chance to bring the United States into the fascist fold.

Plots are devised and conspiracies hatched. Led by Huey Long, Father Coughlin and J. Edgar Hoover, the United States begins to fall into tyranny. All that now stands between America and a fascist dictator is the U.S. military under General Douglas MacArthur...a man who would be king.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Legacy Books Press
• Release date: Nov 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781927537329

John-Allen Price

John-Allen Price is an independent historian from Lewiston, New York. He is the author of several historical fiction novels, each meticulously researched. He is also the author of the new introduction of The Art of War: Restored Edition, marking his debut as a history writer, and The War that Changed the World, his first non-fiction book.

Book preview

Caesar Americanus

An American Civil War

Part I

Into Tyranny

John-Allen Price

Legacy Books Press Fiction

Published by Legacy Books Press

RPO Princess, Box 21031

445 Princess Street

Kingston, Ontario, K7L 5P5

Canada

www.legacybookspress.com

© 2015 John-Allen Price, all rights reserved.

The moral rights of the author under the Berne Convention have been asserted.

The uploading, and/or distribution of this book via the Internet or any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law.

First published in 2015 by Legacy Books Press

1

ISBN: 978-1-927537-32-9

This book is typeset in a Times New Roman 11-point font.

Publisher's note: This book is a work of fiction. All historical figures, organizations, publications and places used have been fictionalized, and any resemblances to real people, places, organizations, publications and events are coincidental.

This book will not turn the reader in to the secret police.

-This book is dedicated to-

MIKLOS ROZSA

(April 18, 1907 - July 27, 1995)

GEORGE C. SCOTT

(Oct. 18, 1927 - Sept. 22, 1999)

-and-

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

(April 23, 1564 - April 23, 1616)

Never was there more a perfect triumverate to inspire a

work such as this.

Acknowledgments

Only a fool would undertake a novel of this scope and length without the help of friends and family. However, my previous work has taught me to be very careful of who I brought in; thus the circle of conspirators is small, but my sincere thanks to all of them:

To Michael A. Stackpole, the first person to hear this idea after I conceived it and whose support and enthusiasm for it has been as constant as the north star.

To Jeffrey R. Dunn, the second person to hear this idea and who knew instantly what it meant and constantly challenged me to push myself, as in: "you better write this one to the limits of your abilities, because you're not going to have another idea this good for the next ten years."

To my brother, Ritchie J. Price, who continues our parents tradition of birthday and Christmas presents, you can have anything you want, just so long as it's a book.

To Marj Krueger (aka Jayge Carr) and Derwin Mak who, along with Jeff Dunn, did the pricelessly rare thing of not only suggesting reference sources for this novel but went out and bought them with no thought of compensation.

To the great Canadian SF writer Robert J. Sawyer, who had the single most interesting response to this project: I'm shocked you'd ever come up with an idea like this...

To Joy Moreau and her mother, Betty Moreau, whose knowledge of and reference texts to Hollywood's Golden Age far exceeded my own.

And to John Gallo, Dave Jeffries, Dr. David Stephenson and Andre Levein. Who provided so many extra bits and pieces of information, often without knowing exactly what I was working on, but proved generously helpful.

Act I

The Death of the Republic

"How many ages hence shall this our lofty scene be acted

(out)o'er in states yet unborn and in accents yet

unknown?"

- William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Chapter I

This only is denied unto God: the Power to undo the past.

Agathon (c.448 - 400B.C.)

It was the first.

The first in what later historians would call the Age of Mass Media. The first era-changing news event in which the majority of the American public didn't learn of it by word-of-mouth, or through newspapers and magazines.

Instead, they learned of it electronically, and all at virtually the same time - that same hour on a Sunday night. And unlike later such events: the beginning of World War Two, the Destruction of Paris, the first use of atomic weapons in warfare, the assassination of President Taft and the first manned landings on the moon; it wasn't what they heard so much as what they did not hear which alerted them to the gravity of the event.

Most heard the news from the same source, the same universally popular celebrity. His energetic, almost barking, delivery was audibly softer. And gone completely was his trademark, staccato tapping of a telegraphist's key.

Sunday. June 23rd, 1935 9PM local time

Studio 8H, NBC Blue Network

Rockefeller Center, New York City

"And this is your announcer, Ben Grauer, speaking to you on behalf of the Andrew Jergens Company and NBC News. Here now is The Jergens Journal, featuring your host Walter Winchell with the news of the day."

