THE LAST PRESIDENT BY JOHN KNOPS 804 Black Street Whitehorse, Yukon Canada Y1A 2P1 Tel: (403) 633-5665 e-mail: jknops@yknet.yk.ca The Last President The Characters Bill Andrews The President Simon Yarnell Leader of the House of Representatives Henry Hudson Secretary of Defence Walter Ekland General of Army Mary Williams The President's Secretary Sam Equipment Repairman Al Equipment Repairman Krushnelsky Premier of Russia Borodin Personal Assistant to Krushnelsky Alexi Alexandrov Vice Premier of Russia Ruicki Minister of Agriculture Ivan Maleyev Minister for Defense Edward Constable Press Secretary Edith Champion A Reporter William Fitzhenry A Reporter Gary McKenzie A Reporter Robert Cunningham A Reporter THE LAST PRESIDENT ACT 1 Scene: The USA President's oval office in the White House THE LAST PRESIDENT ACT 1 (The President's oval office in the White House.) ANDREWS What is this I hear about us not wanting to beef up our armaments? HUDSON Rumours, Mr. President. I wouldn't put money on them. We have no plans whatsoever to cut defense spending. ANDREWS We had better not. The Russians are increasing their budget by ten percent this year. HUDSON So they say. Not only that, but their plans are to increase their warhead count too. ANDREWS The bastard. When we met in The Hague he gave me his word that the warhead count would stay the same or be decreased by obsolescence of old missiles. Where do we stand? HUDSON We still outnumber them by twenty percent. ANDREWS Let's keep it that way. What do we have to do? HUDSON Well, for starters, if the reports are true we may fall behind in absolute numbers count if we don't get off our asses and start building some more. ANDREWS I don't intend to let that happen to us. Not while I'm president. HUDSON Our weapons are more accurate, but that won't help in the press stats pages. ANDREWS I know. We don't want to get behind them at any time. What does Simon have to say about all this? ANDREWS We haven't really talked about it. No one expects him to oppose us seriously. ANDREWS Can we rely upon him now? He always wanted to get even with me and I am afraid he may think it politically expedient to do so by objecting to my defense plans. ANDREWS Not likely. He's no fool. He can't win either way but he will lose more if he doesn't support you in the long run. ANDREWS Look here, Henry, if we can get his support and that of William Blenderby we have it all. Then I will have the power to destroy the enemy. HUDSON What enemy? Simon? ANDREWS The Russians. I don't trust that Krushnelsky. I have to have the extra firepower to shoot him down. HUDSON That is only offensive fire power to destroy the enemy. What do you really want, Bill? ANDREWS To be the darn best president this country ever had! With me here we will make it back to the economic and military power we always were. HUDSON We have to keep it that way. How the hell can we keep the press away? They report about the military-industrial complex that makes nails for us at Fifteen thousand dollars each! ANDREWS A few minor setbacks which they have decided to blow out of all proportion into a front page story. If we worry about details we will miss the beauty of the whole picture. HUDSON You must not go too far. If the power shifts you may not be able to keep control over the generals and their machines. ANDREWS That is your job. Our safety record is beyond reproach and our safeguards over all missiles are so well in place that the only one who can set them off is me giving a command which must be executed. Before execution I can also issue the order to abort, given enough time. HUDSON We do feel comfortable that all this power lies in one hand. Imagine if it were dissipated into the hands of a thousand generals. ANDREWS OK. We understand each other, don't we? HUDSON Yes we do, but I wouldn't like to be me if at any moment you decide that you don't like the colour of my eyes and have me fired with five minutes notice and give me just enough to eke out a miserable existence for about a year. ANDREWS Now, now don't be so morose. No one is going to fire you. Let's get on to business. Mary. Can you get me Senator Yarnell on the phone like a good girl. MARY (voice on intercom) He's here, Mr. President. ANDREWS Now where were we with Yarnell? The farm report wasn't all that good this last quarter. He will undoubtedly want to increase the farm loan budget this again.... What a name they gave it. We loan money to bankrupt farmers and expect them to pay it all back knowing full well that they never will pay it back. Why not call it what it is: The Farmers Operational Donor Early Recovery program. Then everybody can get in the pork barrel. MARY (Entering) Senator Yarnell. (Exit) YARNELL Good morning Bill, hope you slept well? What have I done to get a visit from you. If it's official, it must be money. If not we can talk about women. ANDREWS How did you get here before I called? This farm aid program of yours. Can't we change it a bit? Change the principle. Why not call it a donation program? YARNELL If you start giving the farmers money they will only spend it. Never on what they really need. We have to tie it into use on farms and give them the incentive to work the land in order that they can pay it back. ANDREWS So? YARNELL So what? ANDREWS So, if they succeed in their harvest this year we will have a bumper crop and then we sell it, no, flog it on world markets at prices which are insupportable by the farm industry. They go under and you go around helping them again. YARNELL Don't get me wrong, in this society they are the ones who want the support. We are only there to work at their bidding. ANDREWS Get lost with all this bureaucratic mumbo jumbo. YARNELL I need your support to press my farm acts through the house and you need me to see that they are executed. ANDREWS What about defense appropriations? We need to beef up our defense. YARNELL Offenses, not defense. ANDREWS Call it what you like. YARNELL I need money for the farmers. ANDREWS Which is more important to the whole world? YARNELL You decide. ANDREWS OK. OK. You win, again. I get your farm aid bill supported. I will announce it in my press conference. YARNELL Are you on your kick to get more appropriations for the Air Force? ANDREWS Not this time. This is something bigger and better. More powerful that anything else we have ever had. YARNELL I thought so. You have this myopic view of the world. You still think that by spending all our efforts on missiles and bombs you believe that we can outwit the Russians. If you can't outwit them, at the least you'll be able to outshoot them. ANDREWS My views on war, missiles and the enemy are no secret. You know as well as I do, Simon, that our survival depends on being able to strike first and strike well. YARNELL Our survival depends on whether or not we can feed everyone in the world. HUDSON We may never get a second shot. The first decides the winner. ANDREWS That's my man. YARNELL No matter who starts, there is nothing left. You two are utterly mad! HUDSON Not as mad as you giving money away to farmers. ANDREWS Enough of this. I will support your farm aid and you support my appropriations. Now let's get on to serious business. Who is running for reelection next term? YARNELL I am serious about it. Another four years and I will have a record. What about you Henry? HUDSON I'm not sure. Sixteen years in public office is a long time. I don't need to break any records. Besides, Molly wants me to take it easy now. It has been a strain on her for the last five years. ANDREWS Strain? What strain. As my secretary of defense you don't need to be under strain. HUDSON My job still puts me into the limelight a lot more than is good for the family. ANDREWS What is more important. Your country or your family? You will have to decide on that one. I need you for another term. What do you say? HUDSON Need me, certainly, but there are a lot of very talented young people about chomping at the bit to take over. Each one knows that she or he can do the job much better than I have ever been able to do it and each one knows for a certainty that the other is totally incompetent. YARNELL Don't get cynical. HUDSON What about you, Bill? ANDREWS The party, as you know, wants me to run for my second term. What do you think? HUDSON Of course you must. Who else is there? You have the support of all the people. They think you are the best President we have ever had. You are so popular you would knock anyone else out blindfolded. ANDREWS And you, Simon? YARNELL How can I guess or pass judgment on what the people want? It is not my way. ANDREWS I did not ask you what your way was. I asked you what you thought of me running again? YARNELL What you decide will be the best decision for you. You will have to decide for yourself without our influence. ANDREWS For God's sake, man I'm just looking for opinions, not decisions from you. If you won't tell me I'll ask Mary. (To intercom) Mary. Should I run for my second term of office? MARY (Voice on intercom) Of course. What about your idea about changing the constitution to let you run indefinitely? ANDREWS Thanks, Mary. YARNELL I guess your straw poll decides it. What is this thing about changing the constitution? ANDREWS Something I am toying with. If I can pull it off it will be the best for the country. There is too much confusion changing presidents every eight years. The people have no continuity. One president is an international figure, the next is a domestic, totally uncomfortable in international politics. The third doesn't care what happens as long as he can stay on as President. YARNELL We won't let you change the constitution. ANDREWS And why not? Do you want to run for president yourself? YARNELL Not now, no. ANDREWS Not now! Then why object? It is democratic and the American way. All business runs that way. YARNELL Business kicks out its president when the board wants him out. ANDREWS I can be impeached but this is not business. We can change laws and constitutions. We create laws at will when we want to. Why not this one? I will give my blessing and initiative. YARNELL No doubt you have too much initiative. Too often too much power rests with just one man. ANDREWS (Telephone rings.) There goes that bloody phone again. Hello. Yes Mary. Yes. All right, I'll talk to him.... It's Krushnelsky. He's got something important to say.... Hello Mr. President, what can I do? ... No, we have no plan to do that. No. Impossible.... What! Where is your source of information? ... Oh, I see.... OK, I will attend to it.... Now, look here, we agreed in The Hague that there will be no increase in armaments and we in America intend to abide by the agreement.... Well, yes, we were just talking about it. There is a small increase in our defense budget but that is only because of inflation, nothing more. Costs increase, wages must be paid, you understand, don't you? You must have the same problem yourself with your defense budget.... You don't? ... No inflation in defense. Must be wonderful.... Please try to understand. There is no plan to increase our warhead count ... Yes, you can take my word on it. Thank- you for telephoning. YARNELL That was an out and out lie. You want to beef up the total number of bombs. ANDREWS The idea has not been approved by you yet. As long as you and congress haven't given your blessings it is not a plan. Now, back to business. Mary, can you get Ekland on the phone please. MARY (On intercom) Do you know where he is? ANDREWS No, I don't know where he is. Check with the usual bases. He's somewhere. MARY (On intercom) I will try my best. ANDREWS Simon, what do you really think we should do? YARNELL Why ask me? You know my answer already. ANDREWS Maybe I need someone to keep me in the real world. YARNELL If your idea of the real world is arms, arms and more HUDSON-bombs then one of us has lost touch with life itself. ANDREWS Come on, Yarnell, the real world that I want is our world. A safe world. How can we possibly survive if we are constantly threatened by the Russians? To keep our life as we have always known it we must be stronger. Remember it was the American way of life that overthrew the British and it is the same tradition that will let us survive. HUDSON In order to do that we must be stronger than the enemy. YARNELL What tradition? The only tradition you both understand comes at the end of a Colt 45 after the last bullet has been fired in the O.K. Corral. ANDREWS Come on now. I won't start the holocaust. Only the Russians can do that. HUDSON We will beat them at their own game. Just a few more missiles, a few more bombs and "bam" that's all folks. YARNELL That's all for everything. Nothing survives. HUDSON We will win. That is what counts. The end of the game. YARNELL The end of the best game where the winner is also the loser. I don't want to be part of it. ANDREWS Let's not overdo it boys. Strength is what makes us powerful.... MARY (Entering) Mr. President. ANDREWS Well, Mary, did you find him? MARY He is in the Pentagon. ANDREWS What the hell is he doing in the Pentagon? MARY He is the General, Mr. President. ANDREWS I know that. Generals are supposed to be out there with their men. I have got enough paper pushers without Walt trying to be another. He has no talent for that sort of thing. (Exit Mary) HUDSON He's got to do some reports for me sometime. I want to know where his money is going. ANDREWS What