“I have an announcement,” he said, “and I will not take any — repeat — any questions. This morning, before dawn, the president’s valet found the president on the floor of his bathroom in the White House family quarters, unconscious. He had apparently fallen and struck his head. He was seen by his doctor a few minutes later, and as a precaution, he was taken by helicopter to Walter Reed Hospital, where he is undergoing tests. I do not expect to have any further announcement about the president’s condition until around three o’clock this afternoon, when the test results are expected. The vice president has been informed and is meeting with the White House staff as I speak. I stress that this is a normal procedure, in the event of the president’s illness or temporary incapacitation. I will speak to you again around three o’clock.” He turned and walked off the stage and through a door as a chorus of questions was shouted at him.
“Holy shit,” Sam Meriwether said.
15
Will picked up the phone and called the vice president’s private office number. The phone rang six times before someone picked it up, but no one spoke into the phone, although he could hear voices at the other end. “Hello?” Will said repeatedly. Finally he recognized the VP’s secretary’s voice.
“Yes?” she said.
“Catherine, it’s Will Lee; is the vice president available?”
“Hello, Senator,” she replied. “I’m sorry, he’s over at the White House. He’s asked me to tell everyone calling this line that he won’t return any calls today, and probably not tomorrow, but I’ll add your name to the list. I’m sure he’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”
“I understand, Catherine, and thank you. Can you tell me what’s going on over there?”
“I’m afraid I don’t know any more than was said at the news conference. All I know is that the congressional leadership and some others are meeting with the vice president now.”
“Thank you, Catherine; good-bye.” Will hung up and looked at Tim and Kitty. “Joe is meeting with the congressional leadership now, and he won’t be calling me back today.”
“Sounds bad,” Kitty said.
“Not necessarily,” Tim said. “This is all standard operating procedure when the president is ill.”
“Yes,” Will agreed, “and we don’t know how ill. It might just be a bump on the head.”
CNN had another report. Trading had been halted on all the stock exchanges for the remainder of the day after stocks had taken a steep dive.
“Tim, Kitty, start calling your contacts at the White House,” Will said. “See if you can get any information at all.”
They left the room, and as they did, Will suddenly remembered something: at their meeting at Camp David, Joe Adams had said that, if he resigned the vice presidency, he would recommend to the president that Will be appointed in his place. Now it occurred to him that, should the president die, Joe might very well wish to appoint him vice president. And that was an earthshaking thought.
Kitty came back into the room. “Nobody I know at the White House is taking calls. In some cases, the switchboard wouldn’t even put calls through to their offices.”
Tim joined them and gave the same report. “Senator,” he said, “has it occurred to you that, if the president dies, Joe Adams might appoint you vice president?”
“It crossed my mind,” Will said.
“That would certainly change everything to do with our plans,” Tim said.
“None of our planning would be wasted; I’d still be running this year.”
Tim looked at him oddly. “Do you really think that, if Adams became president, he’d decline to run?”
Will shrugged. “I can’t get into that. Just continue to work on the campaign as if nothing has happened.”
Tim and Kitty looked at each other, then at Will, askance.
“Don’t ask,” Will said.
At three o’clock they gathered around the TV set and waited for the press conference. The White House press secretary strode onto the platform and took his place at the podium. A hush fell over the room. “Same rules as this morning,” the man said. “Absolutely no questions.” He took a sheet of paper from his inside coat pocket and read from it. “Tests being conducted on the president at Walter Reed Hospital are not yet conclusive. The press office will issue bulletins as information comes in. The vice president will address the nation on television at six o’clock this evening, eastern time. I will be making no further statements between now and then.” He turned and walked from the stage.
An uproar ensued. “Is the president conscious?” someone screamed, but the press secretary left the briefing room and closed the door behind him.
“This doesn’t look good,” Tim said.
“We’ve no way of knowing that,” Will replied. “We don’t know what’s happening.” He picked up the phone and called a couple of people close to the president, but got nowhere. He hung up. “Everybody is just shutting down,” he said. “We’re just going to have to wait.”
The phone rang, and Will picked it up. “Hello?”
“It’s Kate; I gather you’re going to be late for dinner this evening.”
“Quite possibly.”
“Have you heard anything?”
“Nothing. Nobody’s talking.”
“Neither have I. I’ll see you when I see you.”
They both hung up.
Will, Tim, Kitty, and Sam Meriwether were gathered in Will’s office at six o’clock. An announcer intoned, “Ladies and gentlemen, the vice president of the United States.”
Joe Adams came on screen looking calm and confident. He was sitting at a desk, but it looked like a studio set, not a real office. “Good evening,” he said. “As you have, no doubt, already heard, the president suffered a fall early this morning and was taken to Walter Reed Hospital, where he underwent a battery of tests. The doctors there have determined that his fall was very likely the result of a stroke, and the concussion resulting from his fall has complicated his condition. As of this time, the president has not regained consciousness, and the prognosis is guarded. The first lady is with him in the hospital.
“Upon receiving this news, I convened meetings with the leaders of both parties in Congress, the members of the cabinet, the national security advisor, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. At that time, since the president has been at least temporarily incapacitated, all the necessary steps were taken to have the vice president assume the role of acting president, with all the powers of that office. This is a day that I hoped would never come, but I have always worked to keep myself ready for the possibility. I will act as president until such time as his doctors feel the president is ready to assume his proper role again.
“I want to assure you that the business of government will continue without pause, and that the interests of the American people are being looked after in the same way as they were yesterday. I intend, during my stewardship, to continue the policies of this administration as they have been formulated over the past seven years.
“Effective immediately, I will move into the Oval Office, bringing only a few of my vice-presidential staff with me. The remainder of the vice-presidential staff will remain at their desks in the Executive Office Building, to do their work as before. All the members of the president’s staff have agreed to continue their work as usual, for which I am very grateful. The first lady will continue to live in the White House, and my wife and I will continue to live in the vice-presidential residence at the Naval Observatory.”