"Good evening Mr. and Mrs. America. I wish... I wish there were some way I could give you the news without creating the anguish and grief I know it will cause. I wish there were words I could use that would convey this story without burying your hearts in sorrow... But words such as these do not exist, not at least to this reporter, and you deserve the news. And you deserve it now.

"At approximately 7:45 this evening. At the United States Navy hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Thirty-second President of the United States... passed away quietly in his sleep after entering a coma yesterday afternoon. White House Press Secretary Steve Early reports that with Mr. Roosevelt at the time of his death was his devoted wife, Eleanor. His two oldest sons, Elliot and Franklin Junior. His personal physician, Captain Ross McIntire of the U.S. Navy Medical Corps, and his senior military aide, Colonel Edwin Wilson.

"Even now, messages of condolence from across the nation and around the globe are reaching the White House. Steve Early reports extra staff are being brought in to handle this flood and the planning for the state funeral. It's also been reported that Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes is being flown at this hour by Army transport back to Washington where, at midnight, he will administer the oath of office to Vice- President John Nance Garner.

"For a nation so recently recovered from the Depression, this tragedy cannot help but be a blow to us. However, in the days to come, as we learn the details of the President's death and prepare for his funeral we should remember we can endure this. The last six years proves that.

Though he did not even serve a single term in office, I have no doubt that FDR will go down in history as one of this century's greatest Presidents. In the future, when they ask of what great monument should we build to this man? The answer should be none, for there can be no greater monument to any leader than what lies in the hearts of the common people. He took a nation prostrate with fear and told us the only thing we had to be afraid of was the fear itself. We were paralyzed spiritually and economically, and he taught us to walk again...

THE NEW YORK TIMES

New York, Monday, June 24, 1935

Page 1: Column 3 Final Edition

NATION MOURNS AS WASHINGTON PREPARES FOR STATE FUNERAL

by Arthur Krock

N.Y. Times Washington Bureau Chief

Washington D.C.- The Capitol received an indication of things to come at 5AM this morning on Wisconsin Ave. Almost from the moment it left the grounds of the Bethesda Naval Hospital, the motorcade of White House vehicles, Washington Police escorts and the U.S. Navy hearse bearing the body of Franklin Roosevelt was met by throngs of mourners.

In a city with recent memories of Bonus Marchers and other potentially violent protesters, the sudden appearance of such crowds at first made officials apprehensive, until they saw the tears. Even in the pre-dawn light it was apparent the people had come to mourn the sudden death of a President they had taken so completely to their hearts.

THE HIGHWAY OF TEARS

It is estimated that more than 100,000 lined the ten-mile route from the hospital to the White House, where private services will be held today and tomorrow for the Roosevelt family. For the most part well-behaved and silent, the only sound that arouse out of the crowds was a soft wail as the hearse passed by them.

For reporters and officials accustomed to the boisterous cheering, angry shouts and even terrified screaming from such crowds; this noise was unlike anything we had ever heard before. You could hear it blocks away, in Washington itself it echoed and reflected off buildings. Those of us who were present will never forget its sound; nor the sight of so many deeply grieving and respectful people.

FUNERAL PREPARATIONS ALREADY UNDERWAY

Even though the cause of death will not be reported on until 4PM today, it is widely suspected to be a cerebral thrombosis(see story, Page 3, Section One). Almost simultaneous with this press conference, to be held at the Bethesda Hospital, White House Press Secretary Stephen T. Early will conduct a special conference at the landmark Blair House on the preparations for FDR's funeral.

At the Capitol, both houses of Congress are expected to meet today in abbreviated sessions. It is reported that Senate Majority Leader Joseph Robinson (D.-Ark.) and Speaker of the House Joseph W. Byrns (D.-Tenn.) will suspend all pending votes and legislative work and lead the Congress in mourning. It will be with no small irony that the Senators and Representatives who had been busily attacking Roosevelt just a few days ago will now take to the floors of their chambers to offer their condolences and pay tribute to a popular but embattled leader.

And from the foreign embassies and consolates throughout Washington comes a new, and to many officials an honestly unexpected, aspect to the funeral preparations; foreign dignitaries. In addition to condolences, requests for invitations are also being received. The first know request is from the Canadian consolate for Prime Minister Richard Benford Bennett. For a leader who, earlier this year, failed so dramatically to break America's isolationism, this legacy may end up being the most remarkable and ironic.

