Page 67 of Edge of Eternity (The Century 3)

"You get pestered all day. Our time together is about relaxing and having fun."

"Make an exception." He picked up her foot, lying alongside his thigh in the water, and stroked her toes. She had beautiful feet, she knew; and she always put varnish on her toenails. "Something has upset you," he said quietly. "Tell me what it is."

When he looked at her so intensely, with his hazel eyes and his wry smile, she was helpless. She said: "The day before yesterday, my grandfather was jailed for trying to register to vote."

"Jailed? They can't do that. What was the charge?"

"Loitering."

"Oh. This happened somewhere in the South."

"Golgotha, Alabama; his hometown." She hesitated, but decided to tell him the whole truth, although he would not like it. "Do you want to know what he said when he came out of jail?"

"What?"

"He said: 'With President Kennedy in the White House, I thought I could vote, but I guess I was wrong.' That's what Grandma told me."

"Hell," said the president. "He believed in me, and I failed him."

"That's what he thinks, I guess."

"What do you think, Maria?" He was still stroking her toes.

She hesitated again, looking at her dark foot in his white hands. She feared that this discussion could become acrimonious. He was touchy about the least suggestion that he was insincere or untrustworthy, or that he failed to keep his promises as a politician. If she pushed him too hard, he might end their relationship. And then she would die.

But she had to be honest. She took a deep breath and tried to remain calm. "Far as I can see, the issue is not complicated," she began. "Southerners do this because they can. The law, as it stands, lets them get away with it, despite the Constitution."

"Not entirely," he interrupted. "My brother Bob has stepped up the number of lawsuits brought by the Justice Department for voting rights violations. He has a bright young Negro lawyer working with him."

She nodded. "George Jakes. I know him. But what they're doing isn't enough."

He shrugged. "I can't deny that."

She pressed on. "Everyone agrees that we have to change the law by bringing in a new civil rights act. A lot of people thought you promised that in your election campaign. And . . . nobody understands why you haven't done it yet." She bit her lip, then risked the ultimate. "Including me."

His face hardened.

She immediately regretted being so candid. "Don't be mad," she pleaded. "I wouldn't upset you for the world--but you asked me the question, and I wanted to be honest." Tears came to her eyes. "And my poor grandpa spent all night in jail, in his best suit."

He forced a smile. "I'm not mad, Maria. Not at you, anyway."

"You can tell me anything," she said. "I adore you. I would never sit in judgment on you, you must know that. Just say how you feel."

"I'm angry because I'm weak, I guess," he said. "We have a majority in Congress only if we include conservative Southern Democrats. If I bring in a civil rights bill, they'll sabotage it--and that's not all. In revenge, they'll vote against all the rest of my domestic legislation program, including Medicare. Now, Medicare could improve the lives of colored Americans even more than civil rights legislation."

"Does that mean you've given up on civil rights?"

"No. We have midterm elections next November. I'll be asking the American people to send more Democrats to Congress so that I can fulfill my campaign promises."

"Will they?"

"Probably not. The Republicans are attacking me on foreign policy. We've lost Cuba, we've lost Laos, and we're losing Vietnam. I had to let Khrushchev put up a barbed-wire fence right across the middle of Berlin. Right now my back is up against the goddamn wall."

"How strange," Maria reflected. "You can't let Southern Negroes vote because you're vulnerable on foreign policy."

"Every leader has to look strong on the world stage, otherwise he can't get anything done."

"Couldn't you just try? Bring in a civil rights bill, even though you'll probably lose it. At least then people would know how sincere you are."

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