do we care. All we need to know is that we get more and more arms for our money and more rockets and planes to put them in. It is his launch systems that are a stroke of genius. Expensive, but genius. YARNELL They are not foolproof. It won't take much to send a missile going on its way just like sky rockets in the night. Can anyone risk that? ANDREWS Don't be fatalistic. Nothing can happen. Walt assures me the safety back-ups are the best there are and the men themselves are loyal to the core. HUDSON The way our people are trained there is no room for mistakes or for treason. If the command to fire is given then the missiles will be sent. There are two men in the control rooms one thousand feet underground. ANDREWS Yes, I know. What happens if one falters and doesn't fire? HUDSON Easy. The other shoots him and pushes the buttons. YARNELL Sounds gruesome. HUDSON Would you rather have the opposite? No one to execute the command. ANDREWS I don't think we want that. Let's get on with what we started here. You weren't here at the beginning Simon. What we must decide soon is how much more we can appropriate for arms and how many more warheads can we get this year? Any views? YARNELL Are you two really willing to keep the arms race going full tilt with no end in sight? The more missiles, the more launch facilities and the more equipment out there the greater the risk of a mistake. HUDSON Walt won't make mistakes. It is still the greatest deterrent we have to stop them from trying something first. One shot by them and we launch everything. They can't win against those odds. YARNELL One shot by us and they launch everything. The world ends against those odds. ANDREWS We must have the power and ability to deliver quickly from all parts of the world before they can. YARNELL Land, air, water or underground? HUDSON Yes. We have only one vulnerable spot. ANDREWS What? No one told me anything about that - ever. Explain yourself. HUDSON You. ANDREWS Me? HUDSON Yes, you. You are still the only one who can give the final fire order. All other orders are to be ignored. No one will fire a single missile unless the fire command is confirmed by you with the usual security command. ANDREWS Hmmmm. What if a terrorist or lunatic takes me out? Are you trying to suggest that if a crisis materializes we need something to start an auto pilot? HUDSON Something like that. ANDREWS Don't we have one already? HUDSON We have something. You had better ask Walter. ANDREWS If he'll show up. I don't like it. What are the alternatives? YARNELL Do you need any alternatives? We already have you as an auto pilot. HUDSON Come on now, man, let's not be insulting The president must give the final command or nothing goes. There is no danger. We in the defense will not push any buttons. We don't even have them. ANDREWS (Mary Enters) Yes, Mary, what is it. MARY Mr. President, the rewiring crew is here to change the telephone locations and your terminal. ANDREWS Shall we go on or do you want to break for five? HUDSON I can go on. They shouldn't bother us. Yarnell? YARNELL OK by me. Security would have cleared them. ANDREWS Mary. Let them come in and get on with it. MARY Yes, Mr. President. ANDREWS Where is Ekland? MARY I am trying as best I can. (Exits) ANDREWS Well hurry up. I must speak to him. Now, where were we? There is no doubt in my mind that the way to go is to have some kind of a back-up for me. I may not be here forever. We will need some protection for the future.The arms we need are not to be used to launch an offensive but rather for pure defense. We never know what the other side will do and therefore we must be always be prepared for any eventuality. ANDREWS Why must we try to outdo them with numbers? Don't you think we have enough to destroy the entire world already? We can rid it of all life and leave the planet a desolate, soulless rock and water globe circling the sun forever. YARNELL Simon, you are slightly out of your league. Defense is not your area. I have no doubt that if worse comes to worse you will find a way to start a new house. No doubt you will raise a superior crop with your grants and can work on some form of superior man as well. YARNELL There won't be anyone left to start anything. If a few survive they will kill each other off to get whatever food each has left or just for fun because they can get away with it. MARY (Entering) The repairmen are here for your desk equipment. ANDREWS Thanks, Mary. (Mary exits) Come in, gentlemen. What I want is this: The desk is to move over to this corner. The phones go over here and the computer terminal here. By the way, I've been having some problems with the terminal. It doesn't want to work right. SAM What are the symptoms? ANDREWS The screen goes garbled every once in a while. See. Like that. Then it clears up again. SAM We'll check it out. Phone here; red phone here; terminal here and desk over there. Right? ANDREWS Right. Now, Yarnell, what we were talking about was your farm bill, not my appropriation. YARNELL I think we need to continue the aid to the farmers so they can be more competitive in world markets. We need all those world sales of grain, barley, meat and dairy products. ANDREWS Other countries cry foul when we help farmers. YARNELL So what? They subsidize too. This keeps prices low in international markets until we become the chief supplier. Then we hike the prices. ANDREWS That is your way. Keep government money pouring in but don't call it an official subsidy. That will help them export to needy people everywhere at prices they can just barely afford. Then jack up the prices, let them borrow from our banks and we end up with all their money. YARNELL Just so. That's the theory. As long as we keep it up we come out ahead. Basic Economics 100 that every freshman takes. ANDREWS That must be where they stop their education and become politicians. What we learn later in the real world is that they have to pay their bills sooner or later and we end up with millions of dollars worth of their useless currency. YARNELL Yes. Beautiful isn't it. ANDREWS What the hell are we to do with their money? YARNELL Buy their products of course. ANDREWS We don't need anything they have to sell. YARNELL That is easily solved. We make them buy food with U. SAM. currency. ANDREWS And where are they to get their "US." dollars as you so easily put it? YARNELL We lend it to them of course and they pay interest. The wonderful world of compound interest. ANDREWS Just like your farm loans. Of course! Why couldn't I think of that? We just keep on lending everybody money like drink to a drunken sailor and they never repay it. How silly of me. To buy our wheat we lend the farmers and buyers money and then some more and more until they go bankrupt and don't have to repay anything. YARNELL That is not what I mean. Everyone has to repay debts or we seize their assets. Bankruptcy would be disastrous! ANDREWS Disastrous, yes, but we do it nevertheless. Every day of the year. The final day of reckoning will come and the losers will be us, not them. Let's get on to more important business. Spending money in the military will help all of us. The money doesn't have to be repaid by anyone and no one goes bankrupt. Sooner or later we will have to build up our defense to such a level that we can feel quite safe. That day will come and peace will spread throughout the planet. No more threat of war. HUDSON You bet. The day we are all waiting for when we have enough weapons to kill everyone of the enemy with no survivors. That is peace. ANDREWS Quite so. HUDSON Let's not get too carried away that we lose sight of what our primary goals are. ANDREWS What exactly do you mean? HUDSON What I mean is this: our goal must always be preservation. Preservation of our selves and the American way of life. Life itself is the goal, not death. EKLAND (Entering.) Exactly what I have been trying to pump into your empty heads. We have to survive, not them. YARNELL I'm so glad you arrived, Walter. If we survive and not them what is the reason for us to continue if the Earth itself is dead. EKLAND That will never happen. That is why we must be superior to the enemy. If we are not, then we are dead and so is everyone. We will be the deterrent. When our forces are powerful enough and our defense mechanisms can detect an enemy fly approaching then and only then will we be safe. YARNELL How will you detect the difference between a fly and a bomb? HUDSON Oh come on, don't be stupid. YARNELL How? EKLAND The bomb is bigger. YARNELL And what if your detectors detect a big fly? EKLAND Andrews! Do we have to listen to this idiot go on? ANDREWS Come on, Simon, explain yourself. YARNELL Quite simple. If anything can go wrong it will sooner or later. Maybe not now, maybe not today or tomorrow or the next, but one day all the electronic readings will show a clear attack and someone will have to decide if it is real, imaginary or a program fault. We have shot down the wrong airplane before. Many times. All that because the man in charge was so well trained that he knew very clearly that what he saw was one particular type of airplane. In real life, miles away, it was just an innocent pilot who got lost because his instruments told him he was somewhere else other than where he really was. HUDSON The alternative is to doubt the accuracy, procrastinate and if it really is the enemy, we are all dead. A few innocent pilots and people are worth it to preserve ourselves. EKLAND Accidents and misjudgments will happen. No one is infallible. Even I make mistakes, but I do know that I make the least number of mistakes and all my men are trained not to make rash decisions. There are so many checks and balances and backups to our systems that the odd mistake is a real error. It is just as hard to make a mistake as it is to win the lottery. ANDREWS One day I will have to get a briefing from you on how all these sophisticated systems work so that I have more confidence that we won't be making the one big mistake. When the final decision comes from me I want to be sure that I will not be making it based on some silly error. I will always be the one that history will blame forever after. I won't like it. YARNELL There won't be any history after. EKLAND I will arrange it. What do you want to know? We have a three day seminar on the basic defense systems which should give you what you need to know. ANDREWS Three days is a long time. EKLAND It is a complicated subject. My men tell me they can't condense it any shorter unless you want the ten second overview complete with all the details from Time Magazine. ANDREWS My God, no. Talk to Mary, see if she can block out three days for it. Tell me now: How can we be sure that we cannot go out and destroy everything because of an error in data interpretation? YARNELL The only way to be really sure is to destroy all of our nuclear arsenal. HUDSON We can't do that and you know it. The other side will never destroy theirs and they will come in and walk all over us. I will never allow us to lie down, play dead and let them walk all over us. ANDREWS Don't let Yarnell get to you, it's not important. What back-up defense and weapons do we have? EKLAND There is our arsenal of chemical weapons. Viruses, poison gasses, nerve gasses. That should finish the job. ANDREWS Are the missiles loaded with chemicals as well as bombs? EKLAND Some are. We plan for it. If one system fails, the chemicals will get them sooner or later. YARNELL How potent are they? Will they destroy food crops. EKLAND Pretty strong stuff. It should kill everything within a, say 2000 mile radius from point of impact. ANDREWS Everything? EKLAND Every living thing will die. That is the purpose. ANDREWS I am not an expert but wouldn't the nuclear blast vaporize all the chemicals before they had a chance to do their job? EKLAND Under normal circumstances, yes, but these missiles are designed to drop a series of smaller cluster bombs in a radius of about five hundred miles. They are not nuclear and explode just before impact, at about one thousand feet, releasing the chemicals at the same time that the main bomb hits ground zero, which will cause the physical damage. So, if the nuclear weapon fails, the chemicals won't. YARNELL My god, you haven't forgotten anything have you? HUDSON We are very thorough in defense. We can't let the enemy hide out, miles underground and survive. ANDREWS Very powerful, very potent and guaranteed to destroy everything. I don't think I like it. Who authorized the system? EKLAND Your predecessor. ANDREWS I'm not surprised. There is too much room for error in all this. What if we have a misfiring some day? Won't that destroy us by our own hand? EKLAND That is impossible! The systems are designed to fail launch on any error, no matter how small. ANDREWS I still don't like it. There is one weak link in all this. Some human mind must give the final command to fire, launch and destroy. HUDSON Don't worry, Bill. There is a twenty minute time allowance we reckon and you will have to be consulted anyway to give the command. ANDREWS What if I can't be reached. EKLAND You can always be reached. ANDREWS What if I am physically away in isolation in my yacht offshore and we happen to be in a radio dead spot anyway? EKLAND Well, then ... You can't be isolated. My men are with you night and day. ANDREWS Not when I'm having sex with my lover, they aren't. EKLAND