Wednesday. June 26th, 1935 3PM local time

CBS Network Studios

485 Madison Ave., New York City

This is H.V. Kaltenborn, speaking for CBS Radio News. We interrupt regular programming to bring you our new, live-as-it- happens coverage of our national tragedy, the death of FDR. We now go live to Station WJSV, Washington and our White House correspondent...

"This is Bob Trout, reporting for CBS News on Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington D.C. The funeral cortege that left the White House nearly an hour ago has finally moved into view of our vantage point atop the District Police Traffic Department Headquarters. The reason for this is the unprecedented crowds lining the avenue.

"District Police Spokesmen estimate crowd size at approaching half-a-million. This is straining police and National Parks Department resources to their breaking point, forcing them to call for military assistance to maintain order. High above us, the steady drone of engines announces the presence of a Navy blimp being used to monitor and control traffic.

"The horse-drawn caisson bearing the President's flag-draped coffin is now passing directly in front of our location. Preceding it were honor guards of Marines, Army troops and Annapolis midshipmen. Behind it is the color guard bearing the flags of the United States and the White House.

"The flags hang limp, there's hardly a breeze stirring anywhere in this city, most especially along this route of sorrow. The early-summer heat and humidity have caused scores of people to collapse already and yet they continue to stand. They wait for those few moments when the carriage moves past them. The men come to attention, the women grab their husbands' arms, and the children for a moment stop squirming and lower their heads. Many offer salutes to the fallen Commander-in-Chief while some break down and...

"It appears we've just had...we've just had a woman collapse on the street below us. Someone catch her, please! Police and civilians are carrying her to the sidewalk. We can see that Navy Corpsmen have ambulances parked on Marshall Place and she will be tended to there. We're told ambulances and first-aid stations have been setup on every side street between the White House and the Capitol. Certainly they will be heavily used today.

"In normal times it only takes about ten minutes to drive the mile-and-a-half between those two landmarks. I've done it countless times. Today it's estimated the funeral cortege will take at least another hour to reach the Capitol, where special services for both Houses will be conducted immediately thereafter.

Originally, it had been planned not to open the Capitol rotunda to public viewing until tomorrow morning. Now, with mourners almost doubling the city's population, it will begin tonight. Please stay tuned to CBS News for this and other announcements concerning the funeral of Franklin Roosevelt.

THE NEW YORK HERALD-TRIBUNE

Saturday, June 29, 1935

Page One, Column 2.

INTERNATIONAL FLOTILLA BEGINS ARRIVING IN NORFOLK

by Ernest K. Lindley

Senior Washington Correspondent

Norfolk, Va.- Led by King George V, the first reigning British monarch to ever visit the United States; the official British delegation to the FDR funeral arrived today at the U.S. Navy's largest base. The delegation was transported across the North Atlantic in record time by HMS Hood; the world's largest, fastest and most graceful battleship in service.

Weighing in at over 44,000 tons(one-third heavier than the largest U.S. battleship) this perfect symbol of Britannia Rule the Waves arrived off Hampton Roads a full day and a half ahead of any other warship carrying a foreign delegation to what is now being called the most important funeral of the century.

Instead of getting berthed at one of Norfolk's many piers, HMS Hood now rides at anchor in the mouth of the Elizabeth River; where the rest of the approaching international flotilla of battleships and cruisers will be moored. Scheduled to arrive next is the French Provence, carrying the newly installed Socialist Premier Pierre Laval and most senior officials of his coalition government.

In addition to King George V, the British delegation includes his handsome and popular son, Edward, Prince of Wales and a select group of government officials. The most senior of these are the Foreign Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare and the permanent Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Sir Robert Vansittart.

Curiously, the delegation does not include the new Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin; or Chancellor of the Exchequer, Arthur Neville Chamberlain. It was explained that, with his government barely three weeks old, Prime Minister Baldwin was too pressed with at home matters to attend and deeply regrets his absence. When it was pointed out that Premier Laval's government is scarcely any older and yet he's racing across the Atlantic to attend; British Ambassador Sir Ronald Lindsay replied, those are questions you should undertake with the French Government. His Majesty's Government is not run in the same manner as the Quai d'Orsay.

Just what the British monarch has to say about this diplomatic gaffe has yet to be heard as a change in the delegation's plans was announced at the end of Ambassador Lindsay's dockside press conference. As he and State Department Protocol Officer Warren Delano Robbins boarded the Presidential yacht Potomac, it was reported that the delegation would not be traveling by train to Washington.

