20:00 (Washington Time)
Tuesday, September 23, 1975 ‘C’
The Oval Office, The White House
Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
‘’Mister President, in three, two, one…’’
Robert Kennedy, sitting behind his presidential work desk and looking straight at the screen of the teleprompter, started speaking at the signal of the television technician while a small army of reporters, press photographers and cameramen watched him.
‘’Fellow citizens, this is your President speaking. Very early this morning, at around two thirty Hawaii time, or seven thirty Washington time, the city of Honolulu was destroyed by a powerful thermonuclear bomb which also caused grave damages to our naval base in Pearl Harbor. While we still don’t know exactly how many of our citizens died as a result of that explosion, we fear that at least 700,000 people died this morning in and around Honolulu, with many more being gravely wounded or being exposed to radiations. Preliminary information points to that nuclear bomb to have been brought into Honolulu Harbor while hidden in an unsuspecting foreign cargo ship. Unfortunately, the sheer power of the bomb vaporized that said ship, along with much of the port, and destroyed all the relevant maritime traffic data that could have helped us identify that ship. Then, at about eleven thirty this morning, Eastern Standard Time, a cargo ship which was about to be boarded and inspected by a Coast Guard ship near New York tried to evade inspection but was stopped by the heroic actions of the crew of one of our helicopters, who shot dead a terrorist and then boarded the cargo ship, where they found and disarmed a thermonuclear bomb hidden inside a maritime cargo container. That bomb is now being examined by our experts to determine its origin. Since then, some highly sensitive information has told us that the bomb intercepted off New York and the one that destroyed Honolulu were the only ones sent towards the United States by a still undetermined state, in what can only be called an act of war against the United States. Our citizens can rest reassured that no more nuclear bombs are on their way to the United States. All our government agencies are now working hard to both investigate the point of origin of those two nuclear bombs and to render help and assistance to our unfortunate citizens in Hawaii. Whatever our investigation will find, rest assure that the United States will avenge its Hawaii citizens and will make the culprits pay for their criminal act. I will end this address by asking all of you to now join me in a minute of silence for our dead compatriots.’’
An oppressive silence followed, as the cameras filmed Robert Kennedy closing his eyes and bending partly his head for a minute, his hands together on top of his desk. He finally opened his eyes again and spoke firmly.
‘’Our nation was wounded this morning, but it is still strong and resolute and I am determined to find and punish those responsible for the abomination committed this morning, whoever they are. You may rest easy tonight, my fellow citizens, as our valiant soldiers, sailors and aviators are on watch. Thank you and good night.’’
As soon as the televised address was declared over, the White House correspondents started as one to shout, trying to place the first question to the President. Robert Kennedy then pointed at the NBC White House correspondent, Tom Brokaw.
‘’You first, Tom!’’
‘’Mister President, do we have any indication at this time about who is responsible for sending us those two nuclear bombs?’’
‘’No, but we are using all our available means and indicators to answer that question. However, this could take some time, as we cannot afford to accuse the wrong state or foreign government. Be assured that, as soon as we will know who is involved, that someone will be dealt with very harshly. Dan, you’re next!’’
‘’Mister President,’’ started Dan Rather, from the CBS Evening News, ‘’you said that the second bomb heading towards New York had been found and disarmed. How powerful was that bomb and what kind of damage would it have done to New York if it had succeeded in getting there?’’
‘’I was told that it was a thermonuclear bomb, also known as a hydrogen bomb, and was powerful enough to destroy completely Manhattan, on top of severely damaging the rest of the city. We could have lost millions of our citizens there if not for that helicopter crew.’’
‘’Will we retaliate with nuclear weapons, once we learn who is involved, Mister President?’’
‘’I will not divulge any information about our eventual military response, mister. However, be assured that our whole range of weaponry will be used as needed.’’
‘’Mister President, we know that the Chinese already launched nuclear-tipped missiles against Taiwan two years ago. Could the Chinese be involved again?’’
‘’I will not speculate about this at the moment and will urge you to wait until our investigation provides us with firm leads before throwing accusations around. Next!’’