Ah, well, yes. We do respect your privacy sometime. You have a mistress somewhere? ANDREWS As if your men didn't know. You mean they haven't told you? What will happen then? Who will give the command to fire? YARNELL Maybe Walter would want to give the command. After all, he designed the system, he might as well use it once. EKLAND I could, but it wouldn't work. The command is voice recognition based on the president's own voice pattern. ANDREWS Couldn't it be imitated? YARNELL No doubt a very good mimic could do the trick. EKLAND Still wouldn't work. We tested it. It came close but the machines always found the difference. There are too many variations in voice patterns and the machines could always tell the difference and aborted. When there is any doubt, they abort immediately. ANDREWS Well, Walter, what do you say? What is the backup? I am sure you fit into this somewhere. EKLAND Mr. President. This is highly irregular. It is not something we should be discussing in a safe room. ANDREWS Ah yes. The cocktail party. (He throws a switch on his desk which turns on a cocktail party conversation in the background.) EKLAND What about the house of representatives? YARNELL Come on man! I have the highest level of security and your men watch me and follow me twenty four hours a day, even when I'm having sex. ANDREWS True. Let us know what the military have determined must be done. After all I could be assassinated and someone may have to give the command. EKLAND You would, after your death. Not you in person, but your voice. I have your voice recorded on a microchip which is to be used if you cannot be found, or if you are dead. ANDREWS Then it is you who has the power to destroy the planet if you want to. EKLAND Not if I want to. Only as a last resort. That, of course, is the ultimate decision and I wouldn't use it except at the last possible moment when all else fails or if an error is detected in your command. YARNELL Oh God, no! A mad scientist let loose on humanity. ANDREWS This is serious, not a joke. YARNELL I was more serious than you think. I would rather be infested with a pack of vampires. ANDREWS The system will have to be thought out in more detail and made more foolproof if possible. Can we see to it that we do not lose the momentum on this and see what we can do by the end of next month? EKLAND I will try, but it isn't much time. What with my regular duties and all. ANDREWS This is one of your regular duties. It is more regular than your training sessions. Let's do it. EKLAND Very well, let me get my people together on this. ANDREWS Good, Now, Henry, you have been unusually quiet during all this. HUDSON Nothing to add to Walter's comments, besides, this book on tax evasion is quite interesting. I didn't know you read this sort of thing. ANDREWS I read most things which have a bearing on how the country is run and operated. The author has some very good things to say about how difficult it is to catch tax dodgers. HUDSON That is a matter for the treasury, not us. Walter and I will have an in depth briefing session ready for you in, say, three weeks. We'll have the seminar put together with all the technical whiz kids for you. I will call you to let you know how things are going next week. EKLAND You are making me work to deadlines again. ANDREWS It's good for you. Keep me posted. (Exit Ekland and Hudson.) By the way, Simon, stay behind. I want to discuss something with you. YARNELL Do you want to talk about my act? ANDREWS No, not that. We already agreed I will support your bill in my press conference. I am being kept in the dark more and more lately. The military, as you heard don't want to tell me everything that I should know. That thing about my voice on a microchip. I should have been informed. It is a dangerous precedent. You, Simon, are one of the few people I can confide in, even though you are from the other party and we should be dire enemies. YARNELL We are, in public only. ANDREWS Why is it that my life revolves around deception and deceit by my trusted advisors? I am loyal to all people from poor to rich and even the miserable middle class who can barely survive. I must be confident in what I do, the decisions and the enemies I make in order to preserve law and order. I never know if the basis for those decisions comes from poor or just plain bad advice. YARNELL Many times, I too, have those same thoughts, but I am so busy doing things that reflection is a luxury denied to me. ANDREWS Tell me, you are always overworked as you keep reminding me, can't you take some time off and spend a week or two with Joanne on a cruise or at your house in the mountains. YARNELL I suppose if I really wanted to I could. The House wouldn't collapse but, like you, someone would find me and want me to make some stupid decision which every fourth grade child could make. ANDREWS Such are the burdens placed upon us. They want you for everything and don't want to tell me anything or have me make any decisions. I am worried about Ekland. The man has too much power in his hip pocket if he has my voice which can disrupt the entire world. SAM Mr. President. I think we have everything moved over. You did say you wanted the red phone moved too? ANDREWS I did, but I am changing my mind. I don't want to look at it all the time. It unnerves me. Leave it where it is. SAM OK. Al and I are going to take a break for lunch. There is still something wrong with the terminal. It's giving us errors, but all the diagnostics check out OK. Some stupid intermittent problem. Maybe in the lan board or in the phone network line itself. We'll have another look at it. ANDREWS Thank - you, gentlemen. (Sam and Al exit) YARNELL You know, Bill, I really do need that bill passed. It won't cost us too much and there are a lot of votes at stake for both of us. The poor farmers have suffered a lot lately what with droughts, grasshoppers and a low market price, not to mention the flooding in the south. What do you think? ANDREWS You have my sympathy, but Hudson wants more money for his defense schemes. We do need more missile power no matter how you feel about it. We can't do everything. Something has to be left out. YARNELL You know as well as I do that defense doesn't need any new money. They have enough firepower already to destroy everything. ANDREWS What do you suggest? YARNELL ANDREWS maintenance budget to keep the missile silos in a good state of repair, the rockets filled with bombs and just enough people to launch them. They can probably do without the people. Ekland's computers will do a remarkably fine job of starting the fire cycle with or without your voice on his chip. ANDREWS Not a practical suggestion even if it is the most logical and least expensive. Somehow we still have to keep a military presence in most countries and what is more we don't necessarily want to fight a nuclear war. The old battles which were fought centuries ago by King's armies while Kings socialized on a hilltop may be coming back. We'll send up our missiles and see which side has the best ones or the most. The one that survives automatically keeps whatever it was the battle was being fought for. YARNELL A novel idea. It sounds good but who is to say that the loser will give up the spoils. ANDREWS Two leaders' honour! Nothing else. YARNELL The battle for the hand of the fair maid. Could be worse. Let's get serious. The new defense world will not allow you to gain any more power. Their power is itself diluted among a multitude of officers and banks of machines which have a mind and intelligence of their own. ANDREWS Do they talk as we do and have love affairs also? I can't imagine it. YARNELL Your humour always strikes at the moment when everyone is so serious that they forget the humour of life itself. Maybe that is why I like you so much. ANDREWS What we need is the comfort that we cannot destroy ourselves. I have nightmares where I wake up in a cold sweat pounding the bed out of fear that someone has set off the fuses and there are only four minutes left. YARNELL You must not torture yourself, there is nothing you can do at this stage. ANDREWS I am the President. I must have the wisdom to do what is right and not let the world end. The supreme power in the country and the world. The one who all look to for the direction the Earth is to take. YARNELL You are nothing more than the President. The supreme power in the world is a computer sitting somewhere - it may even be in Ekland's office - reading your voice pattern when you give the command. Let us all hope it will always know the difference between you, a Las Vegas mimic and a microchip. ANDREWS You give me no comfort at all. If anything, I am getting even more panicky. What if Ekland wants to test his microchip with my recorded voice to see if it really works and forgets to tell the machines that it is a test and not the real thing. YARNELL Then so what? It is too late. In a few minutes the end will come. Let us not be naive enough to think that the universe will end. Just the end of life on this planet for some time. Life as we know it, will continue to exist, somewhere else. It may even resurrect itself here in a billion years or so and do the same things all over again. ANDREWS A rather horrifying prospect for all of us. We are the only animal on earth who can create life and at the same time has the power to destroy all life with the things we create. YARNELL Not things, Bill. I like to think of them as toys. Is there a superior God that has directed all this to happen or are we, each one of us on Earth, the superior being that directs the Earth's destiny? ANDREWS Come on, now, you are not an agnostic are you? YARNELL Not exactly. I was raised a Jew on religion and the belief in God. The more I see of what is going on the less I can believe that our teachings have been right through the centuries. ANDREWS "Right". What do you mean by right. Of course they are right. YARNELL Maybe the opposite. Religion is a way of subjugating people to the wishes and desires of the priests who want to hold power over people just as Ekland's gang wants to hold power over their machines. Neither understands that Ekland is the god who directs destiny. If there is a God then his toys are people like you, me and all other people. He has lost his power and people have taken over just as Ekland's machines have taken over him. ANDREWS A terrifying thought. I should so hate to see us disappear. Will the planet still be here if there are no people left to observe it? YARNELL Is it still there after you die when you can no longer observe it? ANDREWS I don't know. Does Victoria Falls thunder if there is no one listening? YARNELL Who cares! Why worry about what is going to happen to the universe after humanity ceases to exist. There will be no one there to record for posterity, as short as it is, that it was you who gave the command to destroy. ANDREWS You are turning into a bigger cynic than I am a hawk. YARNELL Trying to be a realist. ANDREWS Do you suppose that is what Ekland believes and that is why he doesn't care about what weapons we are creating? YARNELL Probably. That is also why he is so meticulous in his systems. Once started, nothing can stop them. Their course is set and not even destruction of the machinery before the final nanosecond can stop the ultimate end. ANDREWS I don't understand. Why can't I, or someone else, just turn off the switch? YARNELL You can, but the time you have to do it in is calculated in those same nanoseconds. There is not enough time for you to press the stop button after you have set the start button. ANDREWS I don't like it. It is too volatile. YARNELL No one likes it but it is the best we have. ANDREWS I am human just like all of you and subject to mistakes. I must have time in which to change my mind. YARNELL You can't have that luxury. ANDREWS If everyone is destroyed anyway, what is the point? YARNELL There is none. ANDREWS That is exactly my point. If there is no reason for us to destroy the enemy then I want to have the time to make that decision within a few brief moments: no more than five flaps of a hummingbird's wing. I must decide whether the attack is real, imagined or a mistake. YARNELL That won't work. Your decision will come too late, after we are destroyed. ANDREWS I can't allow that to happen. There must be time for thought, analysis or feelings to dissuade a decision. YARNELL Tell me again: If the world is dead why must it matter when the decision to launch a counter attack is made? ANDREWS Why? Why? Why do you even bother to ask? There must be a counter-attack. There must be defense to protect us. YARNELL That is interesting. To protect what? ANDREWS What difference does that make? We must attack to protect our way of life. The ultimate way of life. The American way. YARNELL The ultimate religion you mean. If we cannot protect, then let's be certain that all human, plant and animal life on Earth is really and totally destroyed, never to resurrect itself again. Let's make certain that nothing survives. ANDREWS If that's what must be done then that is what will be done. The enemy cannot have the power to start and destroy us. We must have the means to destroy them as well. YARNELL You talk as if the infinite circular universe is cut open and now has an end which you are trying to put back together. ANDREWS What are you trying to say. Philosophy has no place in politics. What I must do is