Instead, upon transferring from HMS Hood to the Potomac, they will travel via the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River to the Capital. While this will almost double their travel time to 12 hours and further push back any press conference, it may end up actually saving time and easing their discomfort.

With all roads leading to the District clogged with traffic and its train stations jammed with a Biblical influx of travellers; Washington is rapidly coming to resemble a city under siege. What it will look like in the days to come when Laval arrives on the Provence, Benito Mussolini on the Andrea Doria, Soviet Prime Minister Molotov on the October Revolution and Queen Wilhelmina of Holland aboard the cruiser De Ruyter will be anyone's guess.

Sunday. June 30th, 1935 9PM local time

Studio 8H, NBC Blue Network

Rockefeller Center, New York City

"Good evening Mr. and Mrs. America, and to all the ships at sea! News flash! The word 'unprecedented' has been used in unprecedented quantities this week in the reporting of the death of Franklin Roosevelt. Our nation and the world have truly not seen anything like the outpouring of grief, sorrow and respect shown by the American public for their fallen leader.

"In the decades to come, historians will look back at this time in wonder. The events that have unfolded in the past week, and continue to unfold, are without precedent in our history. Never before has the activity and very life of our great country come to such a complete halt for the death of a President. Never before, have so many common people felt such a connection to the man in the White House that they also have a need to attend the services.

"Washington has become the Mecca for the Pilgrims of Grief, the Pilgrims of Sorrow. They come from every state in the Union, and in such numbers that they threaten the breakdown of civil order in the very city they're streaming to. Which is why, at 8AM this morning, martial law was declared in Washington and control ceded to the military.

"U.S. Army Chief-of-Staff, the illustrious commander of the famed Rainbow Division, General Douglas MacArthur has moved swiftly to contain and control the influx. Together with the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General John Russell, they've sent troops throughout the District of Columbia and neighboring Montgomery, Prince Georges and Arlington Counties.

"Even now they're setting up tent camps, field hospitals and field kitchens at the Anacostia Navy Yard, Bolling Field Army Air Corps base, East Potomac Park, Arlington Farms and along the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial. With so many people already in Washington, these facilities will only be able to accommodate them.

For the millions still enroute, the military and police have only one message, there is no room at the Inn." Anyone attempting to enter the District after tonight will be turned away, directed to encampments being set up along the railroad lines the funeral train will use to return FDR to his beloved Hyde Park.

With Washington as full as Noah's Ark, you'd think the last thing anyone would talk about is adding still more people to that city. And yet, from the Potomac to the Hudson, to the Windy City's lakefront the buzz is will He" come to the funeral. With the Redskis sending their Number Two leader and Il Duce himself arriving this evening, who will the Third Reich send?

"Will it be the Little Corporal himself? Or his own Number Two, the Fatty Arbuckle of Tyranny, Fatboy Goering? Whoever it is, they'd better decide soon, for the now twice-delayed funeral will finally begin this Wednesday. Berlin itself has been mum on the subject, with none of the major Nazi leaders being seen in the last three days. From London comes the rumor that the pride of Hitler's navy, the new pocket battleship Graf Spee is at this moment charging across the Atlantic in an effort to break the Hood's record.

If this is true, then take it from one who knows, they better have a lot of Dramamine aboard...for both Hitler and Goering get seasick...

THE NEW YORK EVENING JOURNAL

A Hearst Organization newspaper Final Edition

Monday July 1, 1935

HITLER IN AMERICA

Reichschancellor Arrives Today at Lakehurst on Maiden U.S.

Flight of Airship Hindenburg

by Dorothy Kilgallen

Lakehurst, NJ- As its sistership the Graf Zeppelin had done so many times before, the magnificent new dirigible Hindenburg floated in with the sea breezes to the U.S. Navy's main airship base for the East Coast. And just like the Graf's maiden flight to America, it was greeted with a Navy band, hundreds of reporters and a neatly arrayed phalanx of newsreel crews and photographers.

However, the crowds of spectators which welcomed the Graf were kept at an extreme distance today as the Hindenburg was anchored to the Lakehurst mooring mast and its gangways lowered to the ground. The mood was appreciably somber and even stunned as Reichschancellor Adolf Hitler disembarked to become the first German leader to set foot in America.