‘’Mister President, what is being done right now to help the survivors around Honolulu?’’
Robert Kennedy became truly somber then.
‘’We are mustering all the nuclear specialists and technicians available in order to assess the extent of the damages and contamination, while all our available medical units are being rushed to Hawaii, along with engineering troops supported by our Navy and Air Force. As a precaution, all the citizens of Oahu still alive and healthy are presently being evacuated to the Continental United States, to prevent them from being contaminated further by the huge clouds of radioactive dust projected in the atmosphere by the explosion. Also, our meteorological experts are keeping a close tab on those radioactive clouds. Thankfully, it appears that the present dominant winds around Hawaii are pushing those radioactive clouds away from the continent and towards the South Pacific.’’
The questions session, which often became intense and rather heated at times, was declared over after another five minutes, allowing Robert Kennedy to breathe a sigh of relief once the reporters and cameramen were out of the Oval Office. His job for the night was however far from finished and he called up to his chief of staff.
‘’Brent, arrange a telephone link with Chairman Deng, in Xi’an, and tell Miss Pham to come in.’’
‘’Yes, Mister President!’’
Soon, a slightly intimidated Pham Thi Hien was introduced into the Oval Office by the President’s secretary and given a chair very close to that of Kennedy behind his presidential desk. Robert couldn’t help smile at the very pretty and graceful Asian young woman now sitting next to him. Like his brother John, Robert was an incorrigible skirt-chaser, even though he was married, with children.
‘’Thank you for coming on such short notice, Miss Pham. Secretary Muskie says that you are his best translator of Asian languages.’’
‘’I do my modest best, Mister President.’’
‘’Well said! Now, I am going to have a telephone conversation with Chairman Deng Xiaoping. What I want of you, apart from translating our conversation, is to listen carefully to the tone Deng will use, along with whatever background conversation you could hear from his entourage. My secretary will also be with us, so that she could take notes of my conversation with Deng.’’
‘’I understand, Mister President.’’
While waiting for the call to be set up, Robert tried to relax some of the nervous tension he had accumulated during the day by chatting with Hien.
‘’So, Miss Pham, I gather from your name that you must be Vietnamese from birth?’’
‘’That’s correct, Mister President. I was born in Hue but I lost both of my parents to the war when I was only four and was then raised in an orphanage run by French nuns. I was adopted at age five in Da Nang, then followed my mother to Palestine, then Germany and finally to the United States as she got posted around.’’
‘’Oh?! So, your adoptive mother served in our armed forces?’’
‘’She still does, Mister President. I am extremely proud of my adoptive mother.’’
‘’And what trade is she in?’’
‘’She was a fighter pilot, but now she is an astronaut and commands the U.S. Space Corps, Mister President.’’
Those words made Robert open his mouth in surprise.
‘’You mean to say that your adoptive mother is General Ingrid Dows?’’
‘’That’s right, Mister President. I couldn’t have met a better person to adopt me. However, I vowed when young to become a diplomat, to help prevent or stop wars, and I eventually joined the U.S. State Department after my studies in international relations at the Georgetown University.’’
‘’Good for you, Miss Pham!’’
The flashing of a light on his telephone then told Robert that his line to China was now open and he told Hien to pick up a second receiver reserved for such translated conversations before himself picking his receiver.
‘’Chairman Deng, this is President Kennedy speaking.’’
Robert let Hien translate his words, then listened on to the reply in Chinese and to the subsequent translation by Hien.
‘’Good evening, Mister President. I just listened to the televised address you gave to your nation. I must thank you for not mentioning my country in it.’’
‘’It would have been most unfair to publicly accuse China of this tragedy after your warning helped us stop in time the second stolen bomb, Mister Chairman.’’
‘’Talking of that second bomb, you said that it was discovered and then made safe. What do you intend to do with it now?’’
‘’It will be studied by my experts, in order to compare its isotopic signature with that left in Honolulu by the first bomb. Then, we will dismantle it. I am sorry, Mister Chairman, but we will not send it back to China. As you may understand, sending it back to China would trigger a political storm here against me and would further embolden those who are ready to accuse you of being a guilty party in the destruction of Honolulu.’’
