George bristled. “The president avoided World War Three!”

“At the cost of letting the Soviets tighten their grip. It’s not exactly a triumph.”

“Is that the Pentagon’s view?”

“Pretty much.”

Of course it was, George thought irritably. He now understood: Mawhinney was here to argue the Pentagon’s line, in the hope of winning George as a supporter. I should be flattered, he told himself: it shows that people now see me as part of Bobby’s inner circle.

But he was not going to listen to an attack on President Kennedy without hitting back. “I suppose I should expect nothing less of General LeMay. Don’t they call him ‘Bombs Away’ LeMay?”

Mawhinney frowned. If he found his boss’s nickname funny, he was not going to show it.

George thought the overbearing, cigar-chewing LeMay deserved mockery. “I believe he once said that if there’s a nuclear war, and at the end of it there are two Americans and one Russian left, then we’ve won.”

“I never heard him say anything like that.”

“Apparently President Kennedy told him: ‘You better hope the Americans are a man and a woman.’”

“We have to be strong!” Mawhinney said, beginning to get riled. “We’ve lost Cuba and Laos and East Berlin, and we’re in danger of losing Vietnam.”

“What do you imagine we can do about Vietnam?”

“Send in the army,” Larry said promptly.

“Don’t we already have thousands of military advisers there?”

“It’s not enough. The Pentagon has asked the president again and again to send in ground combat troops. It seems he doesn’t have the guts.”

That annoyed George because it was so unfair. “President Kennedy does not lack courage,” he snapped.

“Then why won’t he attack the Communists in Vietnam?”

“He doesn’t believe we can win.”

“He should listen to experienced and knowledgeable generals.”

“Should he? They told him to back the stupid Bay of Pigs invasion. If the Joint Chiefs are experienced and knowledgeable, how come they didn’t tell the president that an invasion by Cuban exiles was bound to fail?”

“We told him to send air cover—”

“Excuse me, Larry, but the whole idea was to avoid involving Americans. Yet as soon as it went wrong, the Pentagon wanted to send in the marines. The Kennedy brothers suspect you people of a sucker punch. You led him into a doomed invasion by exiles because you wanted to force him to send in U.S. troops.”

“That’s not true.”

“Maybe, but he thinks that now you’re trying to lure him into Vietnam by the same method. And he’s determined not to be fooled a second time.”

“Okay, so he’s got a grudge against us because of the Bay of Pigs. Seriously, George, is that a good enough reason to let Vietnam go Communist?”

“We’ll have to agree to disagree.”

Mawhinney put down his knife and fork. “Do you want dessert?” He had realized he was wasting his time: George was never going to be a Pentagon ally.

“No dessert, thanks,” George said. He was in Bobby’s office to fight for justice, so that his children could grow up as American citizens with equal rights. Someone else would have to fight Communism in Asia.