"Once in office Malone ran things with a high hand. Congress was willing in the first session to pass almost any law he desired. One of the most important was the Public Safety bill which was in effect a gag for the press and other means of public information. Inasmuch as it was first used to suppress news of labor troubles which resulted from the discontinuance of the dole, the capital controlled press submitted to it without really knowing what they were in for. Then a law was passed which greatly increased the scope of the G-men or Federal enforcement agents and making them directly responsible to the chief executive. Malone staffed these expanded and greatly changed corps from his home state political machine. In the meantime, in spite of his controlled press, the people were getting restless. Even those who were still economically fairly comfortable had had swarms of the hungry, dispossessed, and unemployed turned loose on them. Malone was apparently afraid to chance another election, even a mid-term. Perhaps he never intended to. In any case he declared a state of emergency, using the mobs of unemployed as an excuse, and took over the internal civil government as an absolute dictator. He used the army and navy to quell any local difficulties. With his new secret service and control over the means of communication and propaganda this was feasible. By the way, the record states that he was able to use the army and navy to destroy the democratic form of government. I find that hard to believe, Master Cathcart. You see I was in the navy myself and I don't believe that the American Services were fascist minded. How do you account for it?"
"I'm glad you brought up that point, Perry. It seems likely that Malone had planned this from the very first. At least he anticipated having to use the military against the people. His technique was simple and almost foolproof. His information service inquired into the political sympathies and economic status of every officer in the fleet and in the army. Whenever an officer was definitely determined to be liberal and democratic, he was not removed or even framed in a court martial. Malone was subtle. Each such officer was transferred as soon as located to a non-combatant assignment; recruiting officer, Reserve Officer's Training Corps instructor, inspector of supplies, War College, Naval and Military Academies, and so forth. Whenever an officer was determined to be definitely militaristic, jingoistic, a potential sadist, he was placed in a key position over forces actually ready to exert armed force. To a lesser extent the enlisted men were weeded out. When he was ready to strike he had behind him a military machine he could bend to his purpose."
"But how about the National Guard?"
"Oh, that was more difficult at first glance. But the federal government owned and controlled the arms used by the Guard. Under the guise of replacement practically all of the ammunition in the hands of the guards was called in during the week before his coup. Of course had it been realized that all the ammunition in all units of the Guard was being called in at once, it would have caused trouble, but control of the nation's communication services plus the fact that each separate order was classed as a confidential military order enabled him to get away with it."
"That clears up my difficulty," said Perry, "I thought there was something fishy about it. If I remember, this dictatorship or inter-regnum, as the record referred to it, lasted only about three years. Malone was assassinated by one of his own henchmen in 1950. The commentator seemed to think that the regime was essentially unstable and would have broken down anyway very shortly. In any case Malone's assassination was the signal for an uprising all over the country. Inside of three weeks Malone's bullies had been killed or driven into hiding. The man who had been governor of Michigan at the beginning of the inter-regnum called all of the governors together. They selected one of the number as President Pro Tem and set a date for a general election. LaGuardia was elected. He served two terms."
"Very clear," put in Cathcart, "now let's talk about the rest of the world for a while. It was during Vandenburgh's administration that the second European war ran its course. With the collapse of the loyalists in Spain, the fascist states were ready to take on the democracies. France was torn with internal dissension and strikes. The Conservative Party was in power in England and apparently committed to a do-nothing policy. The Fascist powers struck, but the first world war was repeated. The democracies failed to fold up although they lost battle after battle. The end came, not through the intervention of the United States—Vandenburgh had no stomach for that—but through the economic collapse of Germany. She had entered this war in a physical condition much poorer than that of 1914 and she couldn't stand a long war."
"What happened to the dictators?"
"Adolf Hitler committed suicide by shooting himself in the roof of the mouth. Mussolini got out much more gracefully. He submitted his resignation to the king he had kept around during his entire tenure and the king appointed a new prime minister, a social democrat. But to my mind the most interesting thing about the peace was the peculiar terms of the peace treaty."
"Some sort of a league of nations, all over again wasn't it?"
"Yes, and no. A very brilliant young Frenchman, a descendant of LaFayette, argued that a continental government or federation was necessary if a lasting peace was to come, and argued further that a constitutional monarchy was the most stable form under which free men could live. And so the United Europe was created. But the romantic part is the man who was chosen to head this polyglot creation. The Hapsburgs and the Hohenzollerns were out for obvious reasons of bad blood and bad records. The English king was suggested but he aroused no enthusiasm, being rather negative in character and further handicapped by his shyness and speech impediments. None of the pretenders in exile had any real following. But one prince was available, who had long before captured the world's imagination. Edward, Duke of Windsor, who had abdicated the British throne in 1936 rather than accept the complete domination of his prime minister, became the choice."
"Well, I'll be damned!" muttered Perry. "I don't believe that was in the record."
"You only saw the summary records," explained Diana.
"Edward had returned home at the start of the war and demanded to be assigned to military duty. He displayed surprising talent, particularly as a creator of morale. It was largely due to him that the repeated losses of battles did not result in capitulation to the fascist governments. When his name was proposed, he was nominated by acclamation. He was reluctant to accept but finally agreed to do so provided his wife was given equal formal rank with him. This was agreed to over the protests of the British delegation and they were crowned in a ceremony that marked the end of the Bordeaux conference on 1944 June 12. He assumed the title of Edward, King of States and Emperor of Europe. Wallis was of course Queen and Empress. They say that the English queen never got over it."
"Swell!" Perry chortled.
"Edward made an able ruler. He had helped to draw the constitution of the new super-state and had insisted on several things, free trade among the sister states, a common currency, a joint army and navy, and a small one at that. All international disputes to be settled by the Imperial Tribune. The system worked well enough for a quarter of a century, in spite of creakings and adjustments."
"What put an end to it?"
"His death. He died in 1970, and left no heirs. Even while the Tribune was declaring Wallis regent, pending the selection of a successor, a company of local guards crossed a bridge in eastern Europe and seized a little town of less than a thousand inhabitants. There was some vague historical claim based on a battle nearly five hundred years before. They were resisted by the local constabulary who were joined by the veterans' organizations. In two days that whole border was in a state of guerrilla warfare and within a fortnight there was fighting all over the continent. It was hastened at least by Great Britain's refusal to recognize the regency of Wallis in spite of the Tribune's authority, and calling home her ships and troops."