There was only a slight pause then before Deng replied to Robert’s announcement.
‘’That is most understandable, Mister President. May I ask what will be your next move on this front?’’
‘’You may, Mister Chairman. We will stay quiet for a couple of days while rendering assistance to our unfortunate citizens in Hawaii. Hopefully, that bastard of Kim Il-Sung will then believe that we are going to accuse you instead of him and will emerge from the bunker in which he is most probably hiding right now. Then we will strike, hard, but mostly with conventional weapons, plus a few tactical nuclear weapons of limited yields. That way, we will minimize the amount of radioactive fallout created by our future strikes on Korea.’’
Hien translated Robert’s words, then covered the microphone of her receiver to speak in a low voice to Robert.
‘’Chairman Deng just reacted as if a big weight was lifted off his shoulders, Mister President.’’
‘’Good!’’ said Robert after covering his own microphone. ‘’The less stressed he is, the less chances that he will make a wrong or premature move.’’
Deng’s response then came in, translated by Hien.
‘’I thank you for this, Mister President. Concerning Korea, know that my intelligence network there informed me that the whole Korean leadership has effectively disappeared from public sight, and this the day before Honolulu was destroyed. Also, all Korean military units were put on top alert at the same time. I believe that this by itself constitutes a confession of guilt by Kim Il-Sung and his regime.’’
‘’I would tend to agree with you on that, Chairman Deng. May I ask you what you will do if Kim Il-Sung ever tries to take temporary refuge inside China?’’
This time, Robert heard a distinct change of tone in Deng’s voice, which became noticeably harder.
‘’Then, I will have the bastard executed at once! What he did was a pure monstrosity, plus he tried to hide his responsibility into this and in turn put my country at risk of being wrongly accused and punished.’’
‘’I certainly will not cry if you execute him, Chairman Deng. On my part, I will do my best to cool down the hotter political and military heads here and cut down the anti-China rhetoric.’’
‘’I appreciate that very much, Mister President. Thank you for your comprehension.’’
‘’And thank you again for your warning, Mister Chairman: it saved New York City from destruction by allowing us to intercept that second bomb. Have a good day, Mister Chairman.’’
‘’And have a good night, Mister President.’’
Both leaders then hung up, with Robert letting out a sigh of relief.
‘’Well, that went quite well, I would say. Do you think that Deng was sincere during the call, Miss Pham?’’
‘’I do, Mister President. He was clearly apprehensive at the start of the call but then relaxed a lot once you told him that you would minimize the amount of strikes against Korea. He also sounded sincere about executing Kim Il-Sung if he ever enters China.’’
‘’Good! That’s one problem solved. Unfortunately, there are many more left, starting with helping our poor citizens in Hawaii. That’s going to be one monumental, heartbreaking task.’’
Hien was silent for a moment, then, as Robert was about to get up from his chair, spoke softly.
‘’Mister President, maybe we could use this tragedy in order to avoid more tragedies in the future.’’
‘’What do you mean, Miss Pham?’’ asked Robert, intrigued.
‘’That, now that the whole World can see how horrible those nuclear weapons are, even when used in limited numbers, maybe we could push for a major arms limitation treaty which would drastically cut the number of nuclear weapons held by the great powers. We could try to convince the Soviet Union and China to reduce with us our mutual nuclear arsenals, to each keep only a minimal number of warheads which would be enough to hurt gravely an adversary but not enough to endanger the whole World, thus effectively deterring their own use. I believe that a total of, say, 200 nuclear warheads each for us, the USSR and China would be an attainable goal for an arms limitation treaty, if we move while the horror of this attack is still fresh in everybody’s mind.’’
Robert sat back in his chair and stared pensively at Hien for a moment.
‘’I like your idea, Miss Pham. I believe that no sensible political leader around the World can be really comfortable with the thought of holding a nuclear arsenal sufficient to destroy the whole planet multiple times. I will certainly discuss your idea with Secretary of State Muskie.’’
