It was another fifteen minutes before there was a knock on the door and the door opened and he was there alone. The President of the USA, looking just like he did in the press pictures.
Truman looked at Aarons for several moments and then said, “Let’s sit at the table.” He pulled out a chair and sat down, and Aarons did the same.
“They told me to call you ‘A’, is that OK with you?”
“That’s fine, sir.”
“Let’s cut out the bullshit. We’re just two men chatting, aren’t we? You probably know, my name’s Harry. Can I start?”
“Sure.”
“We don’t pull punches or we’re wasting our time and our opportunity to do some good. So. Why are the people in Moscow so aggressive towards us?”
For a few moments Aarons hesitated, then he said, “I can only give you some possible reasons. They feel that they won the war alone. Twenty million Soviets killed, our cities destroyed. America was never occupied by the Germans. Now the Soviet Union and the States are the super-powers. We’re not used to being top dogs and there are jealousies about being number two. And the United States wants the whole world to stamp out Communism.” Aarons shrugged. “There are other reasons, the armed forces have shown that they can beat the Germans and I guess peace can seem pretty tame to a general with vast military resources and only ten rows of medals.”
“When you talk about us being anti-communist do you have in mind McCarthy and his committee?”
“He’s a very obvious part of it but he doesn’t really matter.”
“Why not?”
“Moscow’s view is that outside America McCarthy and his tactics are so fascist that he does America more harm than he does us.”
“Is that why your people haven’t done anything about him?”
“What could we do? He’s a Senator. A war hero and …”
“What the hell do you mean—a war hero?”
“He was tail-gunner in a bomber.”
“He sat in the tail-gunner’s seat as a passenger on a military plane a couple of times in the Pacific. He spent his service behind a desk.”
“But he was wounded in combat.”
“Was he, shit, he injured his leg when he fell downstairs, drunk, on a troopship. He started this committee because he was scared that the good folk of Wisconsin were sick of him. He’s what we call a boodler. A boozer and a gambler who paid for his vices by taking bribes from corporations that had business with Washington. He needed some issue to help him survive. Could have been anything but some son of a bitch put him on to communists.”
“So why don’t you stop him?”
“He’s on the way out. He’s worn out his welcome.” He shrugged. “And it’s a free country.”
“He’s ruined a lot of people’s lives. Creative people, writers, film people, scientists, scholars and government officials.”
“Sure. Democracy too costs lives.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Fire away.”
“What would make the United States start a war against the Soviet Union?”
“We wouldn’t start one. But if the Soviets made a move against us then we’d respond.”
“What kind of move?”
Truman was silent for long moments. “If they made a move against one of the NATO countries. Or if they found some country to accept atomic weapons within striking distance of our backyard.”
Aarons smiled. “It sounds as if the so-called superpowers are just scared of one another rather than looking for conquests.”
“You could be right.” He paused. “Tell me. What made you a communist? What was the attraction?”
Aarons shrugged. “My father never stopped talking about the revolution that was coming to set us all free. I was just a boy and I heard it every day. I guess it’s like being born a Roman Catholic. You just accept the rules even if you don’t agree with all of them.”
“Was your father a politician?”
Aarons laughed. “No, he was a glove-maker in a small factory.”
“What kind of gloves?”
“Gloves for rich women.”
“Is he still alive?”
“No. He died when I was a kid. We were Jewish and we had to emigrate to Paris.”
“Did he go back after the Revolution?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because we were Jews.”
“So much for the brotherhood of man.”
“Jews have the same problem here.”
“But they don’t flee the country.”
“Why is Communism feared over here so much?”
Truman stood up slowly and shrugged off his jacket, hanging it over the back of one of the other chairs before moving over to the couch and lying back against the cushions, one leg stretched out on the couch, the other trailing alongside the couch. The alert eyes focused on Aaron’s face.
“It’s not feared so much as hated and despised. And it’s not a question of Communism itself. It’s loathing of any system that only survives by a huge apparatus of suppression of its own people.”
“But if that’s what the people want.”
“That’s bullshit, Mr. A, and you know it. They don’t have any choice.” He wagged a finger at Aarons. “People have always got excuses for doing wrong. A fella was telling me the other day that bribery and corruption are a good thing. You get quick responses that way. You pay the guy who matters and you get the contract, but if you go through proper channels it could take you six months and you could still lose out. Speeds up the economy he says. I told him it can speed up the trip to a Federal penitentiary as well.”
“Who’s going to be the next President?”
“Who do your guys think it will be?”
“Adlai Stevenson.”
Truman shook his head slowly. “No. A Democrat won’t make it this next time round. It’ll be Eisenhower. The people want a change. Don’t matter if it’s for good or bad. The liberals have had their day. Ike makes out that he’s non-political. And if that means that he don’t give a shit either way