quite simple: Retaliate. The counter-strike must be immediate before the enemy can change its mind or know what is going on. YARNELL Tell me then, who is going to decide that we must end it all: you or Ekland? And who is going to guard us? ANDREWS Not me personally. There must be consensus. YARNELL Why so indecisive now. Will you call a session of the war committee? They need two months advance notice for a meeting you know. It will have to be you. Is the job suddenly too tough? Is it too difficult to make that decision or is it that if machines decide then it is not your fault? Perhaps a minute electron, traveling in its endless path hiccuped and jumped to the wrong atom and sent everything off by mistake. What if some engineering whiz kid from MIT broke into the NORAD defense system from the lab one night and started to play space wars? Then it wouldn't be yours or anybody's fault now would it? ANDREWS It would still be my responsibility for having allowed the possibility for that to happen. YARNELL As I said before, at that point in time who cares? Or does someone besides myself really care? If I don't allow you the extra appropriations we may not have that extra missile which can go wrong. ANDREWS I need the money for better systems to control the entire system. At the least, if the final decision rests with one man or woman then we may have a sporting chance to maybe survive. One bomb will destroy one city and that is all. Humanity will survive. YARNELL Now you are changing your tune. You hope and pray that the bomb will not fall on this city and that the enemy will call you and convince you that it was an honest mistake. Do you really think the polite other side will call you on the phone or somehow make sure they do not launch all their targeted missiles the moment one of ours goes awry? ANDREWS They may fire and our chances to stop are pretty slim. Both of our offenses are directed at each other and our cities to destroy everything for thousands of miles around ground zero. YARNELL You still expect them to call you and have a nice polite chit chat on the red phone and accept apologies all around? ANDREWS Some think that is a possibility. YARNELL And you will take the call. You are naive inside your hawkish posture. If one missile is confirmed as heading for any city, town, village or farm there is no turning back. You have to give the final word to launch. If you don't, Ekland will. ANDREWS What if I hesitate, answer the phone and listen for the explanation. YARNELL Will they if you called? Will they believe you? You have twenty minutes before the missile strikes. You must be found and react within ten. What if you can't be found or if you are trying to call the pentagon? ANDREWS I doubt very much if I will be able to call the pentagon. After nine minutes the pentagon seals itself and NORAD takes over. Not even my private microwave link can get through. YARNELL I hope they find you in time. ANDREWS Not if I am talking to Krushnelsky. YARNELL We all know that your word is final. ANDREWS Only for unfinal things. The final I share with a microchip. YARNELL That will be disastrous. What would happen if you were indeed talking to Krushnelsky? ANDREWS I suppose the missiles will be launched and sent on their way. There will be no turning back. YARNELL Then the future of evolution is shared between your mind and your voice. One voice will say whether or not life on earth must be destroyed. ANDREWS Myself and Krushnelsky appear to be the ones who have the power over everything. YARNELL What do you mean by appear? ANDREWS With or without our respective commands, the act will be done nevertheless. We are mere pawns ruled by the machine Kings, Queens and Emperors that we have created. We have given them the power of mass destruction. YARNELL Then we must reverse the process before it is too late. ANDREWS It is easy to comprehend but hard to execute. We allow new research to proceed everyday. Their work is approved by us and we don't even know what it is. We never know what one individual is creating. The small, nebulous and seemingly unimportant project is added to another then another and very soon a new weapon or launch system evolves. YARNELL That is how they perfected the satellite launch. ANDREWS Exactly. We now have our weapons in stationary orbits over the target, 250 miles up, invisible, unseen and disguised as a weather satellite. The time from launch to destruction is no longer twenty minutes but four. Detection is easy but too late to do anything about except launch a full scale barrage of nuclear weapons and hope that about a thousand touch their mark. YARNELL My God, that is asinine! ANDREWS Quite so. The army prefers to call it Immediate Strike Missile Export Lateral Direct Attack, ISMELDA for short. Just like them to pick a woman's name. YARNELL That still means the army has all the power. You are their puppet. ANDREWS Puppet is such a manipulative word. I prefer to call myself a pawn. The leader, throughout history has always been a pawn of the military if he is not the military himself. YARNELL There must be some way that a false attack can be sensed and a counter-attack avoided? That is why your briefing will be so important. ANDREWS The false can be proven right in a matter of moments. Your thought of counter attack avoidance is a complete contradiction. YARNELL You are taking this all too lightly. The whole exercise must be stopped somehow. ANDREWS How can we? Our best defense is a quicker offense. It may not be the best way for us to survive but that is the way we have set things up and what am I to do about it now? Your minute electron which went awry may in fact be the real culprit but we will never know that. Therefore, why worry. YARNELL Maybe not but if we can eliminate the risk by destroying the weapons then we may all have a slim chance at survival. If you won't eliminate the risk then we need more backups to check and double check. I will support your appropriation for that. ANDREWS How many layers of backup do you think we need? YARNELL I don't know. ANDREWS Neither do I. There can be layer upon layer of backup. Each one defending and checking up on the one before and in the end who will guard the machines? YARNELL How well put. Why not me? ANDREWS I should so much like to see you have that task. However, it seems that the end of the road is somewhere, whether at the end of the Earth where we all fall off into oblivion or at the end of the universe wherever that is. YARNELL There is none. It is and must always remain limitless. ANDREWS Precisely. If there is no limit and no end to the universe so too there must be no limit to the backups upon backups to make certain that we do not make a mistake. That in itself must be defined in a finite way for if it takes twenty minutes to check and double check the checkers the end will be here and no one will care. YARNELL We must care. For the sake of humanity and all life we must do something. ANDREWS We are. YARNELL We are what? ANDREWS We are defining the finite limits of life and the universe. We have defined where it ends. YARNELL Where then? ANDREWS Here. YARNELL Here? In this room? ANDREWS In this room or wherever else I should happen to be. The world depends upon me and my wisdom. YARNELL If you weren't so serious I would say start laughing. ANDREWS I assure you, I have never been more serious in my life than I am at this very moment. The clear blue sky which always lends its light to irradiate the earth, make plants grow and animals survive depends entirely on my word. YARNELL For you to imagine for one moment that you hold the survival of the species - all species - in your hands is preposterous. If I didn't know you better I would have thought that you had gone mad. ANDREWS Not mad, just realistic. Didn't Ekland say just an hour ago that it was me who must give the final command to fire? YARNELL Well, yes but he was speaking as a military man. Their world revolves around commands given and commands executed. There is no place for morals, philosophy or ethics. What is "the right" has no meaning for them. Now you are equating yourself with God. ANDREWS What if I should give the command now. YARNELL I am hoping that someone will overrule you. ANDREWS No doubt someone would. The command does not compute. There is no imminent danger from the enemy. Would they give the command themselves if the perceived danger is there and silence from me. YARNELL Probably. There must be cause and effect. The cause by definition must come from the enemy and the effect must come from you. ANDREWS Exactly what I have been trying to tell you all this time. Why have we wasted valuable time. I give one order and one order only. That is my right, my prerogative and my job. YARNELL For the right to give one order you would gladly keep all to yourself. ANDREWS I have no choice. We cannot start wars ever again in a war committee. There is no time. The leisurely pace of a bittersweet era has gone and we now live in a world of instantaneous decision making. YARNELL Our final second! ANDREWS Not the final second yet. There is always an extra twenty minutes or so. Those twenty minute warnings are added together and an eternity passes. YARNELL An eternity poised on self destruction. I don't believe in Ekland's twenty minutes any more than you do. It is too long. ANDREWS Never too long. What else are we to do now? Can I, or you, reverse history? Go back and pretend Hiroshima and Nagasaki never existed. Pretend that all those countless recorded nuclear tests were a public relations stunt? We can't. You see, Simon, no matter what we say or do, the final moment passed us many years ago. When past presidents built bombs for defense it started as one or two to act as deterrents. Then the one or two multiplied, cloned by fantastic research to make the next one bigger, better and less heavy than the one before until the fateful moment arrived when we realized there were too many for any one side to use in a practical war. We went from destroying two cities to whole parts of countries to the country itself. Now we are on the brink of creating one that will destroy the whole earth. When we realized what we had done we couldn't back up. The road behind was blocked by a deathly silent avalanche. Don't you see, no matter what lip service I pay to peace, disarmament or useless troop withdrawals, the end would always be the same. Our strike, whether offense or defense, will destroy the world no matter what the enemy does. YARNELL We must reverse the process by destroying the bombs we have created. ANDREWS Not in our lifetimes. YARNELL at is not a very comforting thought. The next lifetime just gets worse. The world ends after you are dead and there will be no one left to witness and record the final end. ANDREWS don't think the other side cares. YARNELL ybe not, but I still don't like you being the last of the line of democratic Presidents. ANDREWS So be it. Why should you worry? You can never be President. YARNELL No, but I can hope. That is the one thing that sets me apart from other animals. I can hope. Hope for a more perfect world. ANDREWS Then we shall have to start all over won't we? CURTAIN END ACT 1 THE LAST PRESIDENT ACT 2 Scene: The Premier of Russia's Office in the Kremlin THE LAST PRESIDENT ACT 2 (The Russian Premier's private office in The Kremlin in Moscow. The Premier is sitting at his desk, reading a report. Alexandrov is sitting on a chair or couch also reading what appears to be the same report. His private secretary, Borodin, enters.) KRUSHNELSKY Call Ruicki in. I want to get to the bottom of this. BORODIN Yes, Mr. Premier. (Exits) KRUSHNELSKY Now, tell me, Alexandrov, what is the state of our defense? Do we have enough to defend ourselves against an attack? Is it enough to defend all of us against an invasion? ALEXANDROV Our missile detection systems and surface to missile missiles are not as good as theirs. We outnumber them in total warheads. When we went ahead with the decision to spend enough to defend ourselves with bombs, we could not spend more or find the talent to devise better anti- missile defense. KRUSHNELSKY What about our satellite detection systems? Can we recognize an attack when it comes? ALEXANDROV That is hard to say. We had five false alarms in the last nine months. KRUSHNELSKY Hmmm! That is serious. Why wasn't I advised? ALEXANDROV The problems were corrected before the time to alert you arrived. We gave you a written report each time, if you would bother to read them. KRUSHNELSKY It is still serious. I don't think we can go on for too long and not do anything. One day the alarms will go off and our missiles will be launched in error. ALEXANDROV Impossible! That could never happen. We have enough safeguards built in to our systems that only a real attack could trigger the final command. KRUSHNELSKY Let us hope you are right, Alexandrov. Here is Ruicki, now. That was unusually quick of you. Did you get my message before I sent it? RUICKI I was on my way over. The figures you wanted for this year's grain crop expectations are here, sir. The yields will be up from last year in all areas, especially the southwest. If the weather remains dry throughout harvest we should be ten percent over last year. KRUSHNELSKY Good, but will we have enough to satisfy all our needs? RUICKI Hard to say. The south should be OK but we are not sure about the north and the