‘’Thank you very much, Mister President. If this could be done, I would consider it the biggest achievement I could wish for in my life.’’ replied a happy Hien.
07:46 (Universal Time)
Wednesday, September 24, 1975 ‘C’
Crew main lounge, Carrousel ‘A’, U.S.S. LIBERTY
Halfway to Mars
The 171 assembled crewmembers of the U.S.S. LIBERTY, only two persons short of the whole crew, noticed at once the somber expression on Brigadier General James Mathison’s face when he arrived at the main lounge for the general emergency meeting he had called fifteen minutes ago. Lilya Litvyak, who had seen that kind of expression more than once with her past commanders during wars involving the Soviet Union, understood at once that this was going to be some kind of bad news. She was soon proven right as Mathison started speaking stiffly.
‘’Ladies and gentlemen of the U.S.S. LIBERTY, I am afraid that we just received some very bad news from home. Last early morning, a three-megaton thermonuclear bomb hidden aboard a still-unidentified cargo ship that had entered Honolulu Harbor detonated, completely destroying the city and causing grave damages to the nearby naval base of Pearl Harbor. The latest casualty estimates put the number of dead at over 700,00, with the whole city of Honolulu and its port basically destroyed. The rest of Oahu and its surrounding waters are now heavily contaminated by radioactive fallouts and are now unfit for life.’’
Mathison made a short pause as many in the crowd let out anguished exclamations or started crying. He then continued in a voice half strangled by emotion.
‘’A few hours later, another cargo ship, a Japanese container ship that had been hijacked by a passenger tried to break through the coastal quarantine which had been declared after the destruction of Honolulu, but the crew of one of our armed helicopters was able to kill the hijacker and take back control of the ship. Four hours after that, a second three-megaton bomb was found hidden inside a maritime container aboard that ship and was subsequently rendered safe. If not for that heroic helicopter crew, New York City would have ended the same way as Honolulu, with even more horrific casualties. Our forces and civil rescue teams are now doing everything possible to help our unfortunate citizens in Hawaii, while also conducting an investigation to find the monsters who shipped those two hidden bombs. I will now call for a minute of silence and prayers for our dead citizens in Hawaii.’’
Lilya’s mind went in overdrive as a sad silence fell on the lounge: she was certain that Soviet leaders would not have been stupid or irresponsible enough to commit such a monstrous act. As for China, the generals who had nuked Taipei two years ago had all been either killed in the American retaliatory strikes or had been purged by Deng Xiaoping when the latter had been freed from the jail where those generals had put him. To her knowledge, the United States, the Soviet Union and China were the only countries to possess thermonuclear bombs, while Israel and India had only fission bombs. Then, who could have done this? Mathison’s voice then cut her line of thinking.
‘’Whatever happens next, I want you to remember that we are an international crew engaged in a peaceful space exploration mission. I will not tolerate any instance of hostility or unproven accusations by any American crewmember launched towards non-American members of my crew. Those who will not respect that rule will be severely disciplined by me and will have their ship’s privileges cut for the duration of our mission, after which they will have to contend with a bad conduct report from me. Is this understood?’’
‘’YES SIR!’’ replied the crew in a loud chorus.
‘’Alright, you are all dismissed. Colonel Litvyak, please stay for a moment.’’
A bit apprehensive, Lilya waited for the other crewmembers to have left the lounge, then walked to Mathison, stopping at attention in front of him and saluting him. Mathison returned her salute and spoke in a soft tone to her.
‘’Colonel Litvyak, I simply want to reaffirm my confidence in you and in the other Soviet citizens presently aboard my ship. I firmly believe that your country had nothing to do with this. In fact, I will now inform you of a still top-secret piece of information about those two bombs. General Dows specifically authorized me to divulge that information to you, the senior Soviet officer aboard, on the condition that you keep it to yourself for the moment. That same information was passed to General Secretary Brezhnev in Moscow by President Kennedy. Basically, the same Chinese generals who attacked Taiwan two years ago then secretly gave two of the thermonuclear bombs in the Chinese arsenal to the Korean leader, Kim Il-Sung.’’