Just a few hours earlier everyone had been complacent that he would arrive late, if he would at all, because the battleship Graf Spee was still more than a thousand miles out in the Atlantic. Then the German embassy in Washington made its startling announcement and the U.S. government scrambled to prepare its response for yet another state visit with less than three hours notice.

And yet, the reception Hitler received appeared to be anything but rushed as the Navy band played Deutschland Uberalles and an honor guard of sailors, Marines and Army Air Corps (actually New Jersey Air National Guard) airmen stood in review. And unlike the large delegations sent by the other major powers, the official German delegation numbers less than a dozen. In addition to the Reichschancellor himself there's Foreign Minister Konstantin von Neurath, Minister of Information Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels, their personal secretaries and valets; a Naval Aide, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, and Air Force Aide (and dashing Great War ace) Generalmajor Ernst Udet.

While the delegation may be small, the German press contingent is large, more than fifty reporters, photographers, cameramen and a director-coordinator; Leni Riefenstahl, a former film actress. While Hitler and his officials were reviewing the honor guard, they were busy recording the ceremony and unloading still more equipment from the cavernous airship.

The only part of the U.S. reception which did appear rushed was the lack of Government transport to get the German delegation to Washington. However, by prior arrangement, the famous Lindbergh Line (Trans-continental & Western Airline) flew in three of its brand new DC-2 airliners for the delegation's use. Only one of the TWA airliners, which arrived during Hitler's review of the honor guard, was used by the official delegation. As it departed for Washington's National Airport (see story, Pg.3, Hitler Arrives in Capital), the other two planes were being loaded with the German press contingent and its equipment.

While neither the Reichschancellor nor any of his entourage spoke directly to the reporters assembled at Lakehurst, officials said he would hold a brief press conference at the Washington airport where he will express his profound admiration for President Roosevelt and understanding the loss the American people are now feeling since it is so close to the grief the German people felt over Reichs President Hindenburg's death.

With the late-President's namesake airship being towed inside Lakehurst's mammoth hangar, which it's sharing with the U.S.S. Los Angeles, Americans everywhere now realize the death of our own leader has become a world event unlike any other in this decade or our history.

It was the zeppelins.

Of all the things people remembered from that insufferably hot, unbearably sad day it was the zeppelins. They were there in the photographs, virtually every front page in every newspaper in America carried a picture of either the Hindenburg or the U.S.S. Los Angeles; or both. They were in the newsreels people started seeing in packed movie houses as early as Saturday.

The giants floated as low as a thousand feet over the vast crowds which gathered along the funeral routes - Pennsylvania and Wisconsin Avenues to the Episcopal Cathedral, Massachusetts Avenue for the return to Union Station. The low altitude made the sedate droning of their Maybach engines omnipresent, it could be heard in the revolutionary live radio broadcasts every U.S. radio news service had rushed into use. The altitude also helped in distributing the tons of flower petals over the procession routes.

Originally they had been picked and packaged by school children in the District and surrounding suburbs to be strewn in advance of the processions. Now, they fluttered down over the crowds, the honor guards, the horse-drawn caisson, the endless motorcade of family members, close friends, government officials and foreign dignitaries.

Some objected to the display, calling it a stunt and too festive for such a somber occasion. Others called it the rain of sorrow and for many in the crowds their own only keepsake of this day would be a handful of crushed, dried petals. Whatever the judgment, the tons of petals had one effect. They gave the heavy, nearly still air a lightly floral scent.

Around the Hindenburg and Los Angeles flew half-a-dozen smaller Navy and Army Air Corps blimps. Some monitored the crowds and traffic flow, while others helped distribute the petals. Above the airships flew formations of Army, Navy and Marine Corps warplanes; hundreds at a time in neatly-stepped formations.

And still higher above them were the camera planes. They included one of the DC-2s rented by the German government, which was able to remain aloft for most of the day, and dozens of smaller planes from Pathe News, Paramount, MovieTone News, Reuters New Service, Hearst Metrotone News and a score of other companies.

While the military aircraft departed during the actual church services, the civilian ones never did. They circled endlessly, their numbers ebbing and flowing only slightly as aircraft left to refuel and change film canisters. For the most part they stayed at the altitudes assigned to them and none of the feared mid-air collisions occurred during the processions. It was late-afternoon, and in the worst heat of an oppressive summer day, when the cortege finally reached Union Station. For the last time the ranks of national political leaders, world leaders and administration officials stood in line to bid farewell to FDR and his family. The flag-draped coffin was placed in the last car, a Pullman observation car, of the funeral train.