far east. You will remember we had to increase import quotas last year because we didn't have enough rail cars for shipments. KRUSHNELSKY Yes. More imports from Canada but the Americans lowered the price. a very embarrassing situation. RUICKI We lost that time. Now, should the nuclear plant accident fallout be less severe than we anticipate, we will have an even better yield making us an exporter of grain for the first time. That, of course will lower world prices even more. KRUSHNELSKY Of course. RUICKI Then, as we did the year before last, we can buy more and raise better export crops which are in demand in Europe this season. The economists estimate that total savings of ten to twenty billion Rubles worth of gold transfer payments would remain in Russia. KRUSHNELSKY The price will drop. We can import and change to other crops, then when the price rises next year and sellers hold us to ransom where will you be? Our people will not eat radishes for bread, nor can we bake bread from canola oil! RUICKI That would never happen. Once the price is down, it will stay down. KRUSHNELSKY Just like the price of oil in 1986, right? Oil prices dropped and everyone was happy. We couldn't sell our oil to recover our costs.r RUICKI That was very different. We think that was the doing of the Middle East Sheiks ... KRUSHNELSKY You are certain it wasn't the British in the North Sea. RUICKI The minor price drops by the British influenced the market, certainly but that was not what caused the price to fall. KRUSHNELSKY And it certainly wasn't us who dropped our prices of export oil was it? RUICKI Our price drops had no influence. We were following the leaders to retain our market share. KRUSHNELSKY You will never be sure, will you. Tell me, Ruicki, how is your wife Ninotchka? RUICKI As well as could be expected. You surprise me. You have never asked about her before. KRUSHNELSKY No, not too often. When did you two last go to the Black Sea for a vacation? RUICKI Well ... never. KRUSHNELSKY I thought as much. There is an agricultural convention at Odessa. RUICKI Yes, I know but I cannot attend. It is at the time of our most important work. The first fishing reports will be coming in and we have to calculate the estimates of our total catch. KRUSHNELSKY That is good. There are plenty of people who can calculate as well as you. Because you never go of your own free will I will now command you to go to Odessa and take Ninotchka with you. I also command you not to attend one single technical seminar, speech or address. You will not be a panelist on any panel nor will you talk to any delegates. What you will do is spend your time being a tourist and sunning yourselves on the beach. Is that clear? RUICKI Yes, sir. KRUSHNELSKY Good, I'm glad we understand each other. Oh, by the way, Ruicki, when you are in Odessa, I want you to go to the steps, look at them, and tell me if the revolution was worthwhile. Take your time, walk up and down and remember the past when a baby carriage rolled down and the infant died - trampled to death by a rebellious mob. Come back and tell me if the death of that child was worthwhile. RUICKI I don't understand. KRUSHNELSKY You will, you will in time. RUICKI Very well, I will go. Do the reports meet with your approval? KRUSHNELSKY Yes, they do. You have done a superb job as usual. RUICKI Thank you. (Exits) KRUSHNELSKY You know, Alexi, he is an excellent man but he needs the vacation. I am afraid he will burn out on me and then, when I need him for a particularly delicate job, he will be useless. ALEXANDROV I don't understand the thing about the steps either. KRUSHNELSKY Maybe one day you should go down and look for yourself. Now, tell me, how do we stand in the government? ALEXANDROV No more than the usual enemies. There are several deputies who want you ousted. KRUSHNELSKY The usual ones? ALEXANDROV Yes. KRUSHNELSKY I am tempted to oust them. Would that be wise? ALEXANDROV Not at this time. We know who they are and we are keeping a close watch on their activities, just in case. They cannot do too much harm. KRUSHNELSKY Does the secret police have them under surveillance? ALEXANDROV No. They pose no immediate threat to us. We don't have the secret police spy on everyone you know. KRUSHNELSKY Sound policy for a sound country you always tell me. The underground press thinks otherwise. They have tried to link our security forces with the American CIA and the British SIS to overthrow our regime. We almost get the feeling that the Americans want to take over Russia. ALEXANDROV The speculation is very interesting but it could never happen. The Americans could never populate Russia with enough people. KRUSHNELSKY A palace revolt no less, perpetuated from a palace in a foreign country. Who will rule? That is the interesting part. ALEXANDROV No doubt the new rulers who cannot begin to understand our culture and people. KRUSHNELSKY Well, well: the philosopher in you comes out. You are right. Our culture is no different from that of any other. It was created from our language and our writings, but the sensibility of the culture within a nation is never transposable to another, nor can another culture take it over. ALEXANDROV We still have wars to conquer others. KRUSHNELSKY Russia has done its share of conquering just like every other nation throughout history. We have conquered our enemies, populated their lands and then came back to Russia. ALEXANDROV Still, you want to practice peace. Become a leader who goes down in our history as the man who solved the world's problems. KRUSHNELSKY Doesn't every leader want that? We have to try to save the world from destruction, not solve its problems. I could never do that as long as there are other people alive. ALEXANDROV What do you mean? KRUSHNELSKY Quite simple. Wars and conquer of other cultures is no more than one man's wish for power over another. We don't need the land or the people. Least of all do we need their problems. ALEXANDROV What then is the reason for wars? The way you speak they make no sense and yet our greatest Czar - Ivan - was also the most unmerciful. KRUSHNELSKY Quite so. He fought for power. Until men stop wanting to have autocratic power over others who look different from us or speak a different language, we will always want to destroy the other side. ALEXANDROV Why? KRUSHNELSKY Why? Why? The answer is so obvious. We always overlook the real reason which is simply fear. Fear that the other person who looks different from us will want to kill us first. ALEXANDROV That is why we build nuclear arms. KRUSHNELSKY That is why we want to have more that the perceived enemy. ALEXANDROV There is nothing perceived about that. Americans, British, Germans and many others have hated us since 1945 and for centuries before. KRUSHNELSKY Yes and probably with good reason. We did take over many innocent countries. ALEXANDROV Surely Stalin had no fear that they could be a threat to Russia. KRUSHNELSKY No, not directly. ALEXANDROV What then? KRUSHNELSKY To have a buffer between a very powerful Western alliance. ALEXANDROV The clash of two ideologies, each one better than the other, needs a shallow beach to temper the tempestuous waves which would crash onto the rocks, destroying all in its path. KRUSHNELSKY Something like that. ALEXANDROV Tell me, have you had any discussions with the President lately on arms and armaments? KRUSHNELSKY Why do you ask? ALEXANDROV Well there are rumours about that you are trying to negotiate some major nuclear weapons disarmament in the entire world. KRUSHNELSKY True. I am trying to get something going. I tried at the meetings in The Hague but failed to convince the Americans I was sincere. After that, stories got around that we were increasing our defense budget and the Americans think we are building more weapons and missiles. ALEXANDROV We are spending more. KRUSHNELSKY Of course, for defense. Hasn't the defense minister kept you informed on the details? ALEXANDROV Just the generalities. He doesn't trust me. KRUSHNELSKY He should. I trust you. You are one of the five that I can trust. Do not ever betray that trust. Officially, the increase is for more ground to air missiles to replace old decrepit ones. The attack must come from the air as a missile attack. ALEXANDROV What about our submarine defense? KRUSHNELSKY The fleet has not increased in the past four years even though the west thinks we have added thirty percent to our nuclear sub fleet. That is what has them so upset. ALEXANDROV Unofficially, and secretly we keep adding to our missile count and warheads. That is the one thing I have always marveled at. No one has ever told me how we hide the real numbers from the west in spite of their spy satellites that can photograph a shiny Ruble on the ground. KRUSHNELSKY The satellites have observed an increase in industrial factories in our major cities. Then they calculate the increase in industrial output. ALEXANDROV You mean? KRUSHNELSKY Yes. We build missiles and store the launch facilities in buildings. We move the parts around in grain rail cars. That is what Ruicki is upset about. ALEXANDROV But surely someone has figured that out by now. KRUSHNELSKY They have deduced and decided that with my new economic programs which allow for private ownership the "factories" as they call them are meeting the desires of a new and rising middle class. ALEXANDROV I see. All the while the factories are being turned into missile sites. KRUSHNELSKY Just so. The credit is not all mine, Ruicki helped. ALEXANDROV You mean he was an architect of the scam? He is Minister of Agriculture. KRUSHNELSKY He wasn't always. As Minister of Transportation he taught me how to move goods that were non-existent and rail cars that moved wheat from fallow fields. ALEXANDROV He is a genius in agriculture, not transport. KRUSHNELSKY He is a genius in everything he undertakes, except one. ALEXANDROV What is that? KRUSHNELSKY His weakness has always been economics and politics. Because he doesn't understand it one bit he has advisors who understand even less. That is why he uttered such utter drivel before. ALEXANDROV And why you sent him on vacation. KRUSHNELSKY Yes. Excuse me. Telephones have a persistent habit of interrupting important things. Hello ... Yes who? ... General Upitis. How is the Baltic? ... Yes ... What!!! ... An attack by the Americans? The radar and computers say so? ... Are you sure someone isn't playing tic-tac- toe? ... No. No. Of course I take this seriously or you wouldn't be calling me. How much time do we have? ... Well, make one more check of the circuits and the programs then call me back. ALEXANDROV Was that the warning for you to be on the alert? KRUSHNELSKY Yes, but I don't believe it. They will find another error in the computers somewhere. ALEXANDROV You sound very certain. KRUSHNELSKY I am certain. They may launch an attack but not yet. The universe will not remember a loser nor condone his acts. ALEXANDROV Certainty has always been one of your strong suits. KRUSHNELSKY The certainty comes from winning. We must not allow the enemy to ever gain a stronger position than we hold or the end of us is near. ALEXANDROV You know I am always with you and so are all your other advisors. What we face in this age is not the certainty of winning and losing but the end of the world itself. KRUSHNELSKY Do you really think that is not one of the things which haunts me? Do I sleep peacefully at night or do I lie awake wondering what man has wrought in our constant search for better weapons? The weapons are getting smaller, more powerful, easier to move and transport to their targets but each day moves from the bright yellow of life to the dull red death of sunset and brings us one day closer to destruction of ourselves, the earth and everything on it. ALEXANDROV There is no need to be so morose. We will not destroy our earth. KRUSHNELSKY Won't we? Who is to say which bomb will be the final blast and death of everything? Is it going to be the first, second or the ten thousandth? We all know that one can never be enough. It is everything or nothing. ALEXANDROV Oh come now, that is ridiculous. No one will ever send the first one to its intended target. KRUSHNELSKY I have enough faith in our defense and our officers' training that they would never try to fire except on my specific order but what if there is a malfunction somewhere which the automatic systems detect? ALEXANDROV Then they will check, double check and check again. We have built in so many safeguards that it is absolutely impossible for anything other than a true firing to be detected for response. KRUSHNELSKY So they tell me and you keep on reminding me. Am I to take comfort that we can never destroy ourselves in error? ALEXANDROV You must take comfort in that. If you do not then the only result is madness. You will live within the ever pervading gloom of the never ending fear of destruction which will eat away at your soul, mind and flesh which in the end will take your life from you. KRUSHNELSKY Not a fate to which I aspire or could ever become accustomed. So much for living in the black side of life. Tell me what is the scheduled date for me to meet with the Americans. ALEXANDROV Next week we meet with the ambassador. The week after: the secretary of state. At that time we should agree on a date for you to meet with the President. I suggest that it take place sometime in early June. KRUSHNELSKY