‘’Kim Il-Sung?! But that man is a psychopathic megalomaniac! Who would be crazy enough to give him nuclear weapons?’’
‘’Very crazy people indeed, Colonel. Know that we were informed of this by no other than Chairman Deng Xiaoping, who unfortunately learned about them too late to be able to prevent this tragedy. In return for warning us, we assured him that China was not going to be targeted by our retaliations. President Kennedy has also told General Secretary Brezhnev today that we would not strike the Soviet Union. Secretary Brezhnev in turn promised to close the Soviet borders to any Korean leader trying to flee in advance of our strikes.’’
Lilya felt a wave of immense relief wash over her then.
‘’At last, goodwill and cooperation between our two countries. It is a shame that it took such a tragedy for this cooperation to materialize, General.’’
‘’Indeed! You may now go resume your interrupted period of sleep, Colonel: you are due to be on duty on our bridge in six hours.’’
‘’I will be there, General. Thank you for your confidence in me and in my compatriots.’’
‘’You are welcome, Colonel. Dismissed!’’
After a last exchange of salutes, Lilya pivoted on her heels and walked away, relieved. However, taking out of her mind the awful images of what had to be the scene in Honolulu was not easy.
09:35 (Hawaii Time) / 14:35 (Washington Time) / 19:35 (Universal Time)
U.S. Army medium helicopter, flying above Honolulu
Island of Oahu, Hawaii
U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye was in tears as he contemplated from the air the blackened and burning ruins of what had been the city of Honolulu and its port. His family home had been in Honolulu, where he was born in 1924, and all indications were that his parents had died in this nuclear blast. So had many of his old friends and of his comrades from the 442th Infantry Regiment, in which he had served in World War 2, earning in the process a Medal of Honor while losing his right arm. While still looking down at the ruins, he spoke to General George Brown, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who had come with him from Washington and was sitting next to him in the helicopter.
‘’General, do we know if Governor Ariyoshi or Lieutenant Governor Kiyoshi Doi survived this bomb?’’
‘’They are nowhere to be found and I am afraid that they were killed in the blast. So was Senator Fong. Right now, you are the highest surviving political representative from the state of Hawaii, Senator. I can assure you that our people are presently doing everything humanly possible to help your surviving citizens. Unfortunately, the radioactive fallouts and radioactive rains caused by the explosion are quickly making the whole of Oahu too dangerous for occupation, even for short term visits. We thus had to abandon completely Pearl Harbor and our other military installations on Oahu, save for Wheeler Air Force Base, which is being used presently to evacuate by air the surviving population of the island towards the continental United States. Once that evacuation is completed, Wheeler will then have to be abandoned as well. The way the radiations are dispersing, I am afraid that we will also have to evacuate soon the islands of Molokai, Maui, Lanai Kahoolawe and Hawaii, leaving only the island of Kauai as possibly habitable. However, any future fishing in the waters around Hawaii, including around Kauai, is now impossible: the marine life will become radioactive and will eventually die out in this whole area of the Pacific. As for our ships which were in Pearl Harbor but did not sink, they have to be considered as total losses: they are now too radioactive to be manned.’’
Inouye felt fresh tears roll on his cheeks at these words.
‘’So, Oahu is destined to become a quarantined radioactive cemetery, General?’’
‘’I am afraid so, Senator. The best we can do now is to help as much as possible your surviving citizens to rebuild their lives in the rest of the United States.’’
‘’That will take time…and lots of money. I will have to push for emergency relief funds to be voted as quickly as possible by the Congress.’’
‘’On this, I do have some good news for you, Senator: we already have three billion dollars slated for relief and relocation available right now in the federal budget. We in fact have already started to use those funds for the relocation your citizens.’’
‘’Three billion dollars?! But I was not aware that we had such a sum available, General. Our federal budget for this fiscal year was basically already parceled out and committed to our various programs.’’
