“You’ll have to run the mechanics of the country, Charley, if I’m to run its policies. What I’m saying is—I really need you.”
Charley put out his hand and the president took it. “When do you want me to start?” Charley said huskily.
“How much time do you need to make the move?”
“If I could have, say, about five weeks?”
“Why not? Until just before the inauguration.”
“I could live with that.”
“How are your two boys?”
“Fine, just fine.”
“None the worse?”
“Not at all.”
“They still haven’t found the money you paid over?”
“Not yet.”
“Thirty million?”
“Yes. But I was insured for most of that.”
“I have Justice, Defense, and the CIA to fill. Any ideas on that?”
“I will have, I think. But I’ll have to brood over that one.”
“Let that be your first official recommendation,” FMH said. “Your first official recommendation. And let me have it by Monday. They’ll be pressing me for announcements.”
55
Edward S. Price was confirmed as attorney general, Arthur Shuland as secretary of defense, and S. L. Penrose as director of Central Intelligence without a hitch. But the stir of elation was caused by the president’s appointment of Charles Macy Barton as his chief of staff, a decision that was internationally proclaimed.
GIVES UP $27.1 MILLION
TO TAKE WHITE HOUSE JOB
NEW YORK, December 3—Charles Macy Barton, Chairman and CEO of Barker’s Hill Enterprises, one of the world’s largest conglomerates, today accepted the key White House post of Chief of Staff, renouncing an annual $27.1 million in salary, bonus, and stock options to serve his country and his President.
President Heller hailed the appointment as “the very pinnacle of patriotism,” stating that Barton, known as “the Great Organizer” to millions, had “turned away from wealth to serve his country” and by so doing “has freed me from the routine tasks of running this country so that I may put all my thought and energies into reducing the crippling budget deficit and get on with our nation’s crusade to free Latin America from Communism.”
(Continued on Page 3)
About the Author
Richard Condon was born in New York City. He worked in the movie business for more than twenty years before beginning to write fiction in his forties. The author of twenty-six books, he is best remembered for The Manchurian Candidate and four novels about the Prizzis, a family of New York gangsters. Condon passed away in 1996.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1988 by Richard Condon
Cover design by Jason Gabbert
ISBN: 978-1-5040-2776-2
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