Where? Here or there? ALEXANDROV I would suggest we try for Zurich. KRUSHNELSKY Zurich? Why there? Why not Geneva if you want the Swiss connection? ALEXANDROV Geneva was the seat of the League of Nations. Our relationships with that league were not exactly ideal. The locale might also bring out more demonstrators. KRUSHNELSKY You don't think Zurich would draw in demonstrators? ALEXANDROV It is just a little harder to get to by train from Paris. No doubt we will have enough peace demonstrations but we feel that the numbers who would go Zurich should be a little less. Everything helps you know. The core group will be there as usual. KRUSHNELSKY Interesting how we are concerned with peace demonstrators when we are not even at war. What is this core group? ALEXANDROV They come out for anything. Whether the demonstration is for peace, animals, some small republic's wish to be independent or even the economy. The same group of hard core loyal demonstrators are always around. KRUSHNELSKY Who are they? A roving band of professional anarchists? ALEXANDROV Anarchists or what is not important. They are always there. They sell their services to the next bidder who wants some activity. KRUSHNELSKY Have we ever used them? ALEXANDROV Yes, on occasion. KRUSHNELSKY So, if we want the session to be noticed we hire them to demonstrate against the other side and if the other side gets to them first and pays more the demonstration and the rhetoric is against us. A fine world we live in. ALEXANDROV It has its uses. We can also run an issue through the world press that way to see what the press wants this month and what world opinion is. KRUSHNELSKY A cheap survey. ALEXANDROV Very effective. It worked quite well when we said, a week before the meetings in The Hague that we would consider helping the Palestinians. The demonstrators worked against us. The press thought it worth a moment's notice then left it for disarmament and forgot about our demonstration. KRUSHNELSKY You mean we hired them to work against us? ALEXANDROV Sure. It works every time. The Americans usually hire them to demonstrate for their cause and against us. Sometimes they will hire them to demonstrate for us just to see what the reaction is. KRUSHNELSKY Was it successful? ALEXANDROV Certainly. We found out that world disarmament was more important than our Palestinian cause. Now we sell them arms. KRUSHNELSKY I will never understand how all that works. It smacks of fraud, corruption and just plain dishonesty. It won't make the world go round. ALEXANDROV It makes our world go round. Who is to know the truth? You won't find the secret police uncovering any stories. The CIA won't dig too deeply and SIS is usually the intermediary for the cash. It is easy. Everybody does it. KRUSHNELSKY It's dangerous hiring terrorists. ALEXANDROV Terrorists yes. These are not terrorists. They are professionals who can easily make up a large group to demonstrate. We make sure there are no terrorist connections. KRUSHNELSKY You give me some comfort but not enough. Can't terrorism find a way to infiltrate them? ALEXANDROV Never, we make sure of that. KRUSHNELSKY We? ALEXANDROV We: The Russians, Americans, British, Germans and French. KRUSHNELSKY The secret services are united on one thing. ALEXANDROV We have to be. We, however, pay most for their services which upsets the Americans to no end. However, we also agree not to use them when the Americans have a particular cause. KRUSHNELSKY This is more corrupt than the corruption in politics I am trying to eliminate. ALEXANDROV Not corruption. Expediency. Ever since you started to clean up our politics you seem to have lost your ability to understand that there are some things which we should never change. KRUSHNELSKY Even if the old ways are not morally acceptable. ALEXANDROV Acceptability in world politics is in the mind of the powerful. BORODIN (Entering) Mr. Premier, Maleyev wants to talk to you. He says it is very urgent. KRUSHNELSKY Right now? BORODIN Yes, he did sound agitated about something. KRUSHNELSKY Did he say about what? BORODIN No. I think you should see him. KRUSHNELSKY Very well, show him in. BORODIN He is on his way here. (Exits) ALEXANDROV You never see me so quickly. KRUSHNELSKY I have learned to trust Borodin's instincts. After all it is he who talks to my advisors more than I do. He has developed the power to sift the wheat from the chaff in importance. Besides, Maleyev is never agitated. Something serious must be happening. Maybe it is the palace revolt we all read about. ALEXANDROV Don't be ridiculous. KRUSHNELSKY We will see in a moment. Meanwhile let's get back to serious crises. The farm reports are good but we can't get the grain to markets that need it. ALEXANDROV If you would only spend more on important matters like our own internal economy rather than the military we would not be in this mess. KRUSHNELSKY Whatever the military wants the military gets, sooner or later. Do you have any other suggestions? ALEXANDROV We can always rent rail cars from the Europeans. KRUSHNELSKY I should so hate to be the victim of their ridicule. ALEXANDROV Blame it on some bumbling bureaucrat, sack him and give him a comfortable pension for a year. It is easy. I do it all the time in my ministry. KRUSHNELSKY So you should. Justice for all. MALEYEV (Enters with Maleyev.) Ivan Maleyev, the Minister for Defense. KRUSHNELSKY Well, Ivan, what brings you here. You know I won't give you more money this month therefore don't even ask. The soldiers will have to eat what they can find. MALEYEV I am not here for money, rather much worse. It may well turn out that no one will need money any more. KRUSHNELSKY Don't talk in riddles. Out with it. MALEYEV The defense systems have detected an attack by the American missile force. KRUSHNELSKY Yes, I know. MALEYEV How did... KRUSHNELSKY Upitis called. It must be a false alarm again. Sixth this year. MALEYEV We do not think it is a false alarm. It appears to be the real thing at last. KRUSHNELSKY How many missiles did you detect? MALEYEV Only three. KRUSHNELSKY And the trajectory? MALEYEV The best we can deduce are Moscow, St. Petersburg and Riga. KRUSHNELSKY Riga? That is an independent country. Why would they want to bomb Riga if they are after us? MALEYEV That is what is so puzzling. KRUSHNELSKY Are you very certain about this? MALEYEV Yes. ALEXANDROV It must be a false alarm. MALEYEV It began suddenly. We thought it may be a program error in our defense system, but within the last five minutes it was confirmed. KRUSHNELSKY My own ears have heard the news from you and Upitis but I don't want to believe it. Why would the Americans start an all out war now? There is no reason. ALEXANDROV That is why it makes no sense. Better have your men check it out again. How much time do we have? MALEYEV Ten minutes to launch the anti-missile defense so that contact occurs over the Arctic ocean. The back-up missiles are on land and we would have casualties. KRUSHNELSKY Were they launched from their satellites? MALEYEV No. That is what we do not understand. These are land launches from the continent. KRUSHNELSKY This is getting very serious. What do we do Ivan? MALEYEV Alert has been sounded. Level five has been reached. The military is now waiting for your command to launch an offensive. KRUSHNELSKY I don't want to. We cannot take the risk. MALEYEV If we don't, all of Russia will be destroyed. KRUSHNELSKY And if I do? ALEXANDROV All of the world will be destroyed. KRUSHNELSKY Will the anti-missile defense launch automatically? MALEYEV Yes. Your order is not needed for that. Everything is on an automatic system. At the precise moment they will be launched, with or without your command. KRUSHNELSKY Can we wait to see if our missiles reach their targets and destroy the American warheads? MALEYEV If they miss then we have only ten minutes left before ground zero is reached. KRUSHNELSKY It is worth the wait. Meanwhile I will call the President. MALEYEV I would not advise that. Precious moments will be lost. You must come with me to the underground bomb shelters. You too Alexandrov. KRUSHNELSKY (Picks up red phone.) No matter what you say I will try. Get me through on this line immediately. ALEXANDROV We have to decide what action must be taken. KRUSHNELSKY With who? Do you want to convene the war committee? ALEXANDROV It would be wise. KRUSHNELSKY It would be wiser to tell them to evacuate the city, if we know where they are. Hello. Yes. Mr. President? ... Where is he? ... At a press conference? ... Can he be reached there immediately? ... Yes, of course it is important.... The bloody idiot wants to know if its important enough to interrupt the press! ... I will wait but there are only three minutes left. Find him and put this line in to him immediately! MALEYEV This is not wise. There is still just enough time to get you underground. KRUSHNELSKY What good is that going to do? MALEYEV You could both survive. KRUSHNELSKY For how long? (Picks up other phone.) Get me Upitis on the line immediately. I want to double check with him. He may have found the problem. There cannot be a war. ALEXANDROV Please, Sir, we must hurry. KRUSHNELSKY If you are so concerned for your own existence then go. MALEYEV We will stay. There is no time left to try to save anything now. KRUSHNELSKY There is always time. Yes. Upitis, what is the story? ... Yes ... Are you sure? ... Very well.... They will launch automatically won't they? We don't have a problem on our side do we? ... OK. Good-bye. ALEXANDROV Well. What did he say? KRUSHNELSKY There may be a problem in the detection systems which sensed the three missiles. As we spoke there were two more being launched. He said the probability of an error in detection by us is now minimal. MALEYEV What else did he say? How sure is he. KRUSHNELSKY He has to run one more check, but he is very sure this is the real thing. Hello! ... Yes.... Of course I must speak to the President. Tell him we are at war! That should get his attention. ALEXANDROV We must do something. Something fast. KRUSHNELSKY What do you suggest? Panic? ALEXANDROV Not panic. We must take the most valuable documents and go to the shelter. KRUSHNELSKY What good is that going to do. Shall we call in the movers to pack things up, too. Here, call them. See if they can be here in two minutes and pack in one. Don't forget we need three quotations now. ALEXANDROV Do try to be serious. KRUSHNELSKY I was. My dear Alexi the time for doing things is past. If this is true, we have maybe fifteen minutes left to live. What ever we do will not be enough for you to do anything important. I will have to give the order to launch our offenses in five minutes at the latest. Not one of us here will ever survive this holocaust, if it is real. (Borodin enters.) BORODIN Mr. Premier, I have put the American Secretary of State on your private line. Is something wrong? KRUSHNELSKY Nothing, Borodin, nothing that we can do anything about. Thank-you. BORODIN Very well, sir. (Exits.) KRUSHNELSKY (Picks up third phone.) Yes.... I am trying to get myself through to your President.... No we do not know what happened.... Yes.... Yes.... That is serious. How can we possibly believe you? ... You can't get the President.... We have detected at least five.... Yes we are trying to intercept them over the arctic.... Why won't it work? ... I see.... Very well. We will have to decide. Thank-you. ALEXANDROV Well. MALEYEV Did he confirm the attack. KRUSHNELSKY He apologized. MALEYEV What! KRUSHNELSKY He apologized. The Americans, it seems have had a malfunction in their offensive missile attack systems. They don't know what happened. ALEXANDROV They must know! KRUSHNELSKY He said the launchings were entirely in error and caused by what appears to be a computer error from the White House, confirming an attack. The systems sensed a command from the President to launch all missiles against us. The army was able to abort some missile launches. Some were diverted to land on American cities in error. ALEXANDROV Oh my God! MALEYEV What are we to do now? They say they didn't want to attack us! How can we believe them.? KRUSHNELSKY We can't, Maleyev. They claim they did not want to. Our country and the world will be destroyed. I will have to call Upitis for the last time. ALEXANDROV There is nothing we can do now is there. KRUSHNELSKY No. This was what I had always feared might happen.... Upitis, what is the situation? Did you get the missiles? ... No! What happened? ... The missiles launched ... They intercepted ... but no destruction. Why not? ... Not a direct hit. Just a glancing blow he thinks.... Do we have more? ... Will they succeed? ... That is good. Three are destroyed. What? That can't be. Thank - you. God rest your soul. ALEXANDROV What happened? KRUSHNELSKY One missile is targeted for Moscow and will get through. The speed is greater than we expected and there is not enough time to recalculate the trajectory for the back-up missiles. One hundred others have appeared on radar. MALEYEV Then we are doomed. KRUSHNELSKY How brilliant you are! This is the end for us. It was a good life. We acted out our parts very well on this stage and the final curtain will fall but there will be no one left to applaud the final performance. ALEXANDROV There must be something we can do. Call the President again. KRUSHNELSKY What good will that do. He is in a press conference. There is one thing left for