For the last time, Washington's Marine Corps band played the Navy hymn for a man who had started his national career as an Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Just as, in an earlier age, his uncle had done. And then the short funeral train rumbled out of an otherwise quiet station, taking the Pennsylvania Railroad Line first east, and later north.

Almost from the start of its journey, from the moment it left the Union Station rail yard, the train was flanked by rows of mourners who had either been kept out of Washington, or had otherwise been unable to reach the Capital. Except for the bridges the train had to use, it would be a trail that would stand unbroken from Washington to the Hyde Park estate overlooking the Hudson River, far to the north of New York City.

Wednesday. July 3rd, 1935 11:30PM local time

Main Dining Salon, Airship Hindenburg

"Now we have a better view, mein Führer, said Ernst Udet, as he began pointing out the observation windows. Statue of Liberty Island. The Empire State Building. The George Washington Bridge. And something called the Triborough Bridge, still under construction and scheduled for completion next year."

In the hour since it departed Lakehurst, the Hindenburg had maintained a northerly heading, following New Jersey's coastline directly to New York City. Its beckoning glow had been visible on the horizon ever since the zeppelin had climbed away from the Navy base and reached its cruise altitude of three thousand feet.

Before it had done so, before it had even cleared the mooring mast, Hitler had retired to his private quarters, one of the airship's luxury staterooms. Now, with the airship bearing down on New York, Udet had awakened him as instructed and gave the Reichschancellor a guided tour of the sprawling metropolis.

And the French call Paris the 'City of Light,' Hitler said dismissively, glancing between the skyline and the writing pad he was sketching idly in. Every street, every building seems to glow. A remarkable sight - I shall always carry it with me.

When he finished the sketch, a three-quarter view of the Empire State Building, with giant swastikas emblazoned on its sides, he displayed it to the scattering of officials in the dining salon. Udet nodded appreciatively while Goebbels was more voluble, announcing it as a "vision of a new Amerika."

Over there is an even more remarkable sight, said Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, still standing at the observation windows. One not likely to be repeated any time in this century, and of far greater consequence than any cityscape.

What Canaris was pointing to lay to the west and north of New York City, a snaking line of flickering lights. At irregular intervals there were larger clusters of light along the line. In some locations it branched out like a glowing nerve ganglia. With a wave of his hand Hitler ended the laudatory comments about his sketch and moved closer to his Abwehr chief.

They're the camp fires of the people waiting for the funeral train, Canaris explained. Some have been waiting for days and will wait throughout the night for their one glimpse of President Roosevelt. This country has not seen its like for seventy years. Not since the Lincoln Train at the end of the Civil War.

I do not understand this, said Hitler, his voice flat but his features darkening. When Hindenburg died, Germany mourned. Though not to the extent these people are doing for this...aristocrat.

"Once you know the context, it's easy to understand, Herr Reichschancellor. The correct but politically inappropriate title brought a glare from Hitler, as well as the other officials in the salon, and for Canaris to briefly pause. Mein Führer, he continued, Roosevelt did not die at the end of a long life or with his political powers in decline. The Field Marshal was eighty-eight when he died last year, and had been in ill-health for a decade. Roosevelt was fifty-three, still a young man, and at the apex of his political powers. This was the year he returned the American economy to its pre-Depression levels. There are as many Americans working now as there were in 1929. What he could've done in his second term is anyone's guess."

"And unlike Germany, Amerika does not have a young and powerful leader rising to replace their fallen President, Goebbels all too quickly added, stepping up to the windows and addressing Hitler. What did you think of John Nance Garner?"

He did not strike me as a Texan, said Hitler, frowning. He reminded me more as a, banker. Especially at his age.

Not every Texan can be a character out of a Doc Shatterhand novel, said Udet. "In the years I lived here I met many Texans. It would surprise you how few measured up to their fictional or cinematic images. If Garner did not impress you, mein Führer, which of the American leaders did? Certainly we met almost all of them."

"Burton Wheeler and William Borah... Two of their Senators? Yes, Senators. Also, those two brothers, the Bankheads. As for the rest... Lawyers, bankers, ambitious gauleiters, you find their kind in every country. And clowns... Especially that loud one in the white linen suit."