‘’You can thank General Dows, the commander of the Space Corps, for this, Senator. The morning that this disaster happened, she volunteered to return to the federal coffers three billion dollars which were slated to be used in her space program but had not been spent yet, something that will incidentally push back her space projects by a couple of years, She did that on the condition that those funds would be strictly reserved to finance the relocation and relief work in Hawaii.’’
‘’General Dows is an angel!’’ said Inouye in a strangled voice. ‘’I will have to thank her personally for this.’’
‘’Well, she is nicknamed ‘God’s General’, isn’t she?’’ replied Brown with a smirk.
17:02 (Washington Time)
Office of the Senate’s President Pro Tempore
U.S. Congress Building, Capitol Hill
Washington, D.C.
Republican Representative Leslie Arends looked around him in confusion after entering the office of the Senate’s President Pro Tempore, Senator James Eastland: there were both members of the Senate and of the House present, plus Vice-President Walter Mondale.
‘’What’s going on? Why have we been asked to assemble here? And why are you here, Mister Vice-President?’’
‘’I will answer all your questions once you sit down, Leslie.’’ replied in a polite and sober tone Mondale. Once Arends was sitting in one of the sofas of the office, Mondale started speaking, gravity in his voice.
‘’Gentlemen, I am here at the behest of the President on a question of urgent national security. Basically, President Kennedy wants members of the Congress to stop their speculations on who sent us two thermonuclear bombs and to stop screaming publicly that we should nuke China or the Soviet Union, or both, to cinders without delay.
‘’And why would we do that?’’ replied at once Jesse Helms, a republican senator who chaired the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee. ‘’Those damn Commies incinerated Honolulu and tried to do the same to New York, for God’s sake!’’
‘’Why? Because neither China nor the Soviet Union are the guilty party here.’’
The congressmen present looked at each other in surprise before James Eastland, the Senate’s President Pro Tempore and a hardline anti-communist and segregationist, protested.
‘’Then who could it be? China and the Soviet Union are the only communist countries to possess nuclear weapons.’’
‘’That was true until two years ago, when a clique of dogmatic Chinese generals effected a secret coup against Chairman Deng Xiaoping and threw him in a jail, with plans to execute him later on. What I am now going to tell you is top-secret information, so don’t repeat this to anyone else once out of this room, or there will be consequences. Basically, those hardline Chinese generals used their short stint in power to strike Taiwan with two nuclear-tipped missiles and to attempt a sea invasion of Taiwan. At the same time, they also secretly gave two of the thermonuclear bombs which were part of the Chinese nuclear arsenal to the Korean dictator, Kim Il-Sung. That fact was unfortunately found only recently, when Chinese crews cleaning up the ruins of the Lop Nur nuclear test center belatedly found a weapons storage bunker empty, although it was supposed to contain two three-megaton hydrogen bombs. Chairman Deng ordered his intelligence services to find those two bombs and learned that they had gone to Korea in secret during the short reign of the generals. To his credit, Chairman Deng called President Kennedy to warn him as soon as he knew about the bombs being in Korea and that they were on the way to the United States.’’
‘’Wait a minute!’’ nearly shouted Senator James Strom Thurmond. ‘’Why would we believe that commie bastard? He was probably trying to hide his culpability in this.’’
Mondale nearly laughed in derision at Thurmond’s statement.
‘’By warning us that there were two bombs on the way to the United States and by helping us to prevent the destruction of New York? Use your head! First, if we would not have been warned by him, we would never have been able to prevent the destruction of New York, which is our national financial capital. Second, if Deng would have been the one who sent those two bombs, he would have sent a lot more than just two bombs and would have kept his mouth shut to preserve the element of surprise. Instead of having only Honolulu destroyed, we would then have probably lost all of our major coastal cities to bombs hidden aboard cargo ships. Even then, Deng perfectly understands that the destruction by surprise attack of a dozen or more of our cities would have been followed by a massive retaliatory strike by us which would have basically erased China off the map. He had little to gain and everything to lose by sending us hidden bombs. On the other hand, you gentlemen are doing exactly what Kim Il-Sung was hoping for: to blindly accuse China and the Soviet Union and call for strikes on those two countr