“You say you want a revolution,
Well, you know,
We all want to change the world.”
- The Beatles
UPSTATE NEW YORK - The woods were quiet and calm with a light breeze blowing out of the East. The leaves had just started turning their rustic colors of autumn as they shimmied in the wind. The sky was overcast, somber, and gray.
A small lean-to cabin was nestled between two hills that overlooked a small lake. The area was heavily wooded and the three-story cabin fit perfectly into the landscape.
The dwelling had originally been built during the prohibition days and was a hideout for a prominent local bootlegger of the time. He used the cabin and surrounding area to make his alcohol. The whiskey stills were rusty and dilapidated now, but still they were still standing.
After the man passed away, his family sold the property to a wealthy businessman from the city. He was a retired banker from Wall Street who had no family to share his wealth, so he put it in the cabin as a second home.
He added on heavily and remodeled it into a glorious hideaway that would be the envy of anyone in the Hamptons.
He built it into a four thousand square foot cabin on top of the little shale. The outside was made from logs shipped in from Oregon. The inside walls were made from timbers brought in from Tennessee. No expense was sparred. When he was finished renovating, the cabin had three stories, ten bedrooms and four full baths.
He ended up not being happy with his new creation. He seldom was happy with anything he did or built and so after three years, he sold the cabin to someone else. The shale now belongs to one of the richest men in the world, Ross Hamilton.
Hamilton bought the place and made modifications of his own. The dwelling still looked like a nice cabin on the outside, but on the inside, it was turned into a state of the art communication facility.
Hamilton built a bunker one hundred feet into the earth in case of any nuclear or other attacks. The bunker could sustain fifty people for two years. The communication systems were the same in the bunker as they were on the surface. There was a reason for the redundancy.
The house would soon own a page in American history; for some of the most influential men in the country were about to have a meeting there that will change the United States forever.
WASHINGTON DC – The white snow was thick on the ground, as it always is this time of year. The beltway never seemed to dodge the worst weather of the winter.
Ice was trying to melt under salt on the driveway leading to the West Wing of the White House. Although the weather was cold outside, the President of the United States was feeling the heat inside the Oval Office.
President Henry Thomas was being impeached by the United States Congress for unlawful conduct becoming of a Commander-in-Chief. He was the target of a plan to have him removed from office. He was oblivious to what was going on around him and the lady that helped him get elected was in on the coupe.
Vice-President Katherine Monroe was sitting in her office with her personal assistant. She sat back in her leather chair and stared out the window and thought about how everything had come to this.
The President was a good man and had done the best job he could under the circumstances, but he was going to lose his job. It was inevitable. He didn't have enough votes to counteract the rebellion in the Senate.
He could have resigned, but he staunchly defended his innocence and said he would never voluntarily leave the Oval Office. The President’s spirit was down, but he was happy that his old friend was coming to see him.
General Thaddeus Butler always stood beside the President through thick and thin. And now once again, he was coming to be with him in his time of need, but he was supposed to be there fifteen minutes ago, Thomas thought to himself.
The President sat at his desk and stared out the window. He looked around the round room and felt a cold chill run up his back. The history was overwhelming. He wanted his presidency to be different.
All presidents start with high hopes and ambitions of what they think they can accomplish and what their legacy will be. Just three years into his term, he was powerless and disgraced. It was obvious to him now he was a pawn in a dangerous chess match and now being discarded like a used prophylactic.
THE PENTAGON – It seems like the sun never seeps insides these walls. The Pentagon was created as a symbol of America’s might and swagger. The building was completed in 1943 and houses the United States Department of Defense. It has five stories and five sides, thus forming the symbol for which it is named.
General Butler was at the Pentagon on this day for a meeting with the Secretary of Defense. Butler was a four-star Army General and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff is an organization of the heads of all the military branches and Butler was the “chief” of this group.
The organization was established in 1903 by Theodore Roosevelt because of the need for better communication between the Army, Navy and Commander-in-Chief at the time.
Donovan Carson was also in the Pentagon. He was a journalist for the Washington Post. Journalist is a strong word for his responsibilities.
He was fresh out of college and was collecting paperwork for a full-time writer back at the paper. His job pretty much consisted of being a gopher for anyone who needed anything.
Carson thought to himself, “There is always a feeling of gloom in here, but this is different. I have been here dozens of times, but today there is a strange bustle in the air."
He ignored the feeling and went on about his business, collecting paperwork for a writer back at the paper. The life of a college grad trying to break into the world of journalism.
"Gunshots! Why did I just hear a gun going off inside the Pentagon,” Carson said to himself.
"Screaming! Why do I hear screaming inside the Pentagon?”
He stopped a woman and asked her what happened.
She screamed, “General Butler has been shot!"
American Revolution 2©
John Clayton Hale
Five Horizons Publishing
All Rights Reserved
07/04/2024
George Washington Crossing Delaware River 1851 Emanuel Leutze Oil Painting