You mean the one they call 'The Kingfish'? asked Goebbels, seemingly ready to break into an hysterical laugh. "A buffoon! Fips der Afen!"

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss Senator Long, said Canaris, the tone of his voice hardening to a steel edge at Goebbels' remarks. "The last auslander we compared to the Fips the Ape cartoon was British Ambassador Sir Eric Phipps. Who's proving to be a most redoubtable adversary."

Yes. But he's British, said Hitler. This Long is Senator from a southern state? New Orleans?

"Louisiana, mein Führer. New Orleans is its largest city, and Huey Long is the major political power in his state. First as its governor, now as its senior Senator. Most of its other political offices are held by his lieutenants. He alone controls the state's police forces, schools, judiciary, tax department and even its National Guard. The state militia or frei korps. Before Roosevelt's death, he was the third most popular political leader in America, after the President and Senator Arthur Vandenburg."

Vandenburg, yes... He's one of those who didn't even want to be photographed with me. And with a name like his... Hitler's eyes sparked with the cold blue fire the others in the salon had seen before, and feared. Then, just as quickly, the storm abated and the cold eyes grew warm. "You have been taking measure of the Amerikanisch. This is good...tell me more, Admiral. And General, order Captain Pruss to circle the city. I wish to make more sketches."

Thursday. July 4th, 1935 1AM local time

Senate Office Building

Delaware Ave., Washington D.C.

Happy Independence Day, Senator! roared one of the occupants of the brightly lit office. And this here's about all the celebratin' we're gonna be able to do in this city.

Senator Huey Long raised yet another shotglass to his latest visitor and downed its contents. The door had scarcely opened more than a few inches before Gerald Prentice Nye, after ten years still North Dakota's junior Republican Senator, slipped inside the office. He shut the door with such force that the slam echoed down the floor's long deserted hallway, causing him to jump.

For God's sake, Senator, whispered Nye, springing over to the office windows and rattling down their blinds. People can see us from the street! What would they think if they saw lights burning here, at this hour?

Oh Hell, Gerry, there ain't nobody out on those streets, Long started, then, turning to his other guest. Pardon my French, Father. Not at this time, Gerry, and not on this day. The entire country's shut down. Gerry... Stop jumping around like a hunted rabbit and meet my other guest. I believe you already know Father Charles Coughlin.

Dressed in a summer business suit instead of his favorite priestly cassock, Charles Edward Coughlin looked more like a stereotyped, bespectacled bank manager. Still holding the framed photograph he'd been examining, he rose and shook the nervous man's hand.

We've met before, if only briefly, said Coughlin. I suppose you already have one of these for your wall?

"My God, that's you with Mussolini and Hitler! Nye exclaimed, snapping the photograph out of Coughlin's hand and turning to Long. How did you get this developed and printed so fast with this entire city shutdown?"

Cissy Patterson at the 'Washington Herald', said Long, refilling his shotglass. Then, upon hearing still more footsteps outside his office, he began filling another. Don't worry, boys, this is the fourth member of our little conference.

Through the office door's opaque glass it was easy to see there were several figures standing beyond it, but only one entered the room. He was the same approximate age as Huey Long, had the same short, stocky frame, and wore the same cut of white linen suit. However, while Long had an open and expressive face, his latest visitor had a permanent scowl, even when he smiled.

Now I know you're not one for imbibing much, said Long, finally rising from his desk and offering the second shotglass. But from one Southern gentleman to another, I don't think you'd turn down a good slug of Kentucky bourbon.

Not the usual mint julep, John Edgar Hoover replied, accepting the glass. But under the circumstances: to the America we once had, and will have back.

I - I can't believe we're doing this, said Nye. They haven't even put FDR in his grave yet, and we're already planning to overthrow his Administration.

Oh come now, Senator, said Long, finishing off his latest shot. Don't tell me you're gettin' respect for the dead, not at this stage, Prentice...

Franklin Back-stabbing Roosevelt and his Jew boy internationalists wanted to destroy everything Christian in this country, Coughlin announced with the same tone and cadence as when he was on the air. They wanted to fulfill Woodrow Wilson's 'Pax Judaica,' but now the Red Serpent has lost its head and it's up to us to kill off the rest of the body.

Even if that means ruining a good and decent man? said Nye. Huey, can't you just wait until the 'thirty-six elections to defeat Garner?

Hell, John Nance ain't that good and weren't ever that decent, said Long. "He's a Texan,