I ignored Cheney for the moment. “Secretary Powell, I considered that, but let me say that this would be premature. I have no idea how many people were lost today, but if I tell the American people that we think the President is dead, we are telling them that everybody is dead. It is too soon for that; they won’t accept it. I can’t do that. I think we need to invoke the provisions of Section 4 now, however,” I told him and the others.
I saw a number of nods and affirmative glances at that, although Cheney looked mulish. I turned back to Ashcroft. “Mister Attorney General, I don’t know how we should do this. I can’t vote, clearly. How do you want to do this?”
He sighed. “Nobody’s ever done this before. We have 14 Cabinet level departments. I will go down the list and ask everybody to vote yes or no. Yes means that Carl Buckman becomes the Acting President. No means he does not.” He took a sheet of paper and began to make a list. “Secretary of the Treasury O’Neill?”
“Yes.” He looked at the others. “If we do find that President Bush survived, this all becomes moot, anyway.”
“Quite true,” added Ashcroft. “Secretary of State Cheney?”
“NO!”
“Secretary of Defense Powell?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“The Attorney General — I vote yes.” Ashcroft continued down the list, only pausing to comment that while the two missing people might not technically be eligible to vote, since they weren’t present, he wanted their opinions as well. Both spoke up in my favor. The vote ended at 13 to 1.
Paul O’Neill spoke up at that. “Dick, I am asking you to change your vote. This is not a permanent thing. If the President is found, Carl goes back to being Vice President. Do it for the nation. We need to be united now, not divided!”
Several other people went along with this, and Cheney reluctantly agreed. Ashcroft happily changed his sheet. He looked up at me and said, “Mister Acting President, your orders?”
I nodded. “Mister Attorney General, you are excused. Please see that this is typed up and put into some sort of proper form and bring it back for all of us to sign. While you are doing that, please see about how we submit this properly. Thank you, sir.”
He stood and made a formal little bow of sorts and left.
I turned to Paul O’Neill. “The stock exchanges are shut down?”
“As much for safety as anything else. Nobody knew if any planes were going to crash into them,” he replied.
“I imagine we’ll need to keep them shut down for a few days. What’s this going to do to the economy?”
“Nothing good!”
After about ten minutes John Ashcroft bustled back in. He had a wry smile on his face. “Even in a nuclear bunker we have secretaries.” He waved a few typed pages and brought them around to me. “It’s simple enough. Everybody sign. I will witness for the people not here. Is that alright?” he asked towards the speakers.
Both absentees said it would be.
I looked it over. It was on White House stationery and simply stated, ‘Pursuant to Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution, and with the full agreement of the Cabinet, I hereby assume the duties of the Acting President of the United States of America.’ Below that there were the typed names of everybody in the meeting, with a space for all of us to sign.
There it was, in black and white. I took a deep breath and exhaled. I looked at the Attorney General. “Just sign there above your name, sir.”
I scribbled my scrawl, and then passed it to my left. It went around the table. When Ann and Tommy needed to sign, Ashcroft read the page and then formally asked them if they wished him to sign in their places. They agreed. Cheney looked mulish, but he signed as well. I looked at Ashcroft and asked, “What now?”
“I’ve already taken the liberty of sending the Secret Service to bring Denny Hastert and Robert Byrd here. They were both in town, so we’ll just ask them in and I will present this to them. They can confirm it with us all, and then we can go about our business.”
“Which will be what, Mister President?” asked Colin Powell.
I looked him straight in the eye. “Which will be cleaning up this mess and then killing everybody who thought it up. Are you up for it, General?”
“Yes, sir, I am!”
Chapter 138: Aftermath
Tuesday, September 11, 2001
It took a bit longer for Hastert to arrive than Byrd because he was third in line for the Presidency and the Secret Service had stashed him outside town. In the meantime, I made a little speech before dismissing most of the Cabinet. “I will be speaking to everyone here on an individual basis over the next few days, but I expect the scheduling to be haphazard. There are two things that everybody here has to know and understand. First, we are about to go through some extraordinary times. We have just been handed a world-class disaster. If your department is asked to do something, do not wait around — get it done! Don’t wait for the paperwork to be finished. I will cover you as best I can, but get it done, whatever it is. I can just about guarantee in writing that this is going to end up in front of a half dozen Congressional and Senate committees, and you will not want to be explaining why you delayed something that could have helped.”
There were a few nods and murmurs at this. “Secondly, our economy is going to take a major hit from this.” I glanced over at Paul O’Neill and asked, “Paul, am I wrong in saying this could cause a recession through the end of the year and into next year?”
“I think it is highly likely,” he responded.
“Where is that crap coming from!?” demanded Cheney.
I quietly sighed to myself. I was going to have to get him under control, and soon. “We just shut down the stock markets, the airline industry is grounded for God only knows how long, a big chunk of Wall Street just collapsed into the streets, and we have a multi-billion dollar hole in the middle of New York City. Oh, and when we do find out who did this, we’re going to be spending billions more on fighting them that we didn’t plan for. I used to make money playing these games, trust me on this,” I told him and the others. To the room as a whole I added, “So, go back to your offices and get your deep thinkers figuring out what we will need to do going forward. Agreed?”
There was a healthy chorus of agreement down the table. “Ann? Tommy? We need to get you home. I’ll get the 89th to send a plane. Just get packed. Somebody will be in touch, okay?”
“Yes, sir,” they both said.
“Thank you. Now, I want State, Defense, Treasury, and Justice to stay. Everybody else, please get to your offices. I’ll be talking to you.”
Most of the Cabinet stood and took their leave. After a few minutes it was just the five of us — Cheney, Powel, O’Neill, Ashcroft, and myself. I looked around at them and said, “Gentlemen, you represent the most powerful and important posts in the Cabinet, departments that were created by the very Constitution itself. Whether you like me or not, I need your help, and I need it badly. Can I count on that help?”
“Of, course, Mister President,” said Colin Powell. O’Neill and Ashcroft said the same thing.
“That’s Mister Acting President!” answered Dick Cheney. “You’ll only have that until we rescue President Bush, the real President.”
I sighed and nodded. “Secretary Cheney, I wish you were correct, but the ugly truth is that there are thousands of people in those buildings who will never even be found, let alone make it out alive. Not much is left when you drop a billion tons of concrete and steel on somebody.”