Read Online Corruption of Blood by Robert Tanenbaum - Free Book Online
Authors: Robert Tanenbaum
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out if old Earl Warren went into the tank on this one? Or what … ?”
The waiter came and they ordered. When the man left, Dobbs said, “That’s the right question, all right. What’s in it for Dobbs. I like you, Mr. Karp, or, if I may, Butch. I’m Hank. You get right to the point, which is sometimes like a dose of oxygen around here, although I should warn you it’s a violation of the Federal Anti-Confrontation and Bullshitters’ Protection Act of 1973, As Amended.” He smiled at the small joke and Karp smiled too.
Dobbs leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. “How to put it? Well, first, my constituents. The people of the great state of Connecticut are mainly interested in keeping the insurance industry happy and making sure that when ships and weapons get built, they get built in the great state of Connecticut, as a result of which I spend most of my time on the Banking and Armed Services Committees. In my spare time, I try to do an occasional favor for the United States. As far as personally goes, in 1963, I was at Yale. I’d worked on the presidential campaign in Hartford, and my family had some connections in the past with Jack Kennedy. I’d actually shaken his hand, once, when he was in the Senate. I remember I told him that I was interested in politics and that I was off to Yale that year, and he laughed and told me that if I worked hard I could overcome even that obstacle. I was in Dwight eating a sandwich when some kid ran into the dining room and yelled out that Kennedy’d been shot in Dallas. I went into shock—well, everybody did, really, but I guess I imagined mine was worse. My dad had just passed on that summer and I suppose I conflated the two losses in my mind. It was an extremely bad year for me; I nearly flunked out, as a matter of fact, and had to repeat the semester. Okay, that’s personal aspects. There’s a political aspect too. I think practically everyone understands that when Kennedy was assassinated, the country started on a downward slope. I think it had more of an effect on the country than Lincoln’s did, because Lincoln had mainly finished his work and Kennedy had barely started his. Not that I’m comparing Kennedy to Lincoln—that’s not the point. The point is that the country was tipped out of one track and into another, which we’re still on and which is no good.”
“Because Kennedy died?” Karp asked.
“Actually, as much as I mourn his loss, no, not exactly. It was mainly because of what happened afterward. The government didn’t tell the truth about what happened. Some people decided that a higher national purpose would be served if the facts about the assassination were bent to prove a point. Have you read the Report?”
“Not yet.”
“Then I won’t say anything about it; make up your own mind. But give me the point for a moment. That lie was the forerunner of the lies in service of a higher national purpose that got us into Vietnam, and kept us there until the army and the country were nearly wrecked. It was the premise for all the stuff that Nixon’s cronies did. The good of the country, as any bozo wants to define it, is more important than the truth. Hey, the good of the country demands that Nixon gets reelected? No problem, we’ll burgle, we’ll lie, we’ll cover up the truth. After a while the people stop believing anything the government says. Hell, we’ve got a presidential candidate now whose main platform is ‘I’ll never lie to you.’ Like it was a big thing. It’s pathetic! And it all started in Dallas, and what we made of it in the Warren Report. If we’re ever going to get the country back on the right track, we have to go back to the point when we ran off the rails. That’s why I’m pushing this investigation, my little favor, as I said, for the United States of America. Does that answer your question?”
Karp nodded. “Uh-huh,” he said. It was a convincing speech. On the other hand, Dobbs was a politician; his
The waiter came and they ordered. When the man left, Dobbs said, “That’s the right question, all right. What’s in it for Dobbs. I like you, Mr. Karp, or, if I may, Butch. I’m Hank. You get right to the point, which is sometimes like a dose of oxygen around here, although I should warn you it’s a violation of the Federal Anti-Confrontation and Bullshitters’ Protection Act of 1973, As Amended.” He smiled at the small joke and Karp smiled too.
Dobbs leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. “How to put it? Well, first, my constituents. The people of the great state of Connecticut are mainly interested in keeping the insurance industry happy and making sure that when ships and weapons get built, they get built in the great state of Connecticut, as a result of which I spend most of my time on the Banking and Armed Services Committees. In my spare time, I try to do an occasional favor for the United States. As far as personally goes, in 1963, I was at Yale. I’d worked on the presidential campaign in Hartford, and my family had some connections in the past with Jack Kennedy. I’d actually shaken his hand, once, when he was in the Senate. I remember I told him that I was interested in politics and that I was off to Yale that year, and he laughed and told me that if I worked hard I could overcome even that obstacle. I was in Dwight eating a sandwich when some kid ran into the dining room and yelled out that Kennedy’d been shot in Dallas. I went into shock—well, everybody did, really, but I guess I imagined mine was worse. My dad had just passed on that summer and I suppose I conflated the two losses in my mind. It was an extremely bad year for me; I nearly flunked out, as a matter of fact, and had to repeat the semester. Okay, that’s personal aspects. There’s a political aspect too. I think practically everyone understands that when Kennedy was assassinated, the country started on a downward slope. I think it had more of an effect on the country than Lincoln’s did, because Lincoln had mainly finished his work and Kennedy had barely started his. Not that I’m comparing Kennedy to Lincoln—that’s not the point. The point is that the country was tipped out of one track and into another, which we’re still on and which is no good.”
“Because Kennedy died?” Karp asked.
“Actually, as much as I mourn his loss, no, not exactly. It was mainly because of what happened afterward. The government didn’t tell the truth about what happened. Some people decided that a higher national purpose would be served if the facts about the assassination were bent to prove a point. Have you read the Report?”
“Not yet.”
“Then I won’t say anything about it; make up your own mind. But give me the point for a moment. That lie was the forerunner of the lies in service of a higher national purpose that got us into Vietnam, and kept us there until the army and the country were nearly wrecked. It was the premise for all the stuff that Nixon’s cronies did. The good of the country, as any bozo wants to define it, is more important than the truth. Hey, the good of the country demands that Nixon gets reelected? No problem, we’ll burgle, we’ll lie, we’ll cover up the truth. After a while the people stop believing anything the government says. Hell, we’ve got a presidential candidate now whose main platform is ‘I’ll never lie to you.’ Like it was a big thing. It’s pathetic! And it all started in Dallas, and what we made of it in the Warren Report. If we’re ever going to get the country back on the right track, we have to go back to the point when we ran off the rails. That’s why I’m pushing this investigation, my little favor, as I said, for the United States of America. Does that answer your question?”
Karp nodded. “Uh-huh,” he said. It was a convincing speech. On the other hand, Dobbs was a politician; his
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