me to do. MALEYEV I do not believe that the attack was a mistake. It was planned, premeditated and typical of the Americans. KRUSHNELSKY Whether it was planned or just a mistake doesn't matter anymore. Nothing that we do will alter the end of history now. The world had so much to offer us. It is a beautiful planet filled with people who enjoy life so much. We laughed, loved and played games. The beauty of Earth will not be seen again by any animal life form for millions of years. Ours is a unique existence unlike anything else in the Universe and we took the opportunity to end it. We built arms and weapons in the name of progress just so we could fight and destroy the other side. Wars became a deep dark fog enshrouded, drug induced hallucination that never lifted from our minds. Nothing stopped us to pull us out of our hallucinations. We never learned that the weapons we finally built could only be destroyed by us before they destroyed the creator. Both sides needed power but could not see the light from the burning bush that gave us wisdom and the rules we had to follow. Had we not been so greedy we would still be here for another million years. Maybe we learned from the past but we did not even try to apply the knowledge. Now the future has ended forever. We have ten minutes or whatever. Let us enjoy it in the company of friends and not enemies. I have one more thing to do and that is to command our forces to destroy the enemy as we have planned for so long. (Dials phone.) General Upitis, this is the premier speaking. We are at war with the West.... Yes all arms are to be launched immediately.... That is correct. Immediately. Everything. God have mercy on your soul. Good-bye. We will never know if the end came because of one man's desire for superior power over another or if the end was just a faulty electron in a circuit which could have been prevented. It is too late now to worry over trivial matters. ALEXANDROV But no one wins this war. No one has the advantage. KRUSHNELSKY Someone always has the advantage. The advantage we have is that we will be able to destroy them first before they can destroy us. The time difference, admittedly, will be minute but by being able to do this we will be the victor. ALEXANDROV What is the difference, anyway, if the world's life forms are destroyed? KRUSHNELSKY There isn't any. CURTAIN END ACT 2 THE LAST PRESIDENT ACT 3 Scene: The President's Press Conference Chamber THE LAST PRESIDENT ACT 3 (The President's Press conference room. There are Camera's to the left and right. The Presidential Seal with a curtain behind. There is a podium at centre stage. Constable enters to the podium, looks at cameras, senses that everything is O.K. and begins. There are several reporters seated at random in the audience, near the stage, who will answer questions later. These reporters have been part of the audience since Act 1.) CONSTABLE CONSTABLE Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States. ANDREWS ANDREWS (Enters to podium. Constable moves to side.) Thank you, Edward. Ladies and Gentlemen. I have called you here this afternoon to brief you on developments that have occurred both within and without our country. To begin: I have decided that your government will pass new legislation to assist the farming communities in the midwest. The farms of America are the backbone of our survival and the serious droughts that have affected our plains in the past several years have left our farmers desperate to find better crops that can withstand long periods without proper rainfall or irrigation. Our scientists have progressed far in their search for new strains resistant to insects and disease but much more work has to be done if we are to remain competitive in the world and our people are to have the food they need for life. The food available to the poor is not what we want our people to subsist on. They need a better life. The corn fields of Kansas and the wheat fields of Nebraska are being turned over by our farmers because they cannot afford to plant crops and raise them to maturity. The industry is being attacked on all sides by low prices and poor growing conditions. It is my intention to help those people who need the most help in order that they can be self reliant and not become wards of the state. Our farming community has been self reliant since the birth of this nation and we cannot sit idly by and allow them to suffer unnecessarily. It is for this reason that I am backing a Bill to allow them the ability to stand on their own feet. The Agricultural Development Loan bill will help all farmers everywhere to recoup some past losses now and become more efficient in the future. The Bill will provide low interest loans of up to one thousand dollars per acre to be repaid when the crisis is over. The administration of this bill will rest with the Department of Agriculture with the cooperation of the Treasury and the American banking community. I have had discussions with the banking industry already and have their wholehearted endorsement of this move by the government. There are some restrictions on the loans to be granted. Farmers will have to grow crops which can be readily marketed at the highest prices available. We believe that this will not place any undue hardship on the farmers who will be able to change crops. Those that can demonstrate an inability to grow different crops will not be left out. This action provides for loans to be granted regionally based on soil and growing conditions and a demonstrated hardship need. I believe that this will make America into the most productive food growing region of the world. The second topic I wish to cover with you today is the rising crime rate in our cities. The violence which we see in our streets can only be stopped if we all work together to fight crime. Crime will no longer be tolerated by our police forces, nor the judiciary. We have seen innocent people suffer at the whims of violent crimes. We in the executive believe that a direct source of this violence is the major increase in drug traffic within our borders, controlled by outside criminal elements. Innocent children are encouraged to use drugs by peddlers and pushers which has increased crime to alarming proportions in New York, Washington, Detroit and all major cities. The President's Committee On Drug traffic which concluded its four year study has arrived at the conclusion that the major cause of violent crime in the cities has been the significant use of drugs by young people. We cannot allow this to go on. I am therefore recommending that our police forces use whatever means necessary to stop the proliferation of illicit drugs in America. I am recommending to Congress that all budgetary restraints be lifted for police work. I am also recommending that additional police staff be trained to qualify for undercover surveillance work within their jurisdictions. Increases in costs will be met by the national treasury in the form of additional federal grants for police services. We know that crime will always occur where people are brought together by social custom. However, by stopping the need for violent crime we can concentrate on the cleaning up of America. Drug sellers will not be tolerated. Drug importers will be treated more severely than they have ever been treated by the judiciary. This activity will have far reaching consequences beyond our borders with a result that this crime in our nation will be minimized. The danger that all citizens face will cease to exist. America has suffered enough and the time has arrived to place a firm sword upon the necks of those who perpetrate this criminal activity. It will not be an easy job. It will not be a quick job to finish. Much soul searching will have to take place between ourselves and our neighbours... (At this point a message is handed to him by Constable.) Excuse me ladies and gentlemen, this is highly irregular. ( He reads it. Then he speaks to Constable.) I am with the press. It will have to wait. Find out what the problem is. Forgive me. As I was saying, much soul searching will take place between neighbours should it become necessary to inform the police. All will be treated equally. Whether the criminal sells drugs or whether the criminal knows who sells drugs. Justice will be swift and sure on those pushers who are identified. No one, criminals, or those who harbour them, will escape the long arm of the police. Illicit drugs will be stamped out once and for all in America. We have seen foreign nationals brought to trial here and this will continue. Our people will not resort to lynching in other sovereign nations nor do we intend to invade other countries but means will be found to bring these people to justice as we know it. The third and last topic which I wish to address today is national defense. We are a strong nation and this administration intends to keep it that way. Our nation's forces stand ready to defend our country against any and all enemies both our own and those of our allies throughout the world. I have, therefore, recommended to Congress and the House of Representatives that no decrease in defense spending be allowed. We will not increase defense spending to inflationary excesses, except for inflationary cost pressures. There are many groups within this country who want us to cut back or even eliminate defense spending altogether. This will not happen. There are many good communities within this nation who depend entirely on the proximity of defense bases and training grounds. I do not intend to let those people suffer a decreased standard of living in order to have troop reductions because some self interest groups want us to stop all defense. Our country must remain powerful. We must maintain our presence with our allies. Our armies must possess the best that science and technology can create. Freedom will not be achieved by sitting on the laurels of past victories. All future victories must be secured by our ability to be decisive in battle and win. The proposal which I am putting to Congress is simply one where our resolve to maintain our dominance will not be diminished by weakness. America will not start battles but if we are forced to defend ourselves against any oppression we will be prepared to strike anywhere in the world and strike quickly we will. The cost of these moves will have to be accepted by us to preserve our freedom and our way of life. We must also improve upon what we have. It is my resolve to maintain peace in the world. At the world leaders meetings in The Hague two months ago, we proposed to the Russian representatives that a curtailment of nuclear arms be undertaken by both sides. I am happy to report that our ideas and suggestions are being considered. We in America must also curtail nuclear proliferation. I have asked the Secretary of Defense to begin an assessment of what nuclear weapons can be disposed of. I have instructed him to evaluate what nuclear capability we have with a view to eliminating at least ten percent of our superfluous nuclear warhead count. This is our commitment to world peace. It is my expectation that the Russian government will also consider our move as leading to overall world stability. The Russian president has indicated to me that his government will consider the same moves on their part. That is why I am recommending that the defense budget remain relatively static except for necessary inflationary cost increases. Our resolve is not to become an aggressor but a defender of freedom in the world. The freedoms which we enjoy must be enjoyed by all people. This cannot be done from a position of defensive weakness. It must come from strength. The strength that will make us strong enough to defend ourselves against our aggressors and the enemies of our allies throughout the world. There is no idle threat in these, my words. We will be strong. We will be powerful. We will destroy all enemies who dare to attack us. Freedom cannot be kept by weakness. We must see to it that we have the defense to protect the freedom that we and our ancestors cherish so much. Our military power will make others tremble at our sight. The sky will roar its approval to the mighty. This country, this land, this America will survive the next millennium and all millennia thereafter. Our might will roar louder than any cannon has ever roared and no god will have dominion over America and its people. No man will be a slave to others nor will we keep slaves whether they are our people or our conquered enemies. This is the one truth that I, as your President, am resolved to keep. We will be the great democracy that our forefathers brought to this land and we, every one of us, has kept intact. There will never be a power in America that will make people subservient to any other man's power. Together we will fight to the last man, woman and child to preserve our destiny and our soldiers will fight battles overseas to keep our freedom intact. I cannot allow us to fall into a false sense of security. We must be forever vigilant and strong. It is for this reason that I have commanded our military leaders to keep our arms ready with the best that can be created. We will not begrudge them the resources that they need to accomplish their goals as I have requested. Our land is indivisible. No power whether outside or within ourselves will be permitted to take control over our spirit. The fighting spirit which we remember from our great grandfathers when the fighting raged on within our borders will not be forgotten. Those were bitter times but we survived and became stronger for it. Our grandfathers built upon the fires and ashes of destruction a new land which is proud, free and safe. We must keep it that way. No one will ever say Americans gave up and died. America will protect itself with strength. America will attack when provoked but will never, never attack first. There is no victory in battles which cannot be won nor will we go down in history as an aggressor. We will fight only when we are provoked beyond our democratic endurance. We will be the nation that made the world a safe place to live in. Freedom is what we believe in. Freedom for America, for our allies, for each man, woman and child. Freedom is what made us strong and freedom is what will keep us strong. No power in the universe will take this, our freedom, away from us. No power will make us subservient to others. No power will have power over us. Every one of us will live to see another day as free people, as people who enjoy life and want to live it fully without fear. We will not allow any one of you to feel fear from a neighbour or from a military power. No one will ever say "I cannot tell you that" for fear of reprisal from another. This I say to you: America must and will remain American as our fathers fought for it in all the wars before our time. All the soldiers who died in wars died for us. We will remember those battles fought long ago on the half forgotten plains of countries that praised our soldiers for spilling their blood into their rivers to make them free, keeping oppression out of their borders. We remember the dead every year and we shall not forget why they died. They died so that we, now, can enjoy life. Life in all its beauty is ours to have and hold for us and our children and our children's children. Just like we are the children's children of our grandfathers so too they will remember us and say it was we who kept the world safe and free of all tyranny. There is no greater gift that we can ever give them but the gift of peace. Long lasting peace in the world. Strength comes not from weakness but from being able to stand up in front of our enemies and say to them: "I am strong and free". Meekness is not in our spirit nor will it survive in our quest for peace. It is this that we aspire in our lifetime of seeking the right way to protect ourselves. It will not be easy. It will not come by itself. There will be sacrifices to make. Sacrifices for all of us who want to keep the way of life that we want. Sacrifices. We must at times listen to others berate our methods with words that put doubts in our minds. False prophets will say that we are not doing the right thing. There is no better way to live than by being powerful over our vicious enemies who want no more than to conquer and acquire more power for their dictatorial glory. We shall not allow this to happen. If we do then we are doomed to live in abject misery forever. I will not allow this to happen, nor will I allow you to be subject to an untrue ruler's whims. I will see to it that we are stronger than all our enemies but not so strong that our life and liberty is ever in jeopardy. No man will ever say that it was the President who started the Last War. No man will ever say that it was Your President who commanded the destruction of all that is holy on this earth. No man will ever say that America is not just and wants to change the rest of the world by oppression. We are the last defenders of freedom, the last bastion of personal goodwill toward our fellow man. It is us who must be forever on the alert for signs of wrong power in our enemies. We will not now or ever sit idly by while we see power go astray in the lands where freedom does not enjoy its power. We will not sit idly by and watch other people suffer the slings and arrows of fortune which was usurped by one man and one man alone. We will be ready to destroy that usury and let the people free and all their neighbours will also benefit from the knowledge that we fought in the air, on the beaches, in the hot desert sun to keep them free of fear. Free of the evil that lurks within a mind deranged by power gone mad. You will be as one with me when we wish our soldiers a triumphant return with banners waving and the deafening cheers of all people in the canyons of our cities which resounds throughout all our land and beyond our borders. No more will Americans be defenders in battle after our forces are put to test by enemies striking by surprise in our ports. No more will America have to fight from behind because we trusted an enemy's rhetoric. No more will America have to suffer the wasted losses which we had to suffer in order to gain a stronghold on a cold beachhead. No more will we try to regain lost territory and see our friends and allies suffer the destruction which our forefathers saw too much of and whose hearts were saddened to view the beauty that once was, lying crumpled in a pile of stone and dust with only the plaintiff cries of hungry children pleading for a scrap of food from anyone who passes by and then see them die the delayed and decaying dry death of diseased starvation. Our world will be a contented world. One where all people will be able to live life as God has willed it in his Word. I will fight for this world with you at my side. I will carry the spear of freedom throughout the whole earth and you will be my armour bearer. Together we will all know the true meaning of happiness, contentment and a life full of freedom. Thank-you ladies and gentlemen. Now if there are any questions, I will be happy to answer. CONSTABLE The President will take questions directly from the floor. Edith Champion. CHAMPION Mr. President. You mentioned in the beginning of your excellent address that you would support a new farm bill loan program. Our farmers are already burdened with debt brought on by droughts and low prices. How will this help them? ANDREWS Thank-you Edith for the first question. The help this will create will be one that will allow them to weather the farming storms which we see approaching on the western horizon. If we do not assist the farmers with these loans they will not be able to continue through another season without hardship or disaster. We see a trend of rising prices caused by poor crops in other countries. My measure is designed to allow our farmers to continue with the business they know best which is farming and not starvation which is unknown to them. CHAMPION Mr. President. Won't this debt add to the farmer's financial plight. ANDREWS Not at all. Without the worries of imminent financial setbacks, the farmers will be able to concentrate all their physical and emotional resources on their crops. CHAMPION If this plan is successful, who will buy all these crops? ANDREWS I am assured that the world markets will be available for our products. Many countries are holding back from buying from unreliable producers, even though the need is there for starving people. CHAMPION Many of these countries do not have the financial strength to pay for more imports. How is the administration prepared to help farmers who do not get paid for their exports? ANDREWS That is a financial matter which will have to be worked out with the banking system. CHAMPION Have you had discussions with the leading banks on this? ANDREWS Yes. CHAMPION What was their response? ANDREWS Positive. CHAMPION How much will this farm bill cost taxpayers? CONSTABLE There is an economic study included in the press kit released this morning. William Fitzhenry. FITZHENRY Mr. President. You mentioned that in your fight against drugs you will allow our police forces to have more money. Does this also mean that they will have a freer hand in search proceedings? ANDREWS Certainly. FITZHENRY But will that not put ordinary people at risk of unrightful search and detention? ANDREWS There may be some errors in judgment, yes. Our police are human. The courts will not allow unlawful search and detainment. The true nature of the search will have to be presented to our judges, with all the evidence, before a search order will be issued as is customary. FITZHENRY Would that allow for less formal presentations to judges? ANDREWS That will be left to the discretion of our judges. We do not expect any less vigilance in appraising the necessary evidence. FITZHENRY You mentioned also, that the president's task force concluded that drugs are the most serious crime facing the people of America. Surely wasn't this already known by the committee from all the press stories in recent years? ANDREWS There may have been some popular feelings on the subject, but the study found conclusive evidence that drugs are a serious matter. FITZHENRY Was the money well spent? ANDREWS Certainly. We cannot blindly accept popular feelings to make legislation. CONSTABLE Gary McKenzie. McKENZIE Mr. President. This administration's desire to help the farmers at this time may be diverting funds that could be used for others. Do you see more aid going to help the homeless and starving people in our cities? ANDREWS (Constable goes over to him, whispers something in his ear. Andrews speaks to Constable.) I am sure it can wait for ten minutes. (Constable moves away.) The homeless and starving are being taken care of as best we can. There comes a time when we must stop handing out more aid or they will never survive on their own, remaining dependent on state handouts. They have to learn to survive on their own. ANDREWS Gentlemen, I want to thank you for your attention and I hope I have answered most of your questions. CONSTABLE It is almost time to end this session, however we do have time for just four more questions. Yes Robert? CUNNINGHAM The question I have is quite simple: If Russia is to, in reality, launch an attack on America how are the American people protected? ANDREWS The Secretary of Defense assures me that our weapons are more potent than the other side. The advances we have made in destructive firepower will provide a fourty times overkill factor. CUNNINGHAM That is very nice but how do we know that their weapons are not as potent as ours? ANDREWS The intelligence we have received assures me that the weapons systems in all of our enemies' territories are much more primitive that ours. We feel that, as I said before, in a worst case scenario, some loss of life may be inevitable which is a price we have to pay for our freedom. Should they in reality have weapons similar to ours then our survival can be questioned. The information given to me is that their nuclear arsenal is, as we all know, large. Delivery systems are for the most part unsophisticated primitive rockets which can only deliver a single or small cluster of weapons without any great degree of accuracy. CUNNINGHAM I don't want to argue with you, Mr. President, but what is the difference between a primitive delivery system and our sophisticated systems if both can destroy countries. You say that we have enough weapons which could be released at a moment's notice to annihilate the entire country and all of its population. Any survivors would die soon after. Their delivery systems can deliver enough bombs to annihilate us just as effectively. I don't understand why we should be concerned that our sophisticated delivery systems are more accurate? ANDREWS The advantage we have is that we will be able to destroy them first before they can destroy us. The time difference, admittedly, will be minute but by being able to do this we will be the victor. CUNNINGHAM What is the difference, anyway, if the world's life forms are destroyed. ANDREWS There isn't any. At this point all available white light is cast directly on the audience for nine seconds, blinding them. Then all lights are killed and the audience is left in total darkness. A vertical 70mm size screen was lowered on stage. Sound comes on from all sides, front and back of the theatre. A narrator's voice is heard over the beginning of Louis Armstrong's version of "It's a Wonderful World". A film of a hydrogen bomb explosion appears on the screen as he says: NARRATOR This is the way the world ends. This is the way the world ends. Not with a whimper, But with a bang! The film of the hydrogen bomb fades into a scene of a new baby being born from its mother emitting its first cry. The infant's birth is then superimposed by a slow, telephoto sunrise which fades into a slow motion film of a bright red rosebud slowly opening into full bloom. The song ends just as the rose is in full bloom. Mixed in over the song right after the narrator ends, beginning with the baby's birth is a human heartbeat, rapid at first as a newborn, barely perceptible, then progressively louder and slower until the end of the song when all we hear is the heartbeat which continues for nine seconds in total darkness after the film has ended. Stage lights come on. The heartbeat fades slowly. First a dark, pungent fire-red slowly merging into white for curtain calls. The screen shows a black and white silhouette of Hiroshima, after the bomb, a ravaged city, flat with only one or two buildings remaining and a lone woman walks along, slowly, then looks at the camera in disbelief. The image freezes. Curtain calls take place in front of the screen. CURTAIN END ACT 3