A History of the African-American People (Proposed) by Strom Thurmond (7 page)

O
FFICE OF
S
ENATOR
S
TROM
T
HURMOND
217 R
USSELL
S
ENATE
B
UILDING
W
ASHINGTON
, D.C. 20515

August 30, 2002

Dear Martin,

Here ya go, bud!

Bar-bar

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, Author and Publisher have executed this Agreement of the day and year written above.

For Cindy, With Love, Strom

O
FFICE OF
S
ENATOR
S
TROM
T
HURMOND
217 R
USSELL
S
ENATE
B
UILDING
W
ASHINGTON
, D.C. 20515

August 28, 2002

Dear Juniper,

If I am not mistaken, the ball is in your court.

I am somewhat astonished at the long delay. No, not somewhat, wholly astonished, tip to toe.

Are we rooting for different teams?

Roman? Reynard? Rilke? Raz?

Percival Everett

University of Southern California
University Park Campus
Los Angeles, CA 90089

August 29, 2002

Martin A. Snell

Senior Editor

Simon & Schuster

Dear Mr. Snell,

Your proposal is so absurd that I would not have considered it at all, but for the fact that you wrote me a letter about it and did not use e-mail or a telephone, both of which I detest. I figure any letter is worth looking at and nearly any letter-writer worth answering.

But holy Mama of God, a project by that senile orangehead Strom Thurmond?
A History of the African-American People?
I mean, it’s not a bad idea for a satire, but even there it sounds more like a
Saturday Night Live
skit. And you make it clear this is no satire. I am reasonably sure you do exist. I looked you up in a directory, figuring this was a prank; but there you were.

And why me? Well, never mind that. I gather you wanted a genuine person of color. A black person giving some kind of legitimacy to the number-one racist in the last century: now there’s a proposition to make me jump up and shout, “Yassuh!” But what the hell, the idea of states’ rights always interested me, and Thurmond got where he did by differentiating himself from “vulgar racists.” I expect he’s sincere in what he says about himself, that he has taught himself to believe he has always had the best interests of the nigra and the Constitution at heart. There’s something appealing about the quality of that self-deception, that sublime idiocy. It’d be interesting to see what could be done to allow his history to proceed without condemning itself obviously from the first page.

But what sort of history does he have in mind? Does he know? If not, that’s OK, as I can then shape it as I like.

You want me to get a helper. OK. I don’t know any historians that would do it. A guy here, Jim Kincaid, would do it. He knows nothing of history (he’s in the English Department, which tells you a lot), but he is heedless and writes a lot. Besides that, he has little on his plate, so I could count on him to do a lot of the grunt work.

So, answer a few of these questions and we’ll be set. The terms are fine. You don’t expect me to pay Kincaid out of that, do you? Negotiate with him separately. He’ll come cheap.

S
IMON
& S
CHUSTER
, I
NC
.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

September 3, 2002

Dear Barton,

Was your letter-before-last a joke? I mean, there you said you didn’t want to hear another word from me “or my kind.” (What the hell does “or my kind” mean?)

I supposed you were serious and so I shut up. You said to shut up and I did.

It’s hard to know about tone in letters. I am an English major, graduated recently from NYU, and I pride myself on reading tone. Still, it’s hard.

As you probably expected, all is as usual here. Snell pushed so hard for your project that they gave it to him, with the understanding—or so I gather—that his ass is on the line. I never get anything very direct here, but I think that’s the story.

As his ass goes, so goes mine. So tell me: is this the real thing?

Best,
Juniper

p.s. You asked a while back if this was the right house for you. You might as well ask your cat. I mean, what do I know? Snell is committed to the project, which will be fine if it gets done before he is himself committed. So I think I’d stay here, if I were you. The way I look at things like this is: if you’re someplace and it isn’t too bad, stay there unless you know you can get to a place that’s better.

p.p.s. Please don’t make me reveal my first name.

O
FFICE OF
S
ENATOR
S
TROM
T
HURMOND
217 R
USSELL
S
ENATE
B
UILDING
W
ASHINGTON
, D.C. 20515

September 4, 2002

Martin,

As I mentioned many times, if this project is to blossom, it will be necessary that, at every step, you people adapt to the Senator’s way of doing things and not vice versa. He did not get to where he is nor has he stayed there so long (longer, you may know, than any man or woman in the history of the world) by not knowing what he’s doing. He knows what he’s doing. He doesn’t say you don’t, but he is sure he does.

The original contracts will be just fine. The Senator is clear on all this. I am. You are. Why delay matters?

I also received your phone message—please don’t do that again—telling me that Mr. Everett has agreed to consult on this project and that he has some sort of historian and scholar as an assistant. As you are paying them, as per contractual arrangement, we will abide by your decision. Let’s just hope they work out. It is probably time for you to tell me how to get in touch with them, so we can get this History rolling.

Are you fond of hunting?

S
IMON
& S
CHUSTER
, I
NC
.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

September 11, 2002

Dear Percival,

Just between us, I think the Senator expects you to ghostwrite this, with Kincaid’s help and doubtless some input from an aide by the name of Barton Wilkes. In fact, I may as well tell you that you will probably get lots of input from Barton Wilkes, an extraordinarily strange man, I’m afraid, but one we have no reason to doubt has the ear (and maybe the mind) of Senator Thurmond. So ardent is Wilkes in protecting the Senator, that we have not ourselves been able to establish direct contact with Thurmond at all, only with Wilkes. He will probably want to know about your mother. I’d advise telling him, as it’s one point on which he is truly interesting.

Be that as it may, I do not see any reason not to trust Wilkes. He’ll be in touch right away, I am sure. Then you can take what he sends you, parcel out what you like to Kincaid, and go to town. We have invested very heavily indeed in this project here at Simon and Schuster, despite the uncertainty of that final shape, which we hope you will help get straightened out as soon as possible. But it’s not too much to say we think this book will be the hit of the decade. My own sniffer tells me it is so, and I’ve never treed the wrong possum.

I wish I had a sharper assistant, but I won’t trouble you with that now.

I wouldn’t worry too much about accuracy and that sort of thing. After all, what’s attractive (or the reverse) here is the Senator’s spin on things. And we imagine he’ll spin like the teacups ride at Disneyland. I’d let him. You may find it challenging to get things in order, even to make coherent the Senator’s take on the past and his role in it. But don’t try to make him too sensible, you know, or too reasonable. Nobody expects that or wants it either. We want a unique voice here. That’s what counts. Accurate history can be got anywhere. This is different.