"If she hadn't asked," The Wall Street journal said, "I would. So why can't we?"
"I'll tell you," the vice-president snapped. "Quite apart from the space gang having unlimited public money - which we haven't - they had an objective: Get to the moon. You people are asking us, on the vague basis of things you've read or heard, to give development of a steam or electric engine for cars that kind of all-or-nothing, billions-in-the-kitty priority.
Well, it so happens that some of the best engineering brains in this business think it isn't a practical objective, or even a worthwhile one.
We have better ideas and other objectives."
Braithwaite passed a hand over his silver mane, then nodded to Adam. He gave the impression of having had enough.
"What we believe," Adam said, "is that clean air - at least air not polluted by motor vehicles can be achieved best, fastest, and most cheaply through refinements of the present gasoline internal combustion engine, along with more improvements in emission control and fuels. That includes the Wankel engine which is also an internal combustion type."
He had deliberately kept his voice low key. Now he added, "Maybe that's not as spectacular as the idea of steam or electric power but there's a lot of sound science behind it."
Bob Irvin of the Detroit News spoke for the first time. "Quite apart from electric and steam engines, you'd admit, wouldn't you, that before Nader, Emerson Vale, and their kind, the industry wasn't nearly as concerned as it is now about controlling air pollution?"
The question was asked with apparent casualness, Irvin looking blandly through his glasses, but Adam knew it was loaded with explosive. He hesitated only momentarily, then answered, "Yes, I would."
The three other reporters looked at him, surprised.
"As I understand it," Irvin said, still with the same casual manner, "we're here because of Emerson Vale, or in other words, because of an auto critic. Right?"
Jake Earlham intervened from his window seat. "We're here because your editors - and in your case, Bob, you personally - asked if we would respond to some questions today, and we agreed to. It was our understanding that some of the questions would relate to statements which Mr. Vale had made, but we did not schedule a press conference specifically because of Vale."
Bob Irvin grinned. "A bit hair-splitty, aren't you Jake?"
The Vice-President Public Relations shrugged. I guess."
From Jake Earlham's doubtful expression now and earlier, Adam suspected he was wondering if the informal press meeting had been such a good idea.
"In that case," Irvin said, "I guess this question wouldn't be out of order, Adam." The columnist seemed to ruminate, shambling verbally as he spoke, but those who knew him were aware how deceptive this appearance was. "In your opinion have the auto critics - let's take Nader and safety - fulfilled a useful function?"
The question was simple, but framed so it could not be ducked, Adam felt like protesting to Irvin: Why pick me? Then he remembered Elroy Braithwaite's instructions earlier: "We'll call things the way we see them."
Adam said quietly, "Yes, they have fulfilled a function. In terms of safety, Nader booted this industry, screaming, into the second half of the twentieth century."
All four reporters wrote that down.
While they did, Adam's thoughts ranged swiftly over what he had said and what came next. Within the auto industry, he was well aware, plenty of others would agree with him. A strong contingent of younger executives and a surprising sprinkling at topmost echelons conceded that basically - despite excesses and inaccuracies - the arguments of Vale and Nader over the past few years made sense. The industry had relegated safety to a minor role in car design, it had focused attention on sales to the exclusion of most else, it had resisted change until forced to change through government regulation or the threat of it. It seemed, looking back, as if auto makers had become drunken on their own immensity and power, and had behaved like Goliaths, until in the end they were humbled by a David - Ralph Nader and, later, Emerson Vale.
The David-Goliath equation, Adam thought, was apt. Nader particularly - alone, unaided, and with remarkable moral courage - took on the entire U.S. auto industry with its unlimited resources and strong Washington lobby, and, where others had failed, succeeded in having safety standards raised and new consumer-oriented legislation passed into law.
The fact that Nader was a polemicist who, like all polemicists, took rigid poses, was often excessive, ruthless, and sometimes inaccurate, did not lessen his achievement. Only a bigot would deny that he had performed a valuable public service. Equally to the point: to achieve such a service, against such odds, a Nader-type was necessary.
The Wall Street Journal observed, "So far as I know, Mr. Trenton, no auto executive has made that admission publicly before."
"If no one has," Adam said, "maybe it's time someone did."
Was it imagination, or had Jake Earlham apparently busy with his pipe - gone pale? Adam detected a frown on the face of the Silver Fox, but what the hell; if necessary, he would argue with Elroy later. Adam had never been a "yes man." Few who rose high in the auto industry were, and those who held back their honest opinions, fearing disapproval from seniors, or because of insecurity about their jobs, seldom made it higher than middle management, at best. Adam had not held back, believing that directness and honesty were useful contributions he could make to his employers. The important thing, he had learned, was to stay an individual. A misguided notion which outsiders had of auto executives was that they conformed to a standard pattern, as if stamped out by cookie cutters. No concept could be more wrong. True, such men had certain traits in common - ambition, drive, a sense of organization, a capacity for work. But, apart from that, they were highly individual, with a better-than-average sprinkling of eccentrics, geniuses, and mavericks.
Anyway, it had been said; nothing would undo it now. But there were postscripts.
"If you're going to quote that" - Adam surveyed the quartet of reporters - "some other things should be said as well."
"Which are?" It was the Newsweek girl's query. She seemed less hostile than before, had stubbed out her cigarette and was making notes. Adam stole a glance: her skirt was as high as ever, her thighs and legs increasingly attractive in filmy gray nylon. He felt his interest sharpen, then tore his thoughts away.
"First," Adam said, "the critics have done their job. The industry is working harder on safety than it ever did; what's more, the pressure's staying on. Also, we're consumer oriented. For a while, we weren't.
Looking back, it seems as if we got careless and indifferent to consumers without realizing it. Right now, though, we're neither, which is why the Emerson Vales have become shrill and sometimes silly. If you accept their view, nothing an automobile maker does is ever right. Maybe that's why Vale and his kind haven't recognized yet - which is my second point - that the auto industry is in a whole new era."
AP queried, "If that's true, wouldn't you say the auto critics forced you there?"
Adam controlled his irritation. Sometimes auto criticism became a fetish, an unreasoning cult, and not just with professionals like Vale. "They helped," he admitted, "by establishing directions and goals, particularly about safety and pollution. But they had nothing to do with the technological revolution which was coming anyway. It's that that's going to make the next ten years more exciting for everybody in this business than the entire half century just gone."
"Just how?" AP said, glancing at his watch.
"Someone mentioned breakthroughs," Adam answered. "The most important ones, which we can see coming, are in materials which will let us design a whole new breed of vehicles by the mid or late '70s. Take metals. Instead of solid steel which we're using now, honeycomb steel is coming; it'll be strong, rigid, yet incredibly lighter meaning fuel economy; also it'll absorb an impact better than conventional steel - a safety plus. Then there are new metal alloys for engines and components. We anticipate one which will allow temperature changes from a hundred degrees to more than two thousand degree Fahrenheit, in seconds, with minor expansion only. Using that, we can incinerate the remainder of unburned fuel causing air pollution. Another metal being worked on is one with a retention technique to 'remember' its original shape. If you crumple a fender or a door, you'll apply heat or pressure and the metal will spring back the way it was before. Another alloy we expect will allow cheap production of reliable, high-quality wheels for gas turbine engines."