would fetch on the market at the end of the week.
The London stock market shuddered, the FTSE dropping 1,000 points in two hours. By the end of the day’s trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average crashed 842 points, wiping billions of dollars off corporate values. Airline stocks caved in worldwide, no one much wanting shares in flying corporations that could not afford their own fuel.
Industries all over the world that were reliant on heavy road transportation for food, agriculture, and automotives warned the public of drastic price increases unless the market stabilized. Shares in General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler crashed around 20 percent.
The population slowly awakened to the fact that the United States still imported one gallon in five of its gasoline from Saudi Arabia. And that particular gallon was about to vanish.
The Democratic administration had its back to the wall. And, in a special night session of Congress, Republican Senators and Representatives railed against the lunatic left-wing protection of the virgin wilds of Alaska, where oil-drilling had been so restricted by the shrill lobbies of Friends of the Earth, American Indians, Eskimos, and assorted tree-huggers.
The dire warnings of the Republicans throughout the twenty-first century had just come true in a blazing inferno on the other side of the world. America was too reliant on Arab oil, and especially reliant on Saudi oil. A reduction of 5 percent of its daily consumption would have represented an economic crisis for Uncle Sam. Twenty percent was earth-shattering.
On that Tuesday, at 9 P.M., the President of the United States, Paul Bedford, a right-of-center Democrat and former naval officer, broadcast to the nation direct from the White House. He assured everyone that the United States was not entirely dependent on Saudi oil, and that U.S. consumption had been falling in recent years.
He said that in the great scheme of things, this was a mere glitch, although it most certainly highlighted the world’s vulnerability to terrorism. He said that once more the mighty economy of America had been shaken by actions on the other side of the world.
But it was not life threatening. He appealed for calm at the pumps, restraint in driving, and sympathy for “our very great friends, the Saudi royal family.” He said he was confident that the al-Sauds would turn once more to America in the great task of rebuilding its industry, which would mean profits and jobs in the U.S.
And he reiterated the observation of the British Prime Minister, who spoke on global television a few hours previously. “Saudi Arabia has not lost its oil,” said President Bedford. “It all remains intact beneath the desert floor. The Saudis have suffered a temporary setback in the mining and refining of that oil.
“With our help,” he added, “That will be corrected in the very near future. I spoke to the King a half hour ago, and he had to be awake very, very early to take my call. But he was calm and measured in his assessment of the damage.
“He does not know who could wish such harm to the peace-loving peoples of the Arabian Peninsula, and, quite frankly, neither do I. But the road back to prosperity is already being built. There will be American engineers in Riyadh with the King and his advisers before the end of this week.
“For the moment, we have lost twenty percent of our daily requirements of gasoline. And the Energy Secretary is working on a program of allocations that will see us through the coming months. A little restraint, common sense, and consideration — that’s all we need in order to come through this.
“Right now we are opening up new markets, finding more suppliers in South America. And I intend to speak to the Russian President in the morning with regard to special contracts in the Baku fields in Kazakhstan.
“I have ordered representatives of all the big oil corporations to report to Washington in the next twenty-four hours, and I intend to ensure there will be no price-gouging in this country. You may expect prices at the pumps to fall back. And in the wider picture of the economy, there will be corporate priorities, particularly for the major truck fleets and airlines.
“My fellow Americans, it is doubtful if the Saudis will ever need to provide twenty percent of our oil, ever again. This has been a wake-up call to the U.S.A., and I intend to place before Congress an immediate bill to step up drilling in northern Alaska.
“I have made it my personal crusade to rid this country once and for all of its dependence on Middle Eastern oil. And on that note, I wish you good night, and may God bless America.”
Which was a pretty good speech, for a Democrat in crisis. The problem was, no one took the slightest notice.
All through the night there were huge lines at the pumps right across the country, the oil companies were effectively charging anything they liked, and prices were spiraling upward like in some fourth-rate banana republic.
Under a dark March sky, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse rode again. As Grantland Rice once observed, “In dramatic lore, their names were Famine, Pestilence, Destruction, and Death. But these were only aliases.” In the U.S. of A, 2010, their real names were Gasoline, Diesel, Propane, and Jet Fuel.
And despite the President’s appeal for calm, there was an even greater force preparing to fan those flames of fear all over the world. Even as the President wished everyone good night, news-rooms all over the country were preparing for a bonanza of frightening news, the priceless commodity that puts newspaper circulations up and sends television ratings sky-high.
The papers were preparing to run thousands of extra copies, print advertising rates were about to hit an all- time high, and television advertising on the networks would instantly go to levels normally associated only with a Super Bowl Sunday or a presidential election.
Right now, the media was in fat city. And the more scared people became as they faced a loss of mobility, the more the world’s news editors and advertising execs liked it. This was the week to justify big salaries and colossal expense accounts.
Hang on to your hats, boys!
U.S. ECONOMY CRIPPLED BY SAUDI OIL FIRES
PRESIDENT POISED TO BAN PRIVATE DRIVING
SAUDI OIL BOMBS BLAST U.S. ECONOMY
OIL FIELDS ABLAZE; FED WARNS RAMPANT INFLATION
RECORD GAS PRICES IN U.S. AS SAUDI OIL BURNS
Things were calmer in Pompeii in A.D. 79.
The U.S. Marine jet bearing the considerable figure of Adm. George Morris from San Diego touched down a little heavily. It taxied to the parking area, where a helicopter awaited him, rotors spinning, in readiness for the short journey to Fort Meade.
The Director of the National Security Agency had different priorities from both the administration and the politicians. Admiral Morris was not concerned with inflation, prices, or the economy. He wanted to know just three things: (1) who had blown up the Saudi oilfields; (2) why; and (3) might they do something else? Also he hoped to God young Ramshawe was on the case.
The Admiral was in his office twenty-three minutes after landing at Andrews Air Force Base. And Lt. Commander Ramshawe was on his way along the corridor with a file containing a high volume of speculation but very few undisputable facts. He went over more or less the same ground he had covered with Arnold Morgan, at the end of which the Admiral had said, “Jimmy, that’s all very well observed. And I’m sure you are onto something, but I don’t know what. Because there appears to be no motive.”
Admiral Morris sat still for a few minutes, ruminating, as he always did when a very grave problem stared him in the face. At length he said, “I do agree this was a military operation. But I can only imagine it was the Saudi military. No one else could possibly want to smash up the oil industry. To what end? It doesn’t make sense.”
“I tell you what, sir